The Artistic Features Of The Yun Shouping’s Boneless Flower And Bird Painting

"Boneless painting", referred to "boneless figure", is an important component of Chinese painting. "Yun Shouping boneless flower-and-bird paintings", on the basis of the studying and absorbing predecessors’painting skills and his bold innovations, obtained the accomplishments which have attracted the attentions from the world. He is known as the inventor of "flower and bird painting". The author of this paper found Yun Shouping’s painting had the shape but not the natural core and spirit by learnt his painting skills and techniques during graduate student period. Therefore, by devoting to the deep research with lots of reference books and paintings, the author finally forming a detailed and comprehensive summary about the cause of his painting styles. This paper will improve the further understanding of him and his paintings, especially "boneless painting".Yun Shouping, also known as Nantian (1633 - 1690), was a major artist of the early Chinese Qing dynasty. He was regarded as one of the "Six Masters" of the Qing period, together with the Four Wangs and Wu Li. Yun was born to a prominent but impoverished family in Wujin, Jiangsu province. He excelled in his classes and was expected to enter into the civil service, but his family could not afford it. Instead, he devoted himself to art; as early as the age of eight he was composing poetry on lotus blossoms. In his early life, he made a living painting landscapes. Yun’s style was vibrant and expressive; he attempted to display the inner vitality and spirit of his subjects in painting. Yun sought inspiration from the past; his Flower and Fruit (now at the Hong Kong Museum of Art) imitated the style of the masters of the Yuan dynasty. He was unafraid of using strong colors, such as reds and purples, which had traditionally been shunned by Chinese painters as they were seen as gaudy and offensive. He revived the genre of flower paintings in China and became popular throughout the country. Yun’s style would be imitated and he became the founder of the Ch’ang-chou school of painting.With the pursuit of realism and attaching great importance to sketching, Yun paid more attentions to the charm behind the pen and ink. All of his works contain his deep emotions. This is the most difficult part that can’t be learnt from his boneless painting.He has a far reaching impact on later generation, not only "ChangZhou school" which painted with his painting skills, but also the literati paintings and palace imperial court decorative painting. What’s more, his influence spread in mid and late Qing dynasty painting skills such as "lingnan school", "sea painting" in late Qing dynasty. Even to nowadays, Yun’s painting style is unabated.This paper is divided into three important parts. The first part is Yun’s life experiences. The second part is the analysis of the natural cause and characteristics in Yun’s boneless painting through the perspective of his life experience. The last part is the summary of his historical status and influence and the great impact to the author.