From The "vivid" Of Sheikh's Aesthetic Thought The Value And Significance Of Traditional Chinese Painting

When a piece of Chinese painting is placed in front of us,how can we comment on it rightly? There are numerous ways to comment on and appreciate Chinese painting in the history of Chinese and foreign painting,of which,however,only two methods-“theory of shape and spirit” and “rhythm and vitality” will be introduced in this paper.Gu Kai-zhi,an artist in Eastern-Jin Dynasty,is the first aesthete who advanced “spirit-giving” theory in China,with an unique perspective.He affirms that art is a reaction to objective reality,and thinks that the artist needs to achieve the artistic effect-“conveying the spirit with images” through the understanding of objective reality,which shall be studied.The theory of “conveying the spirit with images” is to show the spiritual connotation of the characters,of which the most important part is how to gather the typical characteristics from the appearance of the characters.Throughout Gu Kaizhi's theories,such as “conveying the spirit with images” and “moving thoughts”,which has become one of the most important methods in terms of Chinese painting creation,and has a significant impact on the latter painting,as well as provides a theoretical foundation for the “Six Principles” theory presented by Xie He.The “Six Principles” theory is the key to understand the classical painting art,which is advanced by Xie He in Southern Dynasty.In the book written by Xie He,named “Guhuapinlu”,he not only puts forward the aesthetic standards of painting,but also proposes a set of aesthetic ideas about painting,which plays an important role in the history of Chinese painting.The so-called “Six Principles” theory is divided into “rhythm and vitality”,“significant brushwork”,“realistic form”,“right colour”,“good composition” and “the study of good models”.Xie He believes that “rhythm and vitality” is the most important principle among the “Six Principles”,which summarizes different representing meanings of the other four principles including “significant brushwork” principle,while the rest five principles except “rhythm and vitality” principle also play an important rolein the achievement of “rhythm and vitality”.“Rhythm and vitality” is not only the most essential part in terms of the pursuit of art,but also represents a higher pursuit of Chinese painting,and it's a visual representation of artists' good performance.The traditional painting theory in different periods of Chinese history is an indispensable part of traditional Chinese painting art,which is of great significance to our understanding,research and instruction of painting.The “Six Principles” theory,presented by Xie He,is a very important part of Chinese traditional painting theory with an important influence on Chinese painting,which,hence,has encouraged the artists of all ages to carry out deeper learning activity,studies and researches of it on the basis of Xie He's theory.As a consequence,its content has been enriched over time.With the progress of the times,the value and significance of “rhythm and vitality” principle become more and more prominent,which is not merely applicable to the figure painting,but also to the landscape,flowers and birds painting.The basic requirements between Xie He's “rhythm and vitality” and Gu Kai-zhi's “theory of shape and spirit” are consistent,both of which are supposed to express the rhythm in our hearts and thus become more and more popular in the history of Chinese painting,contributing to a higher value of our studies now.This paper aims to explore the value and significance of Xie He's aesthetic ideas on Chinese traditional painting through the analysis on the basic relationship between Gu Kaizhi's “theory of shape and spirit” and Xie He's“rhythm and vitality”.