The Visual Form And Style Evolution Of The Double-curved Text Illustrations Of The Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty is the peak period of Chinese print history,and opera illustrations are the most decorative and artistic in all categories of illustrations in the Ming Dynasty.At present,the study of opera illustrations in the Ming Dynasty mainly includes the research of illustrations,case studies and image narrative studies.However,the research on the overall evolution of opera illustrations is not deep enough.This paper will systematically summarize and sort out the evolution of the opera illustrations in the Ming Dynasty from the two perspectives of visual form and style,and divide the process of evolution into three periods:the Initial period from Early Ming Dynasty to Wanli mid,the Intermediate period from Wanli mid to Wanli late,and the later period from Wanli late to Chongzhen period.The visual structure evolution of specific performance are Background in the Initial period with stage characteristics,Scenes in the Intermediate period with atmospheric characteristics,and Circumstances in the later period with lyrical characteristics.The style evolution of specific performance are Simple style with the characteristics of folk from Nanjing,Fine style with the characteristics of craftsmen,and Circumstances style with the characteristics of Literati.The driving force of the visual structure and style evolution of the Ming Dynasty drama illustration mainly comes from The improvement of craftsman,the intervention of the literati and the demand of the market.