Research On Self-Portraits During The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Self-portrait is a kind of art work featured the artist himself reflecting the artist’s self-cognition and representing the awakening of the artist’s self-consciousness,and is a visual presentation of the human thought transformation in ancient China.However,the research on self-portraits in China obviously needs more comprehensive and indepth analysis and discussion compared with a large number of self-portrait studies in the West.There is no much quantity of self-portraits in the glorious Chinese painting history without importance and sense of presence during the Ming and Qing dynasties.But they have the value of personality liberation and consciousness awakening,and they flourished in an era of crazy sweeping feudal influence,and in the era of depression and pain.So,self-portraits created during the Ming and Qing dynasties have the significance of breaking through the feudal cage,symbolize the liberation of human personality,provide a way out for people in the oppressed and enslaved spiritual world,and enable people to perceive and express self-awareness.Therefore,the self-portraits convey the pressure of the times,the transformation of people’s thoughts,and the emotional sustenance of painters.We should not neglect the research on self-portraits during the Ming and Qing dynasties.This paper takes the self-portraits during the Ming and Qing dynasties as the research object through examining and interpreting a large number of documentary records,heirloom paintings,praises and inscriptions,and biographies,explores the main reasons for the prosperity of self-portraits in this period,and then makes comprehensive and systematic record for the self-portraits during the Ming and Qing dynasties,so as to verify and analyze the types of these self-portraits individually,understand the motivation and intention of self-portraits artists,analyze their selfexpression and self-inspection in these self-portraits,and understand the selfconsciousness expressed in self-portraits.This study aims to comprehensively present the development of self-portraits during the Ming and Qing dynasties with expectation of playing a role in providing and consulting data for subsequent self-portraits research.