The beauty of women in classical painting
2022-03-11
"Women's history", "the spring outing of the lady of Guo State", "the spring dawn of Han Palace"... The female images in many national treasure paintings reflect the aesthetics of different times. For thousands of years, what changes have the female images in Chinese paintings experienced? Chen Lusheng, an art historian and former deputy curator of the National Museum of China, spoke eloquently. - Lu Sheng Chen Four manifestations of ancient women A history of Chinese painting from ancient times to now is inseparable from the expression of female images. The performance of female images has different social functions in various historical periods. The aesthetic significance associated with female images and the specific image shaping have become one of the characteristics of Chinese painting different from western painting. The unique lady painting in Chinese painting can basically explain this characteristic. Western paintings include Mona Lisa, the girl with pearl earrings and other famous works. As a whole, Chinese lady paintings, like Chinese landscape paintings, integrate Chinese painting with Chinese culture through the cultural characteristics shown by painting, showing the differences between Chinese painting and Western culture. In the history of ancient Chinese painting, female images have appeared in the Neolithic age. In addition to the dance basin unearthed in Qinghai, there are also some works reflecting female characteristics or female images, which are important material materials for today's study of the history of female images. As far as the history of Chinese painting is concerned, the painting performance of women is nothing more than the following four aspects, which all reflect the status of women in agricultural civilization or feudal society. First, the works that show the leisure life of upper class women, such as the painting of the spring outing of the lady of the state of Guo and the painting of the lady with hairpin flowers in the Tang Dynasty. The special makeup in the picture reflects the elegance of women and the beauty of a specific era. The second is to show women's works in production and life like the "Dao Lian Tu" in the Tang Dynasty. As early as the Han Dynasty, it has actually been shown in the kitchen map. The third is the works that show the happy life, such as music and dance, acrobatics and so on, which are more common in the portraits of the Han Dynasty. Gu Hongzhong of the five dynasties also vividly depicted Han Xizai's banquet, while Qiu Ying of the Ming Dynasty used the spring dawn of the Han Palace to show a richer and more comprehensive life of women in the palace, including dressing up, watering, breaking branches, arranging flowers, raising, singing and dancing, playing and singing, going round the stove, playing chess, reading, fighting grass, looking at the mirror, viewing pictures, playing with babies, giving food, waving fans, etc, It covers almost all the life related to women. Fourth, works that express the feeling of missing, such as Gu Kaizhi's painting of Luo Shen Fu, as well as images with the theme of looking forward to returning or sending each other, such as Wen Zhengming's painting of Xiang Jun and Xiang madam, Fu Baoshi's painting of Xiang madam, etc., in which the female images are as beautiful as those described in literature. Modern women in advertisements There is no doubt that the female works in the above four aspects essentially reflect a kind of social relationship dominated by men. Although there are many heroes like Hua Mulan among ancient women, the images of women are not as common and diverse as men in the history of ancient painting. Most ancient women, like the "open door ladies" commonly seen in the images of the Han Dynasty, stayed at home and stayed in the boudoir, which was a social existence within the family. The various expressions of women in ancient paintings can be attributed to the contents of Gu Kaizhi's "women's history and proverbs" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This is a concrete portrayal of the function of traditional painting to "educate and help human relations". Whether Feng Yuan used her body to block the bear, protect emperor yuan of the Han Dynasty, or ban Jieyu refused to ride with emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, it is through images to establish and popularize a social norm. There is a woman who looks in the mirror in women's history. Zhang Hua wrote: "people know how to repair their appearance, but don't know how to decorate their sex." In the development of Chinese painting history, a special category of Lady painting has emerged. Although the development trend of Lady painting can not be compared with that of landscape painting, flower and bird painting and literati painting, the specific content of women in art is still a part that can not be ignored in the history of Chinese painting. In the 20th century, with the development of society and the establishment of modern lifestyle, especially in the process of commercial social development, modern women appeared in many advertising Paintings during the period of the Republic of China. In the advertising paintings in the first half of the 20th century, female images are very common, which can be said to be a way of the modern development of ancient lady paintings. Of course, it also includes many expressions in Modern New Year paintings. Painters try their best to show the modern image associated with society and the charm of women. In addition to commercial performance, they also reflect the changes of aesthetic trend. Most of the female images in the public communication system in this period were attached to advertising and painting and carried special social functions. Their aesthetic significance was reflected in the aesthetic taste of the whole society. "A flower girl is like a flower" Since the new culture movement, new women have become a symbol of new culture on campus and on the street. In 1926, Liu Hezhen, a 22-year-old leader of the Beijing student movement, was killed in the March 18th massacre. On March 25, after attending the memorial service of Liu Hezhen and Yang Dequn, Lu Xun wrote "in memory of Liu Hezhen", recalling the "always smiling and kind" student. In 1956, painter Jiang Zhaohe created "in memory of Liu Hezhen" with the theme of Lu Xun's article mourning the murdered student Liu Hezhen. It can be said that this is another representative work of his in the performance of women after the picture of refugees. Jiang Zhaohe is a painter who truly expresses women from the perspective of art, reflects society and expresses the times through women. The women in the disaster described by him reflected the social situation during the war of resistance against Japan and was one of the most moving and inspiring artistic forces at that time. When the artist's painting reflects the "ordinary state of society" in the painting, it also reveals the "disaster" represented by the artist in the painting, Into the fundamental change of "art for life". In 1937 and 1948, Jiang Zhaohe created two "flower girl" respectively. The painting in 1937 was titled: "a flower girl is like a flower. Don't you pity her." The 1948 painting was titled: "a basket of spring sold all over the world." If the flower girl in 1937 is a pity in the normal of the market, then the flower girl in 1948 shows what is common in that era. The thin flower girl is the epitome of the suffering of ordinary people. Jiang Zhaohe's picture of selling children (1939) was inspired by the flood of that year. In the picture, the mother sitting on the ground with a sad face hugged the young child and stared at the eldest son who was about to leave, telling him: "this trip must be cherished, no more than a Niang." Qi Baishi wrote an inscription for Jiang Zhaohe's album in 1941: "selling three foot paintings overwhelms mountain borrowers." Before that, Jiang Zhaohe also painted after the bombing (also known as "the rest of the post-war life" and "the rest of the post-war life"), showing the scene that the Japanese army was full of corpses and the mother who lost her daughter was crying after the bombing. The women in the social grass-roots level described by Jiang Zhaohe are no longer the modern girls under the glow of pleasure and pleasure. The painter uses these pitiful female images to reflect the disaster, showing the social identity under the background, and its power to awaken the people completely exceeds the aesthetic significance. Women don't make men After the founding of new China, women occupied an important position in the history of painting, became a bright spot in the history of new Chinese painting, and also became an important fulcrum to express the characteristics of the new Chinese era. The artist Dong Xiwen's "thousand year land turned over" (oil painting, 1963) shows the large-scale development, production and construction started under the background of the peaceful liberation of Tibet against the backdrop of the snow capped mountains on the plateau. In the art creation of new China, the performance of heroines has become an important part of the performance of revolutionary history, which has influenced the works of several generations. The female heroes in the paintings include Xiang Jingyu, Yang Kaihui, Zhao Yiman, Liu Hulan, Jiang Zhuyun and "eight women throwing into the river". Among them, Wang shenglie's Chinese painting "eight women throwing into the river" and Feng FASI's oil painting "Liu Hulan's death" are the most representative and are classics in the history of new Chinese art. Of course, more paintings show unknown women, reflecting the contributions of women in different periods to the revolutionary cause. "Eight women throwing into the river" stands in people's hearts like a monument of images. As one of the representatives of the creation of revolutionary historical painting in the 1950s, it not only faces many problems in the creation of revolutionary historical painting, but also handles the relationship between subject matter and expression very well. It is solemn and vivid in the combination of characters, dynamic presentation and image shaping. At the same time, the painter submitted a successful answer in the era mission of transforming traditional Chinese painting - traditional Chinese ink painting can also show major revolutionary historical themes and tragic feelings. This is not only the breakthrough of the times, but also the creation of the times. It can be said that the painting of women's theme in New China has contributed special content to the development of new Chinese painting, which is related to the general policy, social development trend and women's status in this period. In the development of history, their associated realistic themes that keep pace with the times and the corresponding forms of painting noumenon have witnessed this era from all aspects - using female images in art to show the fundamental differences between the old and new societies, and "women don't let men" is one of the important features of the new era. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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