The Essence of Chinese Painting (I)
The author of this blog studied Chinese painting and wrote his dissertation on the subject. He occasionally publishes articles on Chinese painting and holds lectures on it. In this blog, you will find articles on various aspects of Chinese painting over time.
The Basics of Balance
Balance is a fundamental principle in Chinese painting. It refers to the idea that all elements in a painting should be arranged in a way that creates a sense of harmony and equilibrium. The difference between many Chinese and Western paintings lies in their image structures. To put it simply, Western painting works like a Western scale, while Chinese painting works like a Chinese scale 1. While the balance in Western painting is static, the balance in Chinese painting is dynamic. In Western painting, you have to put the same weight in the right pan as you put in the left pan to achieve balance. In Chinese painting, however, you can place different weights on the two ends of the scales, and balance is only created by shifting the suspension so you can read the weight. [Fig. 1]
The principle of balance in Chinese painting includes not only image objects with measurable weight but also color areas, even in abstract painting. It is important to balance them out to create a sense of harmony and equilibrium.
Balance begins with a single Brushstroke
In Chinese painting, this question of balance is of fundamental importance, even in the individual stroke. Even in the simplest Chinese character yī ( 一 one), we get an excellent impression of how this is to be understood. [Fig.2 upper part] The lower symbol in Fig. 2 shows the character shuǐ ( 水 water), which as a symbol itself already acts like a scale.
In Chinese painting, the principle of balance is achieved by creating a sense of harmony and equilibrium between all elements in a painting. This is done by using a variety of techniques, such as contrast, or repetition. However, balance is not the only important principle in Chinese painting. Another essential principle is qi, which refers to the life force or breath that flows through everything in nature and the universe.
Qi and Balance
Qi is an important quality in Chinese painting, and it is what gives a painting its sense of life and energy. In Chinese painting, the ends of the line or the parts of a character must “communicate” with one another to create a field of strength between them. This field of strength is what embeds the qi in the painting. The principle of qi can be compared to the two palms of the hands in Taijiquan exercises, where advanced practitioners can feel the qi haptically between the palms of the hands like a ball.
In both Western and Chinese art history, painters have tried to sound out the limits in all areas of painting, including using scales or balance.
Ba Da Shan Ren and Hong Ren
Zhu Da [1] aka Bada Shanren, an eccentric Chinese painter of the Ming-Dynasty, played with the idea of scales in countless works. Although it may not be clear at first glance, his paintings are very informative about how the principle of Chinese scales works in Chinese painting.
Playing with the scales or balance becomes really exciting when empty space (voit, the nothing) is thrown into the scales. [Fig. 4] Viewed in isolation, the bird would likely tip over backward. The empty space and the imaginary line to the signature at the top left of the picture create a counterweight that forces the composition back into balance.
Hong Ren [2], a Chinese Buddhist monk and painter of the early Qing dynasty, created a painting that exemplifies the principle of balance in Chinese painting. In this painting, Hong Ren leaves the left half of the picture completely empty and piles up on the right rock that points infinitely upwards. The composition works mainly thanks to the well-thought-out representation of the tree, which both communicates with the elements shown in the picture and moves the infinite emptiness into the picture, thus creating balance.
Pan Tianshou, a Chinese painter of the 20th century, created a painting that takes up the idea of balance in Chinese painting. In this painting, he stages a cormorant that emits its sound in the direction of the upper left corner (emptiness). One almost thinks of hearing the bird’s cry. [Fig. 6]
After these smaller works (they were also chosen because they are easier to depict), let’s look at the principle of balance again by looking at a longer, vertical scroll. [Fig. 7]
Chen Kang and Ma Yuan
Chen Kang’s [4] painting of a bird on a branch is a beautiful example of the principle of balance in Chinese painting. The painting shows a heavy, old, gnarled branch from which a juicy young branch protrudes far into the sky. At its extreme end sits a bird, the light counterweight, so to speak. The creation of two perspectives in the picture and the skillful use of emptiness reinforce the impression of space.
Chen Kang also uses a trick that was often used by Zhu Da: the empty space on the right can be seen through the horizontal, lighter line in the gnarled branch, the thin twig, the tail feather of the bird, and the resulting imaginary line to the seal on the right below, in something solid, namely a rock, to be rethought. This makes us imagine the bird sitting on a rock. This trick with the interplay of real versus not real falls into the category “between absolutely similar and absolutely dissimilar” (sì yú bù sì zhī jiān 似 与不 似 之间) and enjoyed great popularity, especially in the Qing period.
One Corner Ma – “Ma yi jiao”
As a last classic example, we look at the Song Dynasty painter Ma Yuan’s [5] famous picture scroll “Hike on a Mountain Path in Spring” (山徑 春 行 shān jìng chūn xíng). On this album sheet, we also find a poem by Emperor Ningzong [6] at the top right [Fig. 8].
Ma Yuan used the “one corner composition” (邊角 之 景 biānjiǎo zhī jǐng) to transform tension into meditative calm by reducing the image content to the extreme. Hence his nickname one-corner-Ma (馬 一角 Mǎ yījiǎo).
This principle can be seen in this picture of Ma Yuan executed in more detail and artistically implemented. The principle 似 与不 似 之间 between absolutely similar and absolutely dissimilar can be seen in the treatment of the willow branches, which at the same time also reminds us of distant mountain ridges and allows the landscape that started on the top left to be interpreted into the distance. Everything that has weight is placed in the lower left corner, and the dynamics of the scales create space far away.
Again and again, this principle has served the scales not only subliminally (in single lines) but also as the primary content of an image. Representing an example from modern painting, Li Keran’s [7] charming picture “Boy on a Water-buffalo” [Fig. 9] depicts a lightweight boy pulling a heavy water buffalo to balance,
Footnotes:
(1) Zhu Da (Zhū Dā 朱 耷; also known as Bādà Shānrén 八大山人 1625 – 1705) was a Chinese painter and calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty.
(2) Hongren (Hóng Rén 弘仁, personal name Jiāng Tāo 江 韬, stage name Jiàn Jiāng 漸 江, 1610 – 1664 in She Xian) was a Chinese painter of the late Ming and Qing dynasties and a Buddhist monk. He is one of the most important masters of the Anhui school.
(3) Pan Tianshou (Pān Tiānshòu 潘天壽; 1897–1971) was an important painter and teacher.
He studied painting with Wu Changshuo and laid the foundations for modern training in traditional Chinese painting. During the Cultural Revolution until he died in 1971 he faced persecution and reprisals.
(4) Chen Kang (Chén Kāng 陳 康 19th century).
(5) Ma Yuan (马 远 Mǎ Yuǎn 1160-1225 was an important painter of the Chinese Song Dynasty.
(6) Emperor Ningzong (宋宁宗 Sòng Níngzōng 1168 – 1224) was the 13th emperor of the Song Dynasty. He ruled between 1194 and his death in 1224. He was an important patron of the arts and primarily supported painters such as Liang Kai and Ma Yuan.
(7) Li Keran (李可染 Lǐ Kěrǎn 1907-1989) was one of the most popular Chinese painters of the 20th century. He was particularly popular for his depiction of water buffalo.
Illustrations:
Fig.1: Sketch of the principle of Western scales and Chinese scales
Fig.2: The Chinese characters one (yī 一) and water (shuǐ 水)
Fig.3: Zhu Da 朱 耷: Chrysanthemums. Album sheet. From the album Pictures of Flowers. Fruits and Insects No. 2 (huā guǒ wū chóng cè zhī èr 花果 烏 蟲 册 之 二)
Fig.4: Zhu Da 朱 耷: bird. Album sheet. From the album Pictures of Flowers and Birds No. 2. (huā niǎo cè yè zhī èr 花鸟 册 页 之 二)
Fig.5: Hong Ren (弘仁; 1610–1663) landscape fragment. Ink on paper. 25.2 x 25.3 cm. Shanghai Museum
Fig.6: Pan Tianshou (潘天寿), cormorant (lúcí 鸬鹚). 1960. Jiangsu Museum of Art
Fig.7: Chen Kang (Chén Kāng 陳 康 19th century). Bird on a branch in the style of Zhu Da. Ink on paper. 107 x 28 cm. Picture scroll.
Fig.8: Ma Yuan (Mǎ Yuǎn 馬 遠 c. 1160–65 – 1225). Hike on a mountain path in spring (shān jìng chūn xíng 山徑 春 行). Indian ink on silk. 27.4 cm × 43.1 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei
Ill.9: Li Keran (李可染 Lǐ Kěrǎn 1907 – 1989) water buffalo (shuǐniú 水牛). Ink on paper, scroll painting 68 x 35.5 cm. 1978 [The picture is from an exhibition catalog from Artnet]
I studied Chinese art, lived in China for 5 years, studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and wrote my dissertation on Chinese free-hand style painting. Some of his artwork is offered at: FriedrichZettl.com. More articles can be found in The Essence of Chinese Painting.
This article was published in German in 2020 by oe-g.cf.
@ Friedrich Zettl. All rights reserved.
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