Bai Meitu Says: Touch and Explore Famous Paintings of Chinese History

Author: Deng Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Original art relics indicate that figure painting is the earliest among all Chinese painting genres. As a branch of figure painting, court lady painting had already taken shape by the Jin Dynasty (266–420). Gu Kaizhi's The Admonitions of the Palace Ladies, which depicts the behavior norms of women, is a classic example of early court lady painting. Its silk-like, expressive line work, more vivid than any other method at the time, better conveyed the form, spirit, texture, and compositional relationships of the subjects. The continuous refinement of this line work, combined with the achievements of calligraphy in different eras, eventually formed the clothing line technique system of Chinese figure painting, represented by the "Eighteen Descriptions," which remains captivating to this day. This book features works by renowned masters such as Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Zhang Sengyou of the Southern Liang Dynasty, Zhou Fang, Zhang Xuan, and anonymous artists of the Tang Dynasty; Ruan Zuo and Gu Hongzhong of the Five Dynasties; Wu Zongyuan and Zhao Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty; Su Hanchen of the Southern Song Dynasty; Zhang Yu of the Jin Dynasty; Liu Guandao, Zhang Wei, and Wei Jiading of the Yuan Dynasty; Du Jin, Guo Xu, Wu Wei, Zhang Lu, Tang Yin, Zhang Ling, Wen Zhengming, Qiu Ying, Xue Susu, You Qiu, Cui Zizhong, Jiang Yin, Chen Hongshou, and anonymous artists of the Ming Dynasty; Ling Mei, Yu Ziding, Ding Guanpeng, Huang Shen, Cai Jia, Jiang Xun, Kang Tao, Min Zhen, Gai Qi, Fei Danyu, Ren Xiong, Wu Jiaoyou, Zhou Quan, Ren Yi, Wu Qiunong, Hu Xigui, Ni Tian, and others.