Complete Collection of Chinese Art Classification Complete Collection of Modern Chinese Art Sketches

Author: Li Lüping
Editor-in-Chief: Sun Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features:
Fragment: Meanwhile, more artists, due to the large-scale intervention of Western culture at the turn of the century, acquired a clear and independent concept of "sketching." Their sketches were almost indistinguishable from today's sketches in terms of concept and technique. Sketching became a relatively common phenomenon as a regular creative auxiliary tool that an artist should possess.
If Chinese sketching, as seen in artists like Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong, can be considered a classical form, then in artists such as Gao Jianfu, Li Tiefu, Liu Haisu, Xu Beihong, and Lin Fengmian, it was very clearly transformed into a modern form. The distinction between sketching and creative work also became increasingly clear.
At the turn of the century, the teaching principles and practices of various new-style art schools introduced and studied the modeling principles of Western-style life drawing within the Western art education system. This was a very fundamental task aimed at mastering the Western realistic modeling system to enhance the ability to reproduce objects. It was an effective approach that enabled young artists to express real life and overturn the stale and decadent aspects of traditional culture.
In the early 20th century, a large number of young artists eager for art revolution went abroad for study, attempting to borrow elements from another cultural circle to break away from the old order and system of Chinese art. The revolutionary changes in sketching emerged in the rise of new-style art schools and among the group of students who studied abroad. The background of this revolution was very clear: after the defeat in the Opium War and around the time of the Xinhai Revolution, the elite among Chinese intellectuals had their faith in their own cultural system and actively sought ways to save the nation through reform from the West. In this process, the transformation of culture and even art was an important goal.
In the field of art, the earliest students to study abroad were those who went to Japan. Among them, Gao Jianfu was a prominent representative. While engaging in revolutionary activities to overthrow the imperial system, he also actively pursued art revolution. The strong revolutionary consciousness of the artist led to revolutionary art, and the result of this art revolution was the birth of the "Lingnan School," which took the reform of Chinese painting as its mission. The Lingnan School established the principle of life drawing as a foundation to oppose the traditional Chinese painting that was based on copying the old. Therefore, sketching became a means that Gao Jianfu placed great importance on.
Before the Lingnan School, Chinese artists placed more emphasis on copying from memory. Even among those who followed the principle of "learning from nature," such as Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong mentioned earlier, on-the-spot painting was not their most important foundational practice. In the sketches left by Gao Jianfu, we can see his great emphasis on the use of Western painting elements such as light and shadow and perspective. At the same time, the independence of sketching also emerged from him.
Li Tiefu, who studied in the United States, left behind oil and watercolor sketches that we must take seriously. He proved that Chinese sketching at the turn of the century was not rigid when regulated by the Western realistic system but possessed a certain capacity for absorption and digestion. For example, Li Tiefu's oil sketches absorbed the essence of Sargent's art while incorporating to some extent the brushwork and aesthetic interests of traditional Chinese art. His watercolor sketches, with bold brushstrokes that expressed the vitality of the scenery, also benefited from Sargent, but the dry brush and muted colors that conveyed a powerful beauty came from the artist's understanding of Chinese calligraphy and ink painting.
In the sketches of a later group of artists, the intention of integrating the Western realistic depiction system with China's own heritage, as seen in Li Tiefu's approach, remained their basic direction. Artists such as Xu Beihong, Liu Haisu, Lin Fengmian, Wu Zuorén, Yan Wenliang, and Liu Jintang all possessed this artistic attitude of blending Eastern and Western art.
Xu Beihong's sketches were built upon his foundation of drawing, and his artistic principle of "extending refinement to the vast" was fully realized in his sketches as well. The fluid gray tones and the natural combination of lines and surfaces were the visual key to his works. Xu Beihong's ink sketches reflected his achievement in integrating Eastern and Western art. The appropriate combination of calligraphic lines and dry, textured brushstrokes gave each stroke both momentum and a descriptive function, with the liveliness and wit expressed being difficult for ordinary artists to achieve.
Liu Haisu, in terms of artistic temperament and taste, inclined toward Impressionism and Fauvism and strove to achieve communication with the Eastern art system. His major achievement in sketching lay in oil sketches, where unrestrained and rhythmic brushwork, along with abrupt juxtapositions and transitions of warm and cool colors, successfully expressed the artist's passion for nature.