Dictionary of Techniques of Famous Painters in Chinese Painting Through the Ages. Flowers and Birds Edition

Author: Lu Fusheng, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: It is unlikely that any other painting tradition in the world possesses a set of inherited, systematic yet flexible and diverse schematic norms as Chinese painting does. Whether it is renowned masters or aspiring students, none can bypass these schematic norms to achieve success. It can be said that the masters of Chinese painting throughout history were both creators and inheritors of these schematic norms. It is precisely the perfect combination of inheritance and creation that has secured them a meaningful place in the long chain of Chinese development. For this very reason, Chinese painting instruction adopts a "apprenticeship" approach distinct from the Western method. It trains and nurtures new generations of Chinese painters through a path of "applying method to reach the Dao"—beginning with copying and then innovating, with initial acceptance followed by understanding, and with initial focus on specialization before diversification. However, due to historical constraints and ideological approaches, people are often confined to very limited schools or even the narrow confines of a single sect, making this teaching method highly inflexible and yielding extremely low success rates. Today, with the widespread use of modern printing technology, people can access numerous painting albums and apprenticeship drafts. However, albums often shrink original works by many times, making it impossible to discern detailed techniques, while apprenticeship drafts continue to adhere to the teaching methods of a single school or sect. As a result, most people still lack a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of tradition, failing to establish a solid foundation for development. Instead, they tend to fall into two extreme positions: either blindly revering tradition or hastily rejecting it. In light of this, we have selected representative schematic techniques from, categorized them, compiled them into this volume, and printed them as large as possible to reveal their subtle local details. Our aim is to help readers gain a holistic understanding and grasp of the styles and evolutionary trajectories of various schools and sects. This will enable them to effectively learn from the past to understand the present, accumulate profound knowledge, draw from diverse sources, and ultimately forge their own unique styles. It goes without saying that this book also holds certain reference value for artifact appraisers, art historians and theorists, as well as general cultural researchers.