Modern Chinese Masters Painting Collection: Liu Lingcang

Author: Guo Muwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-06-01
Features: The use of painting manuals to teach and transmit painting techniques has long been regarded as an effective method in China. The circulation of painting manuals saw works like Song Bo-ren's Manual of Plum Blossoms and Li Wei's Bamboo Manual during the Song and Yuan dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, the variety of painting manuals increased, and the Jieziyuan Painting Manual of the Qing Dynasty became even more widely circulated. It systematically explains and discusses the fundamental techniques of various traditional Chinese painting disciplines, as well as their evolution and development. It also compiles important aesthetic thoughts of predecessors, with its systematic and comprehensive approach to painting theory and methods, making it an enduring collection of painting techniques. Drawing inspiration from the tradition of compiling painting manuals, we believe the publication of Manual of Modern Chinese Historians is a natural progression. We deeply feel that, compared to the Jieziyuan Painting Manual, painting today has indeed expanded its expressive realm. The variation in concepts, new aesthetic pursuits, and innovative techniques mean that older manuals can no longer fully meet today's needs. Therefore, compiling and publishing a manual that reflects the development of modern Chinese painting is a necessity of the times.
Rooted in our traditional culture and attuned to the pulse of the era, Chinese painters are striving to forge their own national identity while reaching for the global stage. With a richly nationalistic style, their techniques are deeply personal and expressive, blending Eastern and Western influences. Their art, dominated by line as the primary medium, has elevated the expression of culture, aesthetics, form, space, and color to new heights, placing Chinese painting (and Western painting) on the world stage of aesthetics.
To pass on the essence of modern Chinese painting and the distinctive Eastern style through manuals is a shared aspiration of both the older generation of Chinese painters and the middle-aged and young artists. The older generation has created their own creative methods and expressive techniques, achieving remarkable success along their paths. The innovative younger generation, following in their footsteps, sings the hymn of lines and the fragrance of colors.