Appreciation of Ancient Costume Character Paintings Series: Feng Yuan

Author: Feng Yuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The regrets of history have been partially compensated for by contemporary artists, and on this foundation, there has been significant progress and improvement, with achievements that are evident to all. Comparing the artistic standards of ink and wash figure painting, the past is not as good as the present; in terms of the creation of form and spirit in figure painting, the present surpasses the past; regarding the techniques of figure painting, both the past and present have their merits; as for the formal language of figure painting, the past is far inferior to the present. Chinese ink and wash figure painting is like Peking Opera—it is a highly stylized genre that uses the abstract to represent the concrete and emphasizes symbolic expression. Once it forms a set of norms, it becomes a constraint. Chinese painters, who have always respected tradition, find it difficult to exist without either compromising their principles or conforming to these norms. The mindset of being unwilling or afraid to break the rules has persisted through generations, and this repeated failure has only solidified the "tradition." Figure painting cannot develop without research into people, how to represent them, and their living environment. When people's consciousness is not respected by culture, and when the rational spirit of figure painters is suppressed by feudalism, the hope for the development of figure painting can only remain an ideal.