Chinese Traditional Painting

Lingo Bus provides Chinese classes for kids ages from 5 to 12!
Chinese painting is one of the oldest styles of painting in the world,
with its painting style remaining virtually unchanged for centuries.
Unlike western styles of artistic painting that change through centuries
and have their own master based on periods.
Chinese painting is known as “ 国 画 ” (guó huà), roughly translates to
‘nation/country painting’, and can be broken down into two styles, “ 工
笔 画 ” (gōng bǐ huà, Chinese realistic painting) and “ 水 墨 画 ” (shuǐ mò
huà, ink-wash painting).

A famous example of this style is the painting from the Song dynasty
by the artists Zhang Xuan called ‘Court ladies preparing newly woven
silk’. It depicts an annual celebration where the court ladies would
prepare silk, therefore opening a window to the past. See how all the
court ladies are performing different tasks, and how each has been
painted to express their individual character.
Unlike realistic painting,ink-wash painting is based on one color, black
calligraphy ink. These paintings are stunning in that details are added
by having different shades of black.
This is a great example of ink-wash technique done by Chen Rong is
‘nine dragons’, which plays on the Chinese mythology of the nine sons
of the dragon king, the painting style itself focuses on the forces of
nature based on Daoism. This painting is so famous that it can even
be found in mosaics or painted on walls in China.
Chinese painting is amazing because like it’s characters, it’s a series
of strokes that work together. Before start painting, you must have
already formed the complete image in your head.