13. Pilgrimage
in Northern Song
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Concept: realism
“All the masters before [me] had formed their styles because they observed closely the objective world. One...had to learn to be objective. But that was not enough. He had to master his personality.” Fan Kuan, translated by Bo Songnian
“The commonplace notion [is] that Realism is a ‘styleless' or transparent style, a mere simulacrum or mirror image of visual reality… [such] statements [are] derived from the belief that perception could be ‘pure' and unconditioned by time or place. But is pure perception—perception in a vacuum, as it were—ever possible?” Nochlin, 14.
Objects
Landscape painting before the Northern Song
• “Salt mines.” Han-dynasty tomb tile. 2nd century.
• “Hunters and harvesters.” Han-dynasty tomb tile. 2nd century.
• “Nelson sarcophaghus.” 525. Engraved stone. (fig. 5-29)
• Li Zhaodao 李昭道 , att. “Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Shu.” Tang dynasty (607-918).
• “Hunting scene.” From tomb of Prince Zhanghuai. 706-711 CE. example of POMO 破墨 broken ink, CUN 皴法 wrinkles (fig. 6-7)
Northern Song dynasty 960-1126, academy painters at court
• Fan Kuan 范宽 (960-ca. 1050), “Traveling Amidst Mountains and Gorges.” Hanging scroll. Ink, colors, silk, 6'7” x 40 1/4”. National Palace Museum, Taipei. (fig. 7-19)
• Guo Xi 郭熙 (11th century), “Early Spring.” 1072. Hanging scroll. Ink, colors, silk; 62 x 42”. National Palace Museum, Taipei. (fig. 7-20)
• Li Cheng 李成 (11th century), “Temple in the Hills After the Rains.” Hanging scroll. Ink, colors, silk. Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City.
• Li Tang 李唐 ( ca 1050- after 1120), “Wind through the Pine Valleys.” 1124. Hanging scroll. Ink, colors, silk. National Palace Museum, Taipei.
comparisons
• Yan Liben 閻立本 (c. 600-c. 673) . Thirteen Emperors (detail). Tang dynasty, early 7 th century. Handscroll, ink and color on silk; 51.3 x 531 cm. Boston MFA.
• Anonymous. Landscape . Mid 10th century. Hanging scroll, silk; 106.5 x 54 cm.
• Amitabha's Paradise. Late Tang, 9 th century. Painted banner, from Dunhuang Cave 17 storeroom. British Museum.
• Zhang Hongtu 張宏圖 (b. 1949). Fan Kuan - Van Gogh and Guo Xi – Van Gogh . 1998. Oil on canvas. see artist homepage, http://momao.com
Terms
cun 皴法 wrinkles
dian 點 dots
pomo 破墨 broken ink
yudiancun 雨點皴 raindrop texture strokes
Texts
a) “[Fan Kuan's painting] perfectly fulfills the ideal of the Northern Song that a landscape painting should be of such compelling realism that the viewer will feel that he has been actually transported to the place depicted…” Sullivan, Arts of China , 159.
b) Mountains… “were charged with mana. They were, on the one hand, visible extrusions of the bony framework of the world, and, on the other hand, batteries charged with the spiritual electricity of Heaven, which flashed close to their summits.” Schafer, 140.
• “A virtual image of a human body may represent no actual body in particular, but may be based on a composite or simulation of human bodies drawn from various sources. Its realism stems from its embodiment of ideal or composite conditions of human bodies, not on its correspondence with an actual body referent.” Cartwright, 144.
c) “In landscape, first pay attention to the major mountain, called the master peak. When this one is established you can turn to the others, near and far, large and small. We call it the master peak because, in this manner, it is sovereign over the entire scene. It is like the hierarchy of lord and ministers.” Guo Xi, translated by Bush and Shih, 178.
d) “The student must, for all the separate things in the world, proceed, by means of the Principles already known to him, to gain a further exhaustive knowledge of those others (with which he is as yet unfamiliar), in this way seeking to extend his knowledge to the furthest point. When one has exerted oneself for a long time, finally a morning will come when complete understanding will open before one…[To this end] the concentrated and intensive…' investigation of things, with complete sincerity was the first step, and nothing was entirely irrelevant.” Zhu Xi, translated by Bodde and quoted by Sullivan, Symbols of Eternity , 70.
e) “When Constable said that he tried to forget that he had ever seen a picture as he sat down to paint from nature, or Monet said that he wished he had been born blind and then suddenly received his sight, they were not merely placing a high premium on originality. They were stressing the importance of confronting reality afresh, of consciously stripping their minds, and their brushes, of secondhand knowledge and ready-made formulae.” Nochlin, 20.
Bibliography
Barnhart, Richard, et. al. Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting . New Haven: Yale University and Foreign Languages Press, 1997.
Bush, Susan, and Hsio-yen Shih, trans. Early Chinese Texts on Painting . Cambridge: Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1985.
Cahill, James. Chinese Painting . New York: Rizzoli, 1977.
Cartwright, Lisa, and Marita Sturken. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture . New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Clunas, Craig. Art in China . Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Little, Stephen. Taoism and the Arts of China . The Chicago Art Institute in association with University of California Press, 2000.
Naquin, Susan, and Chün-fang Yü, eds. Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China . Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.
Nochlin, Linda. Realism . New York: Penguin Books, 1971.
Schafer, Edward H. The Vermillion Bird: T'ang Images of the South . Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China . 3d ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967.
_____. Symbols of Eternity: The Art of Landscape Painting in China . Stanford University Press, 1979.
Wen Fong and James CY Watt, eds. Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei . The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1996.
Some reminders about the Three Teachings:
Confucianism:
Confucius 孔子 ( 551-479 BCE).
Daoism:
Dao 道 Sometimes written in English as “tao.” Chinese term usually translated as “the Way;” the all-inclusive, ever-changing foundation for all existence, believed to be beyond verbal description
qi 气 Chinese term meaning literally “breath” or “air,” but with connotations of energy; pronounced “chee” in English
yin 阴 dark, feminine, passive energy or principle of the cosmos, counterpart to yang
yang 阳 : light, masculine, active energy or principle of the cosmos, counterpart to yin
Buddhism:
Buddhas : enlightened, awakened ones
Bodhisattvas : beings destined for enlightenment, a future buddha, who seek enlightenment for all sentient beings before his/her own.