Landscape painting is a type of painting that expresses the beauty of mountains and rivers and can seek some spiritual sustenance for human beings. The origin of landscape painting in China is very early. According to historical records, landscape painting existed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, but the actual objects have not been circulated. The earliest landscape paintings we can see today are the background landscapes in "The Proverbs of a Female History" and "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" by Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As we mentioned earlier in the section on figure painting, these two paintings by Gu Kaizhi express figures as the main body, and the landscape is only the background of the figures.
However, the mountains, beasts, forests, and birds that are part of the background of the characters are perfectly integrated and behave very realistically. Mountains and rocks began to rely on changes in lines to express different surfaces, rely on layers to express different changes in mountains, and use overlooking angles to express vertical and horizontal mountains and rivers. These are the basic expression techniques of later landscape painting. Although this expression is still in a relatively immature stage, it has laid a solid foundation for the future development of Chinese landscape painting. Therefore, Gu Kaizhi's name is not only connected with the historical development of Chinese figure painting, but also contributed to the development of Chinese landscape painting.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties after Gu Kaizhi, landscape painting flourished. A group of painters who could paint landscape paintings and the first batch of papers dedicated to landscape painting appeared. But so far, we have not found a single landscape painting from that time that has been handed down. We can only understand the development level of Chinese landscape painting in that era based on the literature on landscape painting at that time. However, since then, the art of landscape painting has entered the Chinese painting world with relatively complete expression techniques and systematic theories.
Chinese landscape painting experienced great development during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The works of painters represented by Zhan Ziqian in the Sui Dynasty provide important materials for us to study the status of landscape painting in this period. Zhan Ziqian was a native of present-day Shandong. He served as an official in the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasties. He was a versatile painter and was said to be superb at figures, landscapes, boundary paintings, and chariots and horses. He is known as the "ancestor of Tang painting" by the world. However, his most outstanding contribution lies in landscape painting, and his only work that has been handed down to this day is "Spring Outing" now preserved in the Palace Museum.
"Spring Outing" is a green landscape painting mainly depicting natural scenery, showing the scene of people traveling in spring. On a small silk canvas, the artist used proper management, fine brushwork and brilliant colors to paint a beautiful scene of green mountains, lush flowers and trees, and sparkling spring scenery. In the picture, the mountains are green and the water is beautiful, the water and sky are diffuse, and the waves are shining On the beautiful lake, a gorgeous high-top yacht rippled with the waves. The three women in the boat looked around, intoxicated by the beautiful scenery of the lake and mountains, and never wanted to leave. Several people by the lake were riding horses, strolling along the mountain trails, or standing on the shore with their hands full, full of interest. The painter successfully embodied the theme of "Spring Outing" through vivid depictions of various natural scenery and human activities. Yu Qian's "Spring Outing" paved the way for the formation of the Green Landscape Painting School in the Tang Dynasty.
In Tanghua, Li Sixun and his son Li Daozhao directly inherited the landscape painting style of Zhan Yuqian's line. Li Sixun was a member of the Tang Dynasty clan and served as "General Wuwei". He inherited Jing Jing and developed Zhan Ziqian's painting techniques. His brushwork was precise and precise, his fish painting was strong and steady, and his paintings were grand in layout, magnificent and highly decorative. After his marriage, Li Zhaodao inherited his painting style, which was said at the time to be "the same as his father's, but even more wonderful", and he was the first to create seascapes and landscapes.
In this way, from Zhan Ziqian in the Sui Dynasty to Li Sixun and his son in the Tang Dynasty, the green landscape painting school has formed a unique style in Chinese landscape painting. In the Tang Dynasty, the origin of another school of landscape painting was formed, that is, ink landscape painting.
The founder of ink landscape painting was Wang Wei. It is said that he was good at poetry, calligraphy, painting and music, and he even served as Minister Youcheng. Wang Wei's paintings like to use themes such as snow scenes, sword pavilions, plank roads, dawn walks, fishing, etc. His paintings are famous for their exquisite brushwork and rendering, and are characterized by "heavy" and "deep". Another important feature of Wang Wei's landscape paintings is the organic combination of poetry and painting. As we have mentioned before, the history of painting generally regards him as the founder of the combination of poetry and painting. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty after Wang Wei, an "ink and wash movement" emerged in the development of landscape painting. In this way, Chinese landscape painting developed into the Tang Dynasty and entered a new world of freedom.
From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, it was an era when landscape painters and landscape painting schools emerged in large numbers. These painters inherited and developed the excellent traditions of landscape painters in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and pushed Chinese landscape painting to unprecedented heights. , formed the Northern School of Landscape Painting and Southern School of Landscape Painting in the Five Dynasties Period, the Central Plains School of Painting and Courtyard Landscape Painting in the Northern Song Dynasty, the "Midian Landscape" and Green Landscape Painting in the Late Northern Song Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty Courtyard Landscape Painting represented by the four masters of the Southern Song Dynasty.
During the Five Dynasties period, the representatives of the Northern School of landscape painting were Jing Hao and his student Guan Tong. Jing Hao is from the north and once lived in seclusion in the Taihang Mountains, so he was mostly exposed to the majestic scenery of the north and the Taihang Mountains. The landscapes painted are "towering peaks at the top, and poor valleys at the bottom." Most of them are huge ravines, and the organized layout is a panoramic layout with a central peak. With the main peak as the center, the broken white of clouds and haze is used to set off the middle and foreground. Overall arrangement. The scene is vast, majestic and has a strong sense of space. It is said that "Kuanglu Picture" is his masterpiece. His disciple Guan Tong was from Chang'an and studied under Jing Hao, but he was known as "the one who excelled in his studies". He was a man of his own, and he liked to paint the scenery of Guan and Shaanxi in the autumn mountains and cold forests, and the villages and wild crossings. His handed down work "Travel in Guanshan" features towering peaks and profound charm; the trees in the painting have branches and no trunks, but give people a "chaotic but neat, simple and interesting" feeling.
Corresponding to the northern landscape painting school represented by Jing Hao and Guan Tong, there is the Jiangnan School of Painting represented by Dong Yuan and his disciple Ju Ran in the south, which expresses Jiangnan landscapes, also known as the "Southern School of Landscape Painting". . Dong Yuan and Ju Ran were both painters active in the south in the second half of the 10th century. They lived in an environment in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which was different from the lonely, rich and cold north, but an area with gentle terrain, warm sunshine, and humid conditions. They experience nature and depict it with unique artistic language. In Dong Yuan's works, it is difficult to see precipitous and steep mountain peaks. What you can see is the endless reflections of gentle and continuous mountains, streams at the foot of the forest, mountain villages and fish houses, all of which are the moving scenery of the hills and lakes in the south of the Yangtze River. Dong Yuan's