Guohua Landscape Paintings of China

 

Throughout this class many different artistic styles and different methods of painting, there was one that I wished had been covered. My fascination of this art began at a very early age from the stem of Disney movie Mulan. The use of watered Ink and landscape paintings in China has always seemed like a majestic kind of magic, the depths of art they achieve with the use of ink and water. So for the last blog, and a farewell to this amazing class, I chose to do my exhibit on the Chinese artistic style of Guohua, a central genre of national painting during the early 20^th century.

The artists I wish to focus on are amongst the most famous and revered guohua painters during this time: Huang Binhong, Liu Haisu, He Tianjian, Wu Hufan, and Fu Baoshi.

1945-55, Landscapes by Huang Binhong China

Executed with the use of different brushstrokes, different angles, pressure, and multiple layers for density of ink. Binhong deemed paintings such as these as the “order of disorder”, if you look from different angles, it in fact looks a bit like a blob of ink until you take a moment to look closer and seek out the definition this ink provides, the picture forms. Binhong was one of the artists who balked at the idea of the stifled restrictions on art that had developed over time and looked to the artists of the past in order to find the inspiration for this type of artistic style. This style became popular among Chinese artists during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, only to fade after restrictions had found it too chaotic and unrefined for Chinese art, this perspective obviously became overturned during the 20^th century as artists like Huang brought the landscape guohua back.

I chose this painting due to its diverse depth and character, it speaks of a beautiful, peaceful scene of what looks to be an everyday perspective of a Chinese mountain front. The art behind these pieces truly takes you by surprise, as we have studied many different artists through the ages, you find that most need the use of different colors to achieve such a depth in their paintings. Yet, the Chinese achieved it with two materials, water and Ink. The simplicity that breeds such chaos is what drew me into this artistic style. Below I will show more examples from different artists with excerpts of their background into this style.

White Dragon Pool at Yellow Mountain by Liu Haisu, 1980

Haisu used a bit more color within his paintings, but kept true to the Guohua artistic style with ink and water. His color usage is a method called color splashing, though this wasn’t used during the earlier works with this type of artistic style, it became popular upon its rebirth during the early twentieth century. This landscape has such a way of drawing you to the colorful bits, but recognizing the parts that aren’t colored as well. Instead of using color to entice emotions, he uses the color to add to the emotion that the black ink and water already brings forward through the picture. This piece has such a peaceful and serene emotion to it, you can almost picture the sound of the water and imagine the red blossoming on the trees.

草木春深 立轴, by He Tianjian, 1945

Though there is still some usage of color, this color is very light compared to the use of Haisu. Tianjian acted amongst the artists of who pushed to defend and revive the guohua artistic style of painting. During the harsh criticism it faced as it was unrefined and non-scientific or progressive. This artists style focused on reviving old techniques through a marriage of contemporary methods, producing art that became famous among society and his peers. Tianjian focused on reproducing a depiction of the spirit of the scene within the painting, in the hopes that this spirit would pass onto the lookers of this painting through its beauty.

I believe there is a spirit or emotion trapped within every painting, particularly those focused around difficult times or struggles. This spirit isn’t there to haunt but rather to teach and educate those who experience it during that time and for many years to pass, as this spirit or emotion becomes transient through time in the form of a painting.

Left: Wu Hufan, Meiying Studio 1929

Right: Huang Binhong, Dwelling in the Xixia Mountains 1954

For this piece, specifically the piece by Wu Hufan, I wanted to provide a side by side comparison between another artist. Notice that the piece done by Hufan was completed during 1929, and the piece by Binhong almost thirty years later. Yet, the detail accomplished during the twenties by Hufan is remarkable, through the use of color addition with the ink, attention is specifically drawn to those details. Binhong utilizes his technique of ink layering and depth, yet still achieves such definition, but without the added use of color. Therefore, there are two examples of how such a small addition could change the entirety of the picture, yet, there is still such detail accomplished in both methods. Guohua is a style utilized by many different Chinese artists, yet there is such distinctions between an artists works and their methods that the different becomes obvious and intriguing. As stated earlier, you can definitely see what Binhong meant by the order that becomes disorder, the fact that his paintings do look like a chaos of ink until closer inspection is accomplished.

Heaven and Earth Glowing Red by Fu Baoshi, 1964

Fu Baoshi was a politically driven artist, his artwork stemmed around the inspiration of portraying Chinese culture and tradition. This brought him specifically to the use of guohua painting styles, in the rebirth of its use. Baoshi’s artwork was used as symbolic in nature in order to showcase Chinese national identity around the world during the twentieth century. This painting in particular illustrates a poem by Mao Zedong that brings attention to the political conflict during its time:

               “The four oceans boil and clouds fume with rain.

               We wash away insects

               And are strong.

               The five continents shake in the wind of lighting.”

In this painting you can see the red globe is meant to be earth floating above the ocean expanse, no matter the chaos around, earth remains strong.

All of the Guohua paintings are on horizontal scrolls to symbolize the very early Chinese tradition, so that not only is the painting protected but that it may last among being transferred from owner to owner. These paintings are unique in method and the struggle incurred in order to revive it, when I found out that the style I was interested in had become so criticized and almost banned only to be revived by an almost rebellion, the motivation to understand more increased. Any type of style that becomes criticized but remains strong or reborn, should intrigue those in the ability to survive among politics and time.  

 

References: 

Heaven and Earth Glow Red (no date) Metmuseum.org. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/76720 (Accessed: December 3, 2022).

Brennan, D.K.L. and Brennan, D.K.L. (no date) The potentials of modern Chinese art in the Republic of China (1912–49), Smarthistory. Available at: https://smarthistory.org/reframing-art-history/art-republic-of-china/ (Accessed: December 3, 2022).

He tianjian (no date) He Tianjian : E & W ART COLLECTION. Available at: http://www.ew-arts.com/artists/he-tianjian/ (Accessed: December 3, 2022).

(no date) Liu Haisu: Artistic rebel. Available at: http://www.china.org.cn/english/NM-e/162397.htm (Accessed: December 3, 2022).

Binhong, H. (no date) Landscapes, The Art Institute of Chicago. Arts of Asia. Available at: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/34299/landscapes (Accessed: December 3, 2022).