How to Read Chinese PaintingsThe Chinese often use the expression du hua, U+001cto read a painting, in connection with their study and appreciation of such works. This volume closely U+001creads thirty-six masterpieces of Chinese painting from the encyclopedic collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in order to reveal the major characteristics and themes of this rich pictorial tradition. The book examines multiple layers of meaningU+0015style, technique, symbolism, past traditions, and the artistU+0019s personal circumstancesU+0015through accessible texts and numerous large color details. A dynastic chronology, map, and list of further readings supplement the text. Spanning a thousand years of Chinese art, these landscapes, flowers, birds, figures, religious subjects, and calligraphies illuminate the main goal of every Chinese artist: to capture not only the outer appearance of a subject but also its inner essence. |
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active album leaf artist Barnhart brush brushstrokes brushwork C. C. Wang Family Calligraphy and Painting century character China Chinese Calligraphy Chinese Painting colophon color on silk composition Confucian Crawford Jr cursive Daoist depiction Dillon Fund Gift Douglas Dillon dragon Ex coll Family Collection Fong foreground forms geese Gonglin Guo Xi Han Gan Handscroll detail Hanging scroll horse Huang Huang Tingjian ink and color ink on paper ink on silk ink wash inscription landscape Level Distance Li Gonglin Lin Xiangru luohan Ma Yuan master Metropolitan Museum Ming Museum of Art National Palace Museum Ni Zan Night-Shining White painter Painting and Calligraphy poem Qian Qing Representation rocks scholar scholar-artists seals Shitao's Song Painting Academy Southern Song Painting style Su Shi Sutra Taipei Tang texture strokes translation Vimalakirti Wang Family Gift Wang Xizhi Xi's York Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu Zhao's