Abstract
Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power.
Highlights
Chinese painting with its theory was first known to more Westerners in early 20th century when Kakuzo Okakura published The Ideals of the Eastern in which he translated some theoretical concepts proposed by a Chinese painter and painting critic named Xie He (479-502)
In its over two-thousand-year evolution, ancient Chinese painting theory has developed distinct phases based on the subject-object relation in painting as well as its function: from the very primary phase of xingsi, to shensi as a connecting link, and to a subject-object integration and perfection by xieyi
[28] Chinese painters and painting critics obviously managed to do that in their own way
Summary
Chinese painting with its theory was first known to more Westerners in early 20th century when Kakuzo Okakura published The Ideals of the Eastern in which he translated some theoretical concepts proposed by a Chinese painter and painting critic named Xie He (479-502). Rather the place in which they lived.” [5] Such Views and theories originating from Taoism and developed in Chinese painting tradition are " aesthetic and therapeutic", [1] due to the fact that producing and contemplating upon Chinese painting, especially landscape painting, have been considered by some Chinese, and later by many Westerners as a way to improve one's health, to better understand oneself, and to lead a sounder lifestyle by maintaining a more balanced relationship with nature. Ancient Chinese painting and its theory, after pursuing formal likeness and spiritual resemblance as art, started to be endowed with a curing power at its third stage by engaging more subjective elements in artistic creation and appreciation
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