Interpretation of the symbols of "snow painting" in Chinese art as a reflection of the process of changes in national religious, philosophical and aesthetic concepts

Abstract

The article examines the symbolism of "snow painting" in the context of the development of a range of motifs and means of artistic expression, techniques of execution, which artists have chosen since the inception of this type of landscape genre to the modern situation. This analysis is implemented in the context of changes in the reception and reflection of elements of winter species caused by transformations in the worldview of people of a particular era occurring in the socio-cultural sphere. The object of research is the winter landscape in Chinese painting of the III – late XX century. The subject of the study is the symbolic system in the construction of artistic space in the winter landscape in Chinese painting of the specified period. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of spatial worldview in the "snow painting" of China in the context of national aesthetic and philosophical ideas. The research methodology is interdisciplinary and includes the study of the organization of space and the interpretation of its symbolic content in the paintings of Chinese landscape painters who turned to the image of winter and the motif of snow at different historical stages. When considering and analyzing works of Chinese painting, the iconographic method and stylistic analysis are used. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it clarifies the concept of "snow painting" in the context of the development of Chinese fine art, identifies the circle of authors who addressed it, establishes a certain continuity in the artistic, stylistic and compositional techniques used by them, as well as the philosophical and aesthetic concepts behind them. The latter are directly related to the specifics of creating such works, as well as the means of modeling space by artists, which is revealed in the conclusions of the study. Within the framework of the analysis, the range of frequently used motifs and images is determined, their interpretation of the symbolic meanings associated with them are proposed. Snow in such painting is considered as a symbol of beauty, loyalty, nobility, as well as part of the "emptiness" in the artistic space of the painting.