Interpretations of Rice Paper Watercolor Painting in Art Teaching

Abstract

The ricepaperplant pith is also known as Tetrapanax papyrine, Akebia, or tall gastrodia fruit, a kind of shrub or small tree of the Araliaceous. It is native to south China and Taiwan Prov., the raw material of rice paper. Extract its central tissue from the stem to make pith slices which could be made as the watercolor painting paper. It arose in Guangzhou in the 19th century, and the themes are mainly focused on reflecting the social life scenes as well as various characters in late Qing Dynasty, such as officials, soldiers, juggling, weaving, playing instrument, etc. The works are lively, vivid, and bright in colors. As the result of using western painting principles and reflecting Chinese local customs, rice paper watercolor paintings were admired by Westerners at that time. However, as pith paper is fragile, the size of painting was usually small and difficult to conserve, there are few works handed down in China. In recent years, the rice paper watercolor painting has attracted more and more concern, which is of great significance to the study of the development of early Western paintings in China.