The Embodiment of the Image of Yellow River in Chinese Oil Painting of the turn of the XX and XXI Centuries

Abstract

The article examines the historical process of the development of the features of the embodiment of the Yellow River motif, which is quite relevant in modern Chinese art, made in the technique of oil painting. Chinese artists turned to the classical world heritage of painting only at the end of the nineteenth century. In a relatively short period of time, Chinese masters not only perfectly mastered the realistic principles of oil painting, but also were able to adapt this type of artistic creativity to their culture by searching for a national idea of the work. This article is devoted to the analysis of the image and the symbolic meaning of the Yellow River in Chinese oil painting. The study concluded that the character and worldview of the Chinese people originated in the valley of the Yellow River, so the image of this river is inextricably linked in the minds of every citizen of the country with the origins of the nation. Moreover, the artistic expression of the spiritual values of the Chinese people cannot be conceived without the image of the Yellow River. In the modern era, many oil artists express the image of the Yellow River in different ways, conveying their understanding and perception of the national spirit through pictorial means. In this regard, it is of interest to study the variations of the image of the river in oil painting from the point of view of its symbolic meaning and artistic expressiveness. This study identifies and examines, by the example of outstanding works of oil painting in China of the late XX and early XXI centuries, the features of the pictorial reading of the image in the plot compositions.