The Formation of Chinese Still Life Paintings in the Context of the Interaction of Western and Eastern Artistic Traditions

Abstract

Chinese painting of flowers and birds and Western still life paintings are unique, but they have a certain similarity in the representation of objects of the material world. The artists who created them belonged to different cultures, but turned to similar motives, means of expression, as well as artistic materials and techniques of working with them. Gradually, their interaction intensified, which led to borrowings and changes in artistic concepts. The main problem of this study is the parallels in the evolution of the genre of still life paintings in Chinese and Western European painting from the XVII century to the present — the time of the active development of this genre both in the West and in the East. The aim of the research is to find similarities and differences in the approaches of Chinese and Western European artists when creating works in the genre of still life in terms of background construction, composition, color, ways of expressing the idea, as well as the choice of theme and motif of the image. A comparative characteristic of the work of artists of various periods from Caravaggio and Li Song to Marcus Lupertz and Zhou Shaohua, as well as a number of modern Chinese painters, is consistently given. A comprehensive artistic analysis of paintings by various authors shows that at present we can talk about the search for traditions in the creation of still life in the synthesis of the principles of Western European art and Guohua.