Ink-wash Paintings Research Articles

The Transformation of Animated Character Images: A Perspective on the Shift in Contemporary Chinese Public Aesthetics

As a rising star among various film categories in China, animated films hold a pivotal position. Directly targeting a vast audience of children and teenagers, they enjoy a natural advantage in cultural dissemination and ideological guidance. Since the creation of China’s first animated film, The Big Stir in the Studio in 1926, a distinctive national style has been one of the most prominent hallmarks of domestic animation. With the integration of modern artistic concepts and advanced animation production technologies, Chinese animation has, after a rich developmental journey, ultimately formed its unique creative paradigm and aesthetic philosophy. As a “young” art form, animation employs a wide array of content expression methods, encompassing artistic forms such as ink wash painting, sculpture, watercolor, and oil painting. Its “all-encompassing” nature also determines that animation art possesses a strong “moldability,” making it more susceptible to the influence of various cultural trends during the creation process. This is particularly evident in the evolution of character design influenced by aesthetic preferences in different periods since the founding of New China. This article will delve into the transformation of public aesthetics since the establishment of New China by examining the artistic expression and gender body structures in characters from domestic animated films. It aims to contribute to the development of China’s animation industry and promote outstanding Chinese culture.

Color Hint-guided Ink Wash Painting Colorization with Ink Style Prediction Mechanism

We propose an end-to-end generative adversarial network that allows for controllable ink wash painting generation from sketches by specifying the colors via color hints. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for interactive Chinese ink wash painting colorization from sketches. To help our network understand the ink style and artistic conception, we introduced an ink style prediction mechanism for our discriminator, which enables the discriminator to accurately predict the style with the help of a pre-trained style encoder. We also designed our generator to receive multi-scale feature information from the feature pyramid network for detail reconstruction of ink wash painting. Experimental results and user study show that ink wash paintings generated by our network have higher realism and richer artistic conception than existing image generation methods.

Penetration and spreading of graphene oxide ink in rice paper enabling its unique expressiveness in Chinese paintings

Abstract In Chinese paintings, the marriage of rice paper and ink is the soul of this art. Ink possesses a highly distinctive “color” expressiveness. By employing ink, various shades of black and diverse color effects can be portrayed, making the image more rich, vibrant, and three-dimensional on a rice paper. However, when used in traditional ink wash painting, the flow and penetration of conventional ink is difficult to control, and its carbon black particles make it a challenge to achieve multiple transparent gradients. Considering the water solubility and two-dimensional nanostructure of graphene oxide (GO), the authors of this paper has developed and proposed the use of water-based GO ink for Chinese ink wash painting, aiming to endow it with new aesthetic forms and unique expressive potentials.

Gendered bodies: Feminism and Chineseness in the work of Li Xinmo, Xiao Lu and Xie Rong

From its emergence in the post-Mao era of gaige kaifang (Reform and Opening) the performing body in Chinese xingwei yishu (‘performance art’) was most often assumed to be male. The representation of performance practices in exhibitions, festivals – and in the art historical literature – has too often been dominated by male artists. This article turns the gaze onto three women artists, examining their work through lenses of gender, feminism and ‘Chineseness’: Performance artists Xiao Lu (b. 1962), Li Xinmo (b. 1976) and Xie Rong (b. 1983) explore aspects of embodied lived experience in often-encoded ways. Li Xinmo explores experiences of gendered violence through theatrical, immersive performances that have often used ink or pigmented fluids as metaphors for blood and trauma – and through a series of paintings made with actual menstrual blood. In The Death of the Xinkai River (2007) she first explicitly links an embodied feminism with her distress at the destruction of the natural environment. Xiao Lu’s post-menopausal performances move beyond her previously more literal explorations of gender. Works such as Ren (2016) and Suspension () employ ink and water in poetic reference to shufa (‘calligraphy’) and shuimo hua (‘ink-wash painting’). Inserting herself into the visual language of literati scholar painters, an artistic lineage from which she would have been excluded by virtue of her gender, Xiao’s liquid materiality becomes a feminist embodiment. Xie Rong (also known until recently by her English name, Echo Morgan) ‘writes’ ink painting using her hair as her brush in I Am a Brush (2011), Painting Until it Becomes Marble (2019) and Anatomy of . She paints her naked body with images of birds and flowers and blue-and-white porcelain motifs to perform lamentations of grief, loss and longing in works such as Be The Inside of the Vase (2012) and Echo of Posidonia (2022). Framed by Anne Anlin Cheng’s concept of ‘ornamentalism’, Ella Shohat’s notion of a non-western ‘subterranean’ feminism and early twentieth-century anarcho-feminist He-Yin Zhen’s gendering category of nannü, the artists’ embodied practices are understood as creating nannü spaces that reveal female subjectivities and reposition them within the discourses of Chinese performance practice. Emerging from encounters with the artists, in studio visits and (during the pandemic years) online conversations, analysis of their counter-patriarchal work reveals not merely the ghostly presences and absences of women in narratives of performance art in China that have tended to marginalize them, but also the significance of their contributions.

SYNTHESIS OF INK WASH PAINTING AND CLASSICAL WESTERN EUROPEAN FINE ART IN THE WORKS OF YANG QUREN

The presented work is devoted to the creative activity of Yang Quren, whose name is little known to Russian art history. The study traces his life path, reveals his circle of communication and socio-cultural processes that have influenced his worldview and professional interests, and examines his artistic heritage. Data from foreign sources unknown to scientists from Russia, including paintings by the master, which is of particular value, are introduced into scientific circulation.

Exploring Liberal Arts Educational Meanings and Application Possibilities of Ink Wash Painting Experiences of Creation Based on the Theory of Yuyi(寓意)

Exploring Liberal Arts Educational Meanings and Application Possibilities of Ink Wash Painting Experiences of Creation Based on the Theory of Yuyi(寓意)

BiTGAN: bilateral generative adversarial networks for Chinese ink wash painting style transfer

BiTGAN: bilateral generative adversarial networks for Chinese ink wash painting style transfer

Imagery and abstraction trend of Chinese contemporary oil painting

The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that Chinese painting is at least five thousand years old. Throughout history, Chinese artists have used light pink, gold and black colors in their work. The paper shows that sumi-e (Chinese national ink wash painting) is different from the European one. The authors show that calligraphy is inextricably linked to painting, use the same lines, materials, and tools. In China, paintings are not only artistic but also a literary style. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the authors of the paper highlight the aspect of the execution of oil painting without preliminary sketches. The expressiveness inherent in Chinese art is achieved through four values of the artist. It is revealed that each artist attaches great importance to the choice of their professional tools and approaches it with an increased level of responsibility. The practical significance of the study is in the fact that the paper shows the possibility of developing the culture of traditional oil painting. It is shown that two opposites must be combined at the same time: dark and light, large and small, dry and wet, short and long, rare and frequent.

Three Birds with One Stone: Preventive Protection of Paper Materials by ZnO-PHMB and UV-531 Composite Systems

As the most frequently used archival materials for painting and recording, paper lays the groundwork for the development of prosperous human civilization. However, its susceptibility to three primary factors including external ultraviolet light, increased acidity, and biological pathogens in long-term storage shortens the longevity of paper. Therefore, the protection of paper-based cultural relics is extremely urgent. Inspired by the three adverse factors affecting the protection of cultural relics, we herein propose to combine the ultraviolet absorber 2-hydroxy-4-(octyloxy)benzophenone (UV-531) and alkaline zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles innovatively into the antibacterial agent polyhexamethylene biguanidine hydrochloride (PHMB) to realize the strategy of three birds with one stone for relics protection. This study illustrates that the tensile strength and the folding endurance of different test papers are guaranteed by coating them with the composite reagents, and molds including Mucor, Trichoderma, and Aspergillus niger are effectually sterilized. In addition, a hand-painted Chinese ink-wash painting with beautiful flowers is chosen as the object for simulating cultural relics protection, and negligible color fading is observed in aging experiments. From the perspective of effectiveness, simplicity, and economy, this strategy sheds light on preservative protection of paper-based relics in long-term storage.

A Study of the Realization of the Configurational Language of Modern Abstract Black Ink Paintings: With a Focus on Abstract Expressions of Ink Wash Paintings

A Study of the Realization of the Configurational Language of Modern Abstract Black Ink Paintings: With a Focus on Abstract Expressions of Ink Wash Paintings

Two Sides of Landscape in Ink-wash Painting: Chinese Landscape Painting in Expressive Arts Practice

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2020) 6(2):209–220 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2020/6/23 Two Sides of Landscape in Ink-wash Painting: Chinese Landscape Painting in Expressive Arts Practice 水墨的兩面風景：從表達藝術治療理解中國山水畫創作 Abstract Chinese landscape painting does not pursue the accuracy of the subject’s outer appearance, instead, it captures the energy, life force, and spirit beyond. The various styles of calligraphic lines are expressive and become a language to convey one’s belief. The interwoven relationship between Chinese landscape painting and painter exhibits its compatibility with the practice of expressive art in some aspects. The high skill/high sensitivity required for Chinese landscape painting evokes a good awareness of oneself, it exercises the senses and opens up the imagination. The expressive calligraphic brushstrokes create a delicate world that echoes the inner state of the painter that will lead the way and reveal itself. Being immersed in the “landscape” in the painting enables people to remove themselves from daily life and channel themselves into another world. The sense of being insignificant in the face of the vast landscape teaches the viewer to surrender to what may come and to uncertainty. Keywords: Chinese landscape painting, Expressive arts, Taoism, high sensitivity 摘要 中國山水畫並非追求描繪景物外形上的相似，而是著重表達其蘊藏的能量、生命力及內在精神。千變萬化及靈活的筆觸線條甚具表達力，讓其成為語言述說自己的故事。與表達藝術治療一樣，中國山水畫裡的創品與畫者有著親密互動的關係。中國山水畫要求的高技術高敏感度能喚起畫者自身的覺察、提升感官敏感度和擴展想像力。具生命動感的書法線條能創造一個細緻的世界，由畫者的心驅使畫筆，以展現及回應畫者的內在狀態。當畫者/ 觀賞者攝於山水畫裡雄偉的「風景」時，這片刻能讓他們精神上離開日常的紛擾，並進入另外一個世界，於大自然中感應其自身的渺小亦讓人領悟出以更寬容的態度應對未知。 關鍵詞：中國山水畫，表達藝術，道，高敏感

중국 한족(汉族) 복식에 나타난 수묵화(⽔墨画)의 표현특성에 대한 연구 -<영影>영화 자료 중심으로-

중국은 유구한 역사를 지닌 주로 한족으로 구성된 다민족 국가이며, 한족은 전 세계 범위에서 인수가 가장 많은 민족이다. 영화 <영>은 2018년 중국에서 개봉되었고, 등장인물의 한족 복식이 수묵화의 형식으로 표현되어 중국의 전통문화와 복식의 상관관계를 잘 보여준다. 본 연구의 목적은 영화의 주요 등장인물 5명의 한족 복식을 형태, 색채, 문양을 중심으로 분석하고, 이들 복식에 나타난 수묵화의 표현특성을 분석하는 것이다. 연구 방법은 한족 복식, 중국 수묵화, 그리고 한족 복식에 대한 문헌연구를 하며, 연구 범위는 영화 속 등장인물 총 5명의 복식으로 하여 형태, 색채, 문양이 명확하게 표현된 25점의 이미지를 분석 대상으로 하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 영화에 나타난 남자 인물의 복식은 전통 한족 복식과 일치하게 나타났으며, 여자 인물의 복식은 전통 한족 복식과 차이점이 있었다. 주요한 차이점은 여자 복식의 깃에 나타났으며, 영화에서는 전통복식에 없는 V령이 착용되어 여자 인물의 강직한 성격을 부각시켰다. 둘째, 영화의 한족 복식에 나타난 수목화의 표현특성은 추상미, 대조미, 의경의 내적 의미를 도출할 수 있었다. 추상미는 수묵화의 문양에서 나타났으며, 대조미는 색채 표현에서, 그리고 의경의 내적의미는 복식 형태와 문양에서 나타났다. 영화 영에서는 한족 복식의 형태, 색채, 문양을 통해 등장인물 개개인의 성격과 심리를 표현하였음을 알 수 있었으며, 수묵화를 활용한 복식디자인을 통해 중국의 전통미를 부각시켰다. 본 연구는 중국 전통 한족 복식 및 수묵화 특성의 이해를 높이고, 중국 전통문화와 복식 디자인 연구에 대한 참고자료가 될 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.

DCT–CNN-based classification method for the Gongbi and Xieyi techniques of Chinese ink-wash paintings

Different from the western paintings, Chinese ink-wash paintings (IWPs) have own distinctive art styles. Furthermore, Chinese IWPs can be divided into two classes, Gongbi (traditional Chinese realistic painting) and Xieyi (freehand style). The extraction of Chinese IWP features with good classification results is challenging because of similar content. This paper presents a novel framework by combining a discrete cosine transformation (DCT) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs). In this framework, a CNN automatically extracts Chinese IWP features from a small subset of the DCT coefficients of an image instead of raw pixels commonly because of its good performance. We evaluate the proposed framework on a dataset including 1400 Chinese IWPs. Experimental results show that the proposed framework achieves competitive classification performance compared to existing benchmark methods.

Ink Wash Painting Style Rendering With Physically-based Ink Dispersion Model

This paper presents a real-time rendering method based on the GPU programmable pipeline for rendering the 3D scene in ink wash painting style. The method is divided into main three parts: First, render the ink properties of 3D model by calculating its vertex curvature. Then, cached the ink properties to a paper structure and using an ink dispersion model which is defined by referencing the theory of porous media to simulate the dispersion of ink. Finally, convert the ink properties to the pixel color information and render it to the screen. This method has a better performance than previous methods in visual quality.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ВОСПРИЯТИЯ: СОВРЕМЕННАЯ КИТАЙСКАЯ МАСЛЯНАЯ ЖИВОПИСЬ ГЛАЗАМИ ЗАПАДНОГО ЗРИТЕЛЯ

The article is devoted to studying the foreign audience’s perception of modern Chinese visual art performed in the oil painting technique. The relevance of the study is in the fact that there are a limited number of Russian sources analyzing the pictures of the Chinese painters of the XX-XXI centuries. The paper aims at promoting a dialogue between modern Chinese painters and the western audience. The author identifies distinctive features, which formed “ you hua ” as an autonomous phenomenon of Chinese visual art, discovers the relation of “ you hua ” with traditional ink wash painting, philosophy of creativity and the classical model of artistic world perception.

Real-time Rendering of 3D Ink-wash Painting Based on Geometry Buffers

We propose a technique using geometry buffers for real-time rendering of 3D ink-wash paintings. According to the characteristics of hand-drawn ink-wash paintings, contour lines and coloring area in the ink paintings are stylized by rendering 3D models to 2D texture images. Contour lines are drawn according to curvature of object surfaces. Coloring areas are rendered by alpha blending with stroke textures. Stroke textures are blended at sparsely sampled points for saving computation. Finally, integration of contour lines and colored area yields an ink-wash painting image. Entire rendering computation is implemented with a GPU for enabling its real-time processing on commercially available computers.

Extension Concept: A New Perspective of the History Misreading Imagine

History is a huge irregular-shaped collective; there were always a blind spot. We can only see part of the historical information, but couldn’t analyze the details via a single historical perspective. Historical evidence only exist at the time, doesn’t apply to any other time or space. When we use our intuition to explain what we see from historical evidence, it’s easy to fall into the quagmire of misreading. However, reconstruct broken history has become a situation couldn’t be avoided; also, misreading become a potentially inevitable incidence. Misreading in Literary Criticism of Deconstruction can be divided into “reading misunderstanding” and “misreading creation”. From the study of Cognitive Psychology, they divided misread into “arrangement of the wrong sequences”, “subjective bias” and “error-induced”. According to theories of Deconstruction and Cognitive Psychology, one’s based on experienced ink wash painting technique combine with new technology devices, use the quasi-imitation historical data to highlighting the evidence is in a situation of undoubtedly but uncertainly. Started from the rupture of a conventional image, juxtaposed the modern image then transformed. One’s attempts to reflect modern interpretation of vague state through art; also hope that when viewers are enjoying the work, can remind them that we encountered with many misreading situations in our life.

Jizi and contemporary ink art: ‘Re-Chineseness’ and unification with nature

Abstract Can Chinese ink-wash painters make art that is contemporary? Can contemporary art be made by accepting traditional Chinese aesthetics as an influence? Some contemporary Chinese artists hope to find some principles from Chinese aesthetics so that they can make global art that is authentically Chinese. To evaluate such questions and searches, some ink-wash paintings by Jizi are selected as test cases for the application of an experimental cross-cultural interpretation of Jing Hao’s aesthetic of qiyun/rhythmic vitality and authentic images. The results suggest that Jizi does express specifically Chinese thinking about self in unification with nature, others and universe in a way that can be appreciated by individuals in audiences around the world.

Mixed Feature Selection Based Affective Classification in Ink-wash Paintings

As one of the most valuable eastern cultural heritages, ink-wash paintings are attracting more and more concerns from people around the world. In this context, affective understanding plays an important role in analysis, classification, and indexing of Chinese ink-wash paintings. However, due to the semantic gap between low-level features and high-level feelings, that problem is far from addressed. Existing researches on analysis and recognition of the paintings mostly focus on artists’ styles rather than hidden affects or feelings of paintings. Therefore, we propose a mixed feature-based algorithm in this paper to perform the automatic affects analysis and understanding, where a set of affective categories could be identified. After an image is segmented into several sub images by quad tree, a number of feature cues are extracted. We mixed and refined them together by using interclass distance method. The effectively selected cues are applied to SVM classifier to justify which emotion class the image belongs to. Results and evaluations via experiments validate the proposed approach. This method maintains great theoretical significance and practical value in personalized retrieval of ink-wash paintings.

Selected poems and paintings by Che Qianzi

Che Qianzi (the pen name of Gu Pan) was born in 1963 in Suzhuo and currently splits his time between his hometown and Beijing. A well-known poet, prose stylist, and painter, Che has published over twenty-one volumes of poetry and essays. He recently staged two solo exhibits of his ink wash paintings in China, and his work can be seen at Galerie Gabrial in the US and online. We are grateful to the artist, Che Qianzi, and the Wufengyasong (a gallery and organization in Su Zhou) for permission to reprint these images.