The T'ang dynasty was the really vital period of Chinese Buddhism. Among
the painters who gave it its highest expression Wu Tao-tz[)u] holds first
place. His memory dwells in history as that of one of the greatest masters
in China and legend has still further enhanced the might of his genius. It
is highly probable that his work is entirely destroyed, but by the aid of
copies, incised stones and wood engravings of the twelfth century, an idea
of the painter's conception can be formed. He seems to have been the
creator of a Chinese type of Kwanyin, the Buddhist incarnation of mercy
and charity. Drapery covers the high drawn hair. She is attired in the
harmonious folds of a plain and ample garment and expresses supreme
authority, the sublimity of divine love.
If to these fragments of an immense plastic production is added the
analysis furnished by the written records, we can define with some degree
of certitude the place occupied by Wu Tao-tz[)u] in the history of Chinese
painting. The books state that the lines from his brush fairly vibrated;
all united in marvelling at the spirituality emanating from forms thus
defined. He adhered almost exclusively to the use of powerful ink-lines
and denied himself the use of any color, whether scattered or prominent,
which would have robbed his painting of the austerity which was the source
of its surpassing feeling. But in order to appreciate the full value of
the new ideas introduced by Wu into Chinese painting, it is necessary to
understand the exact nature of the technique that was in practice up to
the seventh and eighth centuries, at the opening of the T'ang dynasty.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII. WHITE EAGLE. SUNG PERIOD
Collection of R. Petrucci.]
At that time there prevailed the analytic, painstaking, detailed and very
considered drawing that is common to all periods preceding great
constructive work. This technique admitted the use of two fundamental
methods: one called _double contour_, the other _contour_ or _single
contour_. The method of _double contour_ was applied chiefly to the
drawing of plant life in landscape. It consisted in outlining leaves or
branches by means of two lines of ink placed in apposition. The space thus
enclosed was filled with color. Any peculiarities of formation, knots in
wood and veins in leaves were added subsequently. The name of _single
contour_ was applied to drawings wherein a single ink line outlined the
object, the space enclosed being then filled with color.
If the application of these analytic methods was sometimes carried to the
extreme of delicacy it never became labored. Throughout its entire
evolution the art of the T'ang period is characterized by a sense of the
magnificent. Once the study of forms was exhausted, this type of work was
bound to be superceded. Wu Tao-tz[)u] profited by the work of his
predecessors. Combining in a single stroke of the brush, vigor and an
eclectic character of line, with values and fluidity of tone, he brought
to a supreme unity the two great principles by which things are made
manifest in all the magic of their essential structure. But it must be
understood that this patient investigation of forms was not limited to
preparing the way for a single master. The logical outcome was an
independent movement to which the origin of modern Chinese painting can be
traced.
"Painting has two branches," the books say, "that of the North and that of
the South; the separation occurred in the T'ang period." These terms
_Northern School_ and _Southern School_ must not be taken literally. They
serve merely to characterize styles which, in the eighth century,
liberated themselves from methods demanding such close study and exact
definition of forms. The style of the Northern School is strong, vehement
and bold; the style of the Southern School is melancholy and dreamy. The
ideal of Northern China, impregnated with barbarian elements, is brought
into contrast with that of Southern China, heir to an already ancient
civilization, and under the spell of Taoist legends and the bewildered
dreams of its philosophers.[11]
[11] These divisions of Northern and Southern Schools do not
correspond, as might be imagined, to geographical limitations.
Painters of the South worked in the style of the North and painters of
the North likewise used the Southern style. Moreover the same master
was able to employ one or the other according to the inspiration of
the moment. These works were produced for a receptive people capable
of understanding both styles.
[Illustration: PLATE IX. HORSEMAN FOLLOWED BY TWO ATTENDANTS
Sung Period. Collection of A. Stoclet.]
Li Ssu-hsuen and his son Li Chao-tao (eighth century) are considered to be
the founders of the Northern School. The paintings attributed to them show
the character which the Northern style preserved up to the Ming period and
which was to be emphasized to the point of brutality at the hands of
certain masters in the Yuean period. At the outset, in its brilliancy and
precision, the Northern style held to a certain refinement of line; later
the line is drawn with a firm and powerful brush and strong colors are
applied almost pure.
In direct contrast the Southern style is made up of half-tints, with a
feeling of reserve and intentional restraint, which gives it, with equal
power, at times a more appealing charm. The lines are pliant, immersed in
shading, color is suggested in a subtle fashion and, in contrast to the
almost brutal emphasis of the North, it finds expression in chiaroscuro
and concealed harmonies.
The foundation of the Southern School is attributed to a great landscape
painter of the eighth century, Wang Wei. Nothing could better determine
his tendencies than monochrome[12] painting in Chinese ink. According to
the records, this was first practiced by him. It constitutes what in
China, as well as in Japan, is called the _literary man's painting_ and
is, in reality, quite closely related to calligraphy. The variety of
shadings and relative colors of objects depend entirely upon the tones of
ink washes. Wang Wei seems to have treated monochrome mainly from the
standpoint of chiaroscuro, in his search for an atmospheric perspective
which should be both fluid and ethereal. It appears that the accentuation
of lines according to rule that is seen later on, where forms are
synthetized--sometimes to an excessive degree--was only a derivation of
the work of Wang Wei and caused by the intrusion of calligraphic
virtuosity into the domain of painting.
[12] "Monochrome is a starved and lifeless term to express the
marvellous range and subtlety of tones of which the preparation of
black soot known as Chinese ink is capable." Laurence Binyon in "The
Flight of the Dragon."--TRANSLATOR.
When we arrive at Wang Wei, landscape is treated as a special subject and
with its own resources. It was he who discovered the principles which
govern the fading of colors and forms in the distance, and who formulated
the laws of atmospheric perspective. Paintings in his style are all
executed in a predominating color which the Chinese call _luo-ts'ing_, a
mineral color of varying shades ranging from a malachite green to a
lapis-lazuli blue. It will be seen why _luo-ts'ing_ gave its name to the
style of Wang Wei.
By means of bluish tints he painted the distant expanse of landscape.
Mountains forming screens in the backgrounds and masses of trees lost in
the distance, are all indicated by the azure tints which intervening
layers of air give to remote objects. But as the foreground is approached,
rightful colors begin to prevail and the azure tints are subtly graded,
passing into a fresh and brilliant green amongst wooded declivities, and
into the natural hue in the foliage of trees. Often heavy mists, spreading
at the foot of high mountains, veil the outlines and still further
emphasize the feeling of limitless space.[13]
[13] I have not seen nor do I know of any paintings which can be said
with certainty to be from the hand of Wang Wei. But from the records
as well as from works directly inspired by him, an idea of his style
and technique can be formed. Ancient paintings in _luo-ts'ing_ are
found in Japan as well as in China. The British Museum of London has a
scroll painted by Chao Meng-fu, in the manner of Wang Wei, dated 1309.
[Illustration: PLATE X. LANDSCAPE IN THE STYLE OF HSIA KUEI
Sung Period. Collection of Martin White.]
But when a master has carried his study of the fading of colors and of
their relative values thus far, he must have considered not only the
element of color itself, but also the collective tones which color is
capable of expressing. From this to monochrome painting in Chinese ink is
but a step; historical testimony shows that Wang Wei took this step. By
the simple opposition of black and white, and through tone values and
gradations of shades, he endeavored to create the same feeling of
atmosphere and space which he had been able to express with _luo-ts'ing_.
No original picture remains to inform us to what extent he succeeded, but
by means of monochrome paintings of the Sung period which owe their
inspiration to him, the importance of the reform accomplished, and the
tendencies manifested in those lost works of art may be divined.
Another master whose work can be defined with sufficient accuracy to cite
as an illustration of a different aspect of the history of painting during
the T'ang period, is Han Kan, who lived in the middle of the eighth
century and who is celebrated as a painter of horses.
The sculptured stones of the Han dynasty, especially the admirable
bas-reliefs of the tomb of Chao-ling, representing the favorite coursers
of the emperor T'ai-tsung, show the manner in which artists, from the
third to the seventh centuries, were capable of studying and delineating
the postures of the horse. It is therefore not surprising to find a great
animal painter in the eighth century. Beyond question he was not the
first. The written records have preserved the names of several of his
predecessors and while the honor of having been the great founder of a
school was attributed to him, it is possible that this refers only to an
artistic movement bearing his name, of which he was not the sole
representative.
But the work of Han Kan and the unknown artists grouped around him,
proclaims a powerful tradition, a well grounded school of animal painters
which had attained the highest eminence. It was destined to exert a
strong influence upon painters of horses in the Yuean epoch and even when,
later on, this great tradition is seen disappearing, cloying and insipid,
amidst the mannerisms of the Ming period, it will still retain sufficient
power to carry thus far a reflection of the vigor and vitality attained in
the great periods.
The painting of _Flowers and Birds_, and _Plants and Insects_ appears to
have been already established at this time. The flowers and plants are
drawn according to the methods of _double contour_ and _single contour_,
worked over and brought out with that intensity of analysis to which
allusion has been made. The bird is caught in its most subtle movement,
the insect studied in its essential structure.
Thus we see that Chinese painting had extended its investigations in every
direction and had solved the problems found along its path. It had
absorbed foreign influences, altered its conception of the divine and
found a new type of figure. It had endowed landscape painting with all the
resources of atmospheric perspective and had established the two essential
styles of the North and the South. The painter was master of the visible;
his thought dominated form and was able to express itself with freedom.