Silk paintings in the works of modern Chinese artists as a synthesis of traditions and innovations

An' Tianpeng Postgraduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia 191186, Russia, 19186, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, room 6, room 51 antianpeng@rambler.ru

Chinese silk painting has more than 3,000 years of history and is the basis of the evolution of the pictorial art in the country, as well as a real treasure of the Chinese nation. At the same time, the simplicity of the technique and the simplicity of the images that were created by masters on silk in ancient times made it not such an interesting object of attention for both artists and scientists, as, for example, more complex works on paper or the same Chinese oil painting in the XX century. Now there is also a growing interest on the part of some Chinese artists in silk as a visual basis. As a rule, issues related to this kind of pictorial art were considered in the context of the problems of the development of artistic life in the country. Thus, mentions of it are also found in the works of V.M. Alekseev, P.A. Beletsky, H.A. Vinogradova, Yu.V. Ivanova, M.E. Kravtsova, O.A. Osipova, V.D. Plakhova, A.M. Pozdneeva, etc. In Chinese science, of course, there are more detailed studies, such as those undertaken by Di Chengguan, Peng De, Xiang Qiuhui, Fan Lili, Han Jiang, Zhang Zizhi, etc. However, their scientific search is mainly focused on the past, and the state of silk painting in the first decades of the XXI century remains a little-studied issue and requires its own understanding. Meanwhile, an appeal to this period is able to show how Chinese masters rethink and interpret existing traditions, connecting them with the trends of modern art. The features of such creativity will be discussed in the proposed article. Its object is Chinese modern painting, and the subject is the process of changes and prospects for the development of painting on silk in the context of China's artistic heritage.

Fig. 1. Fragment of the painting "Fei" on the silk of the tomb of Mawandui Han No. 1. Han Dynasty (Fragment of the painting "Fei" on the silk of the Tomb of Mawandui Han No. 1. Han Dynasty). Source: https://baike .baidu.com/tashuo/browse/content?id=a243ebc29a8ef82066d6c7c4

Chinese masters in ancient times often painted with a brush dipped in ink and paints on silk fabric, depicting figures of people, animals, birds, gods and magical creatures. This material is found in the works of many dynasties, but it reached a special peak of distribution during the reign of the Western Han. Canvas, as a rule, was woven from 100% silkworm silk, without the addition of starch and other strengthening substances. The bright colors of such paintings are achieved primarily due to the inclusion of cinnabar, azurite and other mineral pigments in the paints. For example, they are found in works found in the 1970s in the tombs of Mawandui Han No. 1 and in Changsha. The discovered silk scrolls depict gods and heroes in heaven (Fig. 1). Historian and paleographer Li Xueqin believes that this painting was carried out no later than from the 2nd millennium BC, and was the only one until the III century, when paper media began to appear ^{[4, p. 314]}. The most ancient of those found can be considered a painting of "Feyi" from the time of the Western Han dynasty, discovered in the aforementioned Mavandui tomb. But even after that silk prevailed until the XVIII century. Later, due to the advent of simpler and cheaper paper painting, silk painting gradually declined.

At the same time, already at the end of the XX century, on the wave of interest in national traditions and the search for ethno-cultural identity, some Chinese painters began to revive forgotten techniques and techniques, including those related to silk work. One of such masters is Mu Yilin, a pioneer of modern silk painting, who devoted decades of his life to creative research in this direction. During this time, the Shanghai master experimented a lot with coloring pigments that gave the maximum effect when in contact with silk. While still a teenager, he learned to draw on silk from Zheng Mukang. However, then he, like many of his peers-students of the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in the 1960s, became interested in Western painting. Mu Iln has professionally mastered the knowledge in this area of working with color. In 1979, his painting "Typhoon Season" won the first prize at the Shanghai Art Exhibition.

In the mature period of Mu Yilin's creativity, he unexpectedly abandoned the previous themes and methods of expression in search of a new artistic language. Most likely, he was influenced by the fact that during the period of cooperation with the factory, which was engaged in the manufacture of silk products, he was faced with the need to study the properties of this material and the peculiarities of its design in the spirit of folk crafts. In addition, in the 1980s, the artist was commissioned to make a copy of a damaged painting painted on silk. Together, this aroused his interest and prompted him to use the material in his work.

Mu Yilin wrote that "such properties of silk as transparency, refractive power and color saturation can give paintings on silk an exceptional aesthetic value, which is completely different from the nature of ink drawing on rice paper" ^{[1, p. 56]}. The artist gradually got acquainted with the materials necessary for silk painting, studied the differences between them and tried the method of mixing different pigments or using them together before and after applying the main painting layer. He began to create paintings based on the texture of silk. At the same time, he managed to expand the expressive possibilities of silk painting by enriching the plot, techniques and expressive language.

Fig. 2. Mu Yilin. "The beginning of spring" from the series "The End of the World". 2014. Private Collection (Mu Yilin. “The beginning of spring” from the series “The End of the World”. 2014. Private collection). Source: http://art.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0810/c413773-29462683.html?urlpage=6

One of Mu Yilin's first works was "Plum Blossom from extreme cold". On her example, it is noticeable that the author layers colors on top of each other. As a result, it turns out that when the angle of view and distance change, they seem to overflow into one another. This effect of transparency and refraction attracted, if not fascinated, the master. It violated the traditional hierarchical relationship between the primary and secondary layers. We can say that a new technique has been discovered, created with new materials. Its flatness and illusory nature were as relevant as possible in the light of the trends of contemporary art at that time. For example, in the series "The End of the World" and "Impressions of the Lotus Pond" by Mu Yilin, images of dancing cranes and lotus flowers in the pond are "superimposed" on each other (Fig. 2).

In his early painting "Family Teacher", Mu Yilin still uses forms close to oil painting, but at the same time creates a translucent environment around them due to the fact that he uses paints with a low degree of concealment for his painting. Works related to the mature period, such as, for example, "Lantern Festival" or "Impression of the Lantern Festival", "People's New Year", on the contrary, incorporate more elements of folk art, including bright colors of lanterns, New Year pictures, paper clippings, as well as neon lights of modern Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Such an expression differs from the bright but flat patterns of folk art, emphasizing light and shadow changes and nuances, which not only enhances the festive atmosphere, but also gives the whole effect of the grotesque associated with the fast rhythm of the city of the XXI century.

At the same time, the above-mentioned images of a pond with lotuses or dancing cranes resemble elegant paintings by writers. However, the artist renounces their favorite monochrome in favor of the "play" of color on silk and its overflows. Such painting allows Mu Yilin to use various cultural and artistic elements, but at the same time emphasize the features of changing color elements that expand the possibilities of expressive language in creating an artistic form. Mu Yilin's works reflect the concept of ancient paintings on silk, expand our understanding of silk and related artistic materials, and emphasize refined visual effects. The ease with which the paint falls on a smooth silk surface also determines the author's attraction to broad strokes, playing with smudges, as well as the desire to show dynamic compositions (Fig. 3). His creations are multi-layered, and some sometimes are a mixture of rice paper and silk, so they have both penetrating properties of ink and paints, and and the silk effect.

Fig. 3. Dong Wenzheng. Cranes in the steppe. 2000s. Private collection (Dong Wenzheng. Cranes in the steppe. 2000s. Private collection). Source: https://baike .baidu.com/pic/%E8%91%A3%E6%96%87%E6%94%BF/9030397/2280235423/e850352ac65c10382327148ab0119313b07e8919?fr=lemma&fromModule=lemma_content-image&ct=cover#aid=2280235423&pic=e850352ac65c10382327148ab0119313b07e8919

Dong Wenzheng, better known in the art world as Wu Mo, was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu and graduated, later Mu Yilin, from the Nanjing Academy. He is currently a professor of fine Arts at Suzhou University, Vice President of the Franco-Chinese Cultural Exchange Association "Great Wall" and an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. His paintings have a special artistic charm, expressing the spirit of Eastern civilization and the aesthetic taste inherent in the East, which is appreciated in the West. He combines painting and new techniques, thanks to which oriental form and modern imagery merge together, creating a specific art form. Liu Haixu, Li Keran, Gu Yuan, Lin Mohan and other experts in the field of art are convinced that the "Exhibition of paintings from bursts of Silk at Mo" held at the Beijing Art Museum in 1986 marked the beginning of modern silk painting ^{[5, p. 39]}. Since then, more than 30 solo exhibitions have been organized in the USA, Australia, Sweden, Singapore, France and other countries. His works were characterized as "reunion with dreams", "synthesis of the essence of Eastern and Western art", "wandering between tradition and modernity" ^{[3, p. 26]}.

Dong Wenzheng pointed out that "the beauty of art lies in innovation, and the inheritance of tradition is a ladder to innovation. But the inheritance of tradition is not only binding oneself with fetters, but also going beyond the "cocoon"" ^{[2, p. 7]}. Deputy head of the Association of Chinese Artists Ma Hongzeng notes that Dong Wenzheng's creations include both "the intention to write first" and "the desire to follow tradition" ^{[3, p. 26]}. The master uses specially made materials, tools and various techniques to control the creation of a variety of color textures as accurately as possible. He often creates images of a mysterious endless stream and magical changes with it on the silk surface. It is characterized by the image of mountains and rivers, sunlight, moon and stars, morning fog and sunset, waves. The lines and spots seem to be spontaneously written. They lie down freely and naturally or, as Wang Jiqian points out, "heavenly and at ease." Dong Wenzheng's silk paintings reflect dynamic beauty and harmony, and the way the paint naturally falls on silk is fascinating. Chairman of the Victorian National Association of Art Exhibitions in Australia H. At the opening ceremony of one of the exhibitions of the Chinese master, Ebcher noted the following: "The works of art exhibited here today represent traditional Chinese art, imbued with a new force, transformed into another form" ^{[3, p. 26]}.

Silk paintings in China are becoming real favorites in the art market. For example, in 2010, at the summer art auction "China Trade Shengjia International Auction", Mu Yilin's silk painting "New Year No. 3" was valued at more than three hundred thousand yuan. The mass media called this fact "the first sale of modern paintings on silk in China" and "checking the market of modern art with paintings on silk" ^{[6, p. 14]}. Subsequently, Mu Yilin's work "A Successful Image of a Crane" was auctioned by "China Trade Shengjia" was sold for an even larger amount and entered the "Focus View Point" rating. A work by the same artist called "Impression of Xiangxi" was bought in Beijing for almost three million yuan. His "Remembering Jiangnan" in 2012 was estimated at two and a half million yuan.

The growing boom in the art market in relation to paintings on silk shows that such works in the eyes of the public are a crystallization of the achievements of ancient Chinese civilization in synthesis with innovations and are very much in demand. In the West, interest in them is also growing. So, one of the admirers of the works made on this material was the German expressionist artist M. Anto, who treats the work of the above-mentioned Mu Ilin with special reverence, says the following: "Although silk paintings have a long history in China, there are new elements in the works of Professor Mu Yilin, for example, such as the Western style in color" ^{[7, p. 58]}. The European even designed and executed a frame in the material for one of the compositions on silk by Mu Yilin. He made it so that the work was stretched, and there was still a little space left to the inner border of the frame. This "air" is necessary in order, according to M. Anto's plan, to give people the opportunity to experience a full-fledged visual enjoyment of the ease and transparency of work. There is also a reference to the connection of paintings on silk with Chinese scroll painting.

Thus, modern Chinese painting is not only drawings made with ink on paper or oil on canvas. A number of modern Chinese artists seek to revive interest in paintings on silk, which allow them to achieve interesting artistic effects associated with the application and layering of colorful layers, the properties of the material itself, which gives the image transparency, refraction, color and tone saturation. At the same time, it is noticeable that modern painters use translucent and less dense layers of paint than in ancient scroll painting on silk, but at the same time retain maximum brightness and contrast of color combinations, dynamism of compositions. Taken together, these features satisfy the aesthetic needs of the Chinese in beautiful and elegant works resembling scroll painting and related to the culture of their native country.