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

Men Khao Postgraduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, Herzen State Pedagogical University 191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, building 6, office 51 meng101@rambler.ru Other publications by this author

By the beginning of the XXI century, Chinese art had developed a special vision of images associated with the reproduction of objects of the material world. It is to a certain extent similar to the approaches of Western artists, since as such the genre in China has developed due to the integration of the principles and traditions of the European art of oil painting. Many Russian and Chinese researchers have written about this. Thus, M.A. Neglinskaya examines the range of subjects in the Chinese still life of the Qing period, finding parallels with Western art in relation to individual motifs ^[1]. Also of interest are the works of N.A. Vinogradova, which present a comprehensive view of the evolution of Chinese art and its individual genres ^[2]. The publication by E.V. Artemova explores the connections between European and Chinese artistic concepts, and indirectly studies the role of still life in this process ^[3]. It is also important to take into account the works of Chinese scientists published in Russian, which introduce into science previously unknown in Russia information about the development of the genre and its varieties in China ^{[4, 5, 6]}. In Chinese art studies, the question of the correlation between Western and national is particularly acute. There are many works devoted to this topic. The works of Ren Kun ^[7], Lu Lu ^[8], Li Cui ^[9], Xu Zhang ^[10], Zhang Zhongbo ^[11] and others are important for this study. As the art critic Lin Yongchao writes, "until now, the study of the formation and development of still life in Chinese art has not been subjected to a comprehensive study in order to establish the logic of the development of the genre and analyze its current state as a reflection of the actual problems of fine art and national art" ^{[12, p. 4]}.This article attempts to assess the specifics of the change in the artistic concept and form of Chinese still life in development in the period from the beginning of the Western European Modern Period to the present, correlating with what Western art offered at the same time.

This approach is based on stylistic and iconographic analysis of the works of Chinese and European masters of still life. The chronological boundaries of the study are due to the fact that since the XVII century both in China and in Europe there has been a surge of interest in the genre ^{[1, p. 436]}.

The history of Chinese still life is not as young as it may seem at first glance. Since ancient times, there has been such a variety of images as flowers and fruits. It spread especially widely during the reign of the Sui dynasty, that is, since the VI century. At that time, there was already a tradition to exhibit offerings in the form of utensils, fruits, vegetables and flowers, which were objects for admiring. The writer Wang Zengqi wrote that "in the middle of winter, a fierce wind blows, the flowers wither, the sunny windows face each other, and their appearance becomes brighter. This joy originated in the reign of the Sui Dynasty" ^{[13, p. 200]}. During the Song Dynasty, the contemplation of flowers and their arrangement became an integral part of the life of the Chinese belonging to the elite of society. Inspired by the sight of plants, the artists put their feelings of harmony of nature and the symbolism of benevolence into the created images. Moreover, the authors easily combined images with poems written in calligraphic handwriting, using a combination of painting techniques and printed graphics. In the XVII–XVIII centuries and in Europe, the image of objects in the visual arts also developed intensively. The Europeans saturated the space of the "dead nature" with symbols and allegories associated with the "vanity of vanities", often adding inscriptions in the form of manuscripts, book pages and sheet music.

Figure 1. Li Song. Flower basket (Album of winter flowers). Ink, silk. XIII . National Palace Museum, Taipei. Image source: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_13045144

The Chinese and Europeans at that time worked in different techniques and materials. Naturally, this greatly influenced how artists modeled such images. Several centuries before the formation of still life as an independent genre in Western painting, images of objects had already appeared in China. So, the master of scrolls with flowers and fruits in China of the XIII century was Li Song. A Chinese artist painted a series of works on silk under the general title "Flower Basket". It shows a whimsically woven bamboo basket with plants blooming at different times of the year (Fig. 1). Li Song, like other Chinese painters, when painting the canvas, seemed to reproduce his impressions, sometimes creating collective images full of symbolic meaning ^{[7, p. 35]}. He thought of objects not in reality, but as if in an imaginary space. In addition, the master used lines to form the structure and texture of objects. In the "Flower Basket" each flower is colored using special techniques of applying mascara. At the same time, the background is empty, but full of air. On it, the complex weaving of baskets and flowers stand out in contrast. The latter are written either in the form of small flowers, or as large and complex in composition and color buds. This made it possible to achieve decorative and harmonious rhythms without overloading the canvas with details. The motives in the scroll are due to the desire to visualize the idea of wishing prosperity to the owner of the scroll and his vision of the tradition of admiring flower arrangements.

Figure 2. Hans Memling. Flowers in a jug. Canvas, oil. Circa 1458 Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid. Image source: https://portrets.ru/natyurmort/memling-hans/cvety-v-kuvshine.html

The attention of Chinese artists to fruit and flower compositions was ahead of the trends that were observed in contemporary Western European art. Although parallel to Li Sun, the Italian master Giotto used still life as auxiliary images in paintings on religious themes, but still it did not have an independent sound and was strongly connected with the context. Later, there was also an interest in highly detailed images of things in the structure of secular portraits and paintings with subjects from Sacred history. For example, just in this spirit, more than a century after Lee Sun, Hans Memling will create "Flowers in a jug" on the back of a canvas depicting a praying man. The connection of plants and vessels with the images of the Virgin and Christ is obvious (Fig. 2). If we compare the works of a Chinese artist of the XIII century and one of the first still lifes in European painting, it turns out that both masters attach great importance to observing nature, and also pay attention to the shape, angle and color change of objects. The desire to convey information, a message through the symbolization of objects is also a common feature.

Figure 3. Caravaggio. Fruit basket. Canvas, oil. 1595-1596 Ambrosio Gallery, Milan. Image source: https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Caravaggio.html

Western European masters perfected their ability to use oil paints and painted them in such a way as to convey the volume and beauty of the fruits. The properties of this material were ideal for this. In the XVI century, the "Fruit Basket" painted by Caravaggio depicts a wicker basket standing on a table (Fig. 3). It is filled with juicy apples, pears, peaches, grapes, figs and other fruits. It is noticeable that many of them are already subject to decay. This image fully corresponded to the message of most European still lifes of that time: admiring the beauty of the world now, remember about death and the finiteness of all things. The master paints fruits almost in full size, trying to convey the uniqueness of each of them. Caravaggio chooses a theme for himself out of a desire to show objects without any idealization, but vividly and interestingly, which corresponded to the general attraction of Western European art to secular subjects against the background of the long domination of religious painting.

Figure 4. Xu Wei. Chrysanthemum and bamboo. Ink, paper. XVI century . Nanjing Museum. Image source: https://baike .baidu.com/item/%E5%BE%90%E6%B8%AD/18002

At the same time, Chinese artists had only ink with a fairly modest range of colors, water for washing and silk, paper as a base. These materials did not make it possible to accurately reproduce the colors, volumes, and interaction of the surfaces of objects with the light-air environment, as oil paints allowed. During the reign of the Ming Dynasty, scrolls written with quick and light strokes, the technique of spraying, became fashionable. The manner of writing by Chinese artists has become more decorative, built on spots, dots, splashes and uneven lines. For example, the 16th-century painter Xu Wei, in order to show the insight symbolized by bamboo and arrogance in the form of a chrysanthemum, the author stretches them along the vertical axis of the scroll, creating emotional tension (Fig. 4). He also abandons polychromy in favor of the contrast of dark silhouettes on a light background. The movements of the master's brush are not smooth, but full of movements and rhythm, different in dryness, humidity and density. Unlike his Western colleagues, the author clearly emphasizes improvisation and the energy of writing in one layer, expresses the emotional component of the image.

In the XIX century, a real revolution in the art world took place in Europe, and still life became one of the most popular genres. This happened largely thanks to the Impressionists, whose work had a clear imprint of both Japanese and Chinese style. For example, P. Signac and J. Constable often used ink and some guohua techniques. Chinese artist Feng Jikai noted that "the bright colors and peculiar composition of impressionism clearly imitate the Chinese style" ^[14]. Post-Impressionist artists such as V. Van Gogh and P. Cezanne paid attention to subjective expression, looking for connections between nature and the inner world of people, expressing it in an artistic form. Following them, the expressionists abandoned the form of the object, focusing on "sensation and expression".

Figure 3. Ren Bonyan. Purple ribbon and gold seal. Ink, silk. 1883. National Art Museum of China. Image source: http://collection.sina.com.cn/zgsh/yjzx/2017-09-20/doc-ifykymue7349859.shtml

In the XIX century, the subject of painting in China expanded, and still life became more and more interested in Chinese artists. In their work, one could notice the influence of Western art in terms of both content and technique of execution ^[1]. For example, they began to complement the range of objects depicted. In addition to vases with flowers, fruits and vegetables, dishes, various objects appeared that spoke about the customer of the work. The authors sought to aesthetically arrange objects in the space of the canvas. At the same time, there is still a desire to convey the message associated with benevolence, along with the attraction to aestheticization in reading the image. For example, in the painting "Purple Ribbon and Golden Seal" by Ren Bonyan, a flowering wisteria with blue petals is depicted, placed in a simple light vase (Fig. 3). Writing objects and a scroll are placed nearby. The table on which they are located was intended for writing. He and the background are traditionally not painted over. The work itself was created for a high-ranking official, as evidenced by the inscription in the form of hieroglyphs organically woven into the picturesque structure of the canvas: "I just want to take a yellow scroll and lanterns and practice with a gold medal and a purple ribbon in the morning."

Figure 4. Lin Yushan. Lotuses in the pond. 1930. Ink, silk. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Image source: https://goodideaart.com/en/%E6%9E%97%E7%8E%89%E5%B1%B1/

In the first half of the XX century, Lin Yushan actively worked in the field of still life. He incorporated Western techniques into traditional Chinese painting. Therefore, his works are distinguished by a detailed study of the form, the desire to convey volume and subtle chiaroscuro transitions while maintaining the planar and decorative structure of the composition (Fig. 4). Huang Binhong, well versed in the art of the Impressionists, also found a lot in common in their work with ink painting by Chinese writers, and took into account their approaches to color transfer in his floral compositions. Qi Baishi created many still lifes with fruits, often using everyday objects of ordinary people in productions, which he supplemented with elegant phrases in the form of hieroglyphs. So, in the canvas "Ten Thousand Years of Peace" created in 1952, several branches of the red lotus are depicted. They are inserted into a bottle with a long neck. "Lotus" and "bottle" resemble the hieroglyph of the word "world" in shape. A pot with an evergreen plant in the upper left corner — the inscription "every thousand years". The composition reflects the artist's expectation of a peaceful life, his interest in reality. The tendency to bright and strong contrasts of color, shapes, tension of points, lines, surfaces indicates proximity to the expressionistic vision of Western masters with whom the Chinese artist was familiar ^[15].

It is important to note that in the second half of the XX century, the role of still life in the life of a Chinese artist increases, as the system of training artistic and artistic-pedagogical personnel is built on the principles of classical academic education. Still life is one of the key genres in the educational process, especially when teaching future painters. Meanwhile, the processes that have taken place in the artistic life of China since the 1960s did not encourage the development of the genre. Society and the country's leadership were waiting for works celebrating labor and military exploits. Therefore, little attention was paid to admiring the beauty of everyday things, flowers and fruits, and the country's withdrawal from contacts with the Western world, and subsequently the cooling of relations with the Soviet Union, did not encourage local authors to get acquainted with the trends of art of that period.

In the last third of the XX century, after the proclamation of the course of reforms and "openness", the attitude of Chinese artists to still life begins to change. It goes beyond the educational process, and becomes a field for experiments with modernist trends that are gaining popularity among the younger generation of authors. Eastern and Western pictorial ideas begin to influence each other more strongly, and techniques are integrated. Among the Chinese authors who turned to still life, the neo-expressionist Marcus Lupertz was popular at that time. The artist Zhou Shaohong, due to this influence, became interested in what place tradition should occupy in a still life. However, they understood the "tradition" itself in different ways. Lupertz did not accept modern art and was an opponent of abstract expressionism. He focused on constructing perspectives and forms similar to those adopted in the Renaissance. In his still lifes, composed of various objects, which were indicated by large and bright colored spots, he included motifs from Greek mythology, history and paintings by old masters (Fig. 5). Zhou Shaohua put similar experiments in his works, but he relied on the art of the Song and Yuan dynasties (Fig. 6). The author turned to already familiar flowers and fruits, or new objects, but used the expressive language of ink painting that is closer and more understandable to the Chinese ^[16].

Figure 5. Markus Lupertz. Arcadia. Canvas, oil. Mixed media, 2011. Private collection (Germany). Image source: http://collection.sina.com.cn/zgsh/yjzx/2017-09-20/doc-ifykymue7349859.shtml

Figure 6. Zhou Shaohua. Homeland, the first series" (Xiaochen). Mixed media. The 1980s. Chinese National Academy of Painting. Image source: http://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2017/0607/c405167-29322283.html

Modern still life art in China is very diverse, but it is more prone to realistic interpretation and figurativeness than to avant-garde and modernist experiments. Meanwhile, the still life remains in the focus of the authors' attention, as it helps to solve key issues related to form, color, ways of expressing the idea by artistic means. Chinese painters are increasingly raising the question of the need not just to borrow, but to create their own national concepts. Moreover, Western art serves as a nutritious basis for this. For example, a painting by the outstanding master of the second half of the XX century Wu Guanzhong, made in oil already at the beginning of the XXI century, called "Flowers" shows a flat pot with bright spots of yellow and pink flowers depicted with dense pasty strokes. The work emphasizes the author's impression of what he saw, which is characteristic of Chinese traditional art. At the same time, the painter here clearly tends to abstract transmission with a fairly high proportion of expression.

Figure 7. Shi Zhiying, Small white stone 1. Paper, watercolor. 2016. Image source: https://collection.sina.cn/shuhua/2017-09-19/detail-ifykywuc7466380.d.html

Figure 8. Wang Daji. Inspection of flowers No. 2. Oil on canvas. 2016. Image source: http://m.thepaper.cn/renmin_prom.jsp?contid=1797220&from=renmin

The young and sought-after artist Wu Dayu, who studied in France, is strongly influenced by Western painting. In the painting "Red Flower", the buds in the vase merge with the background, the strokes are energetic and emotional. Mixing colors directly on the canvas allows you to create a dynamic rhythm of spots. The approaches of Western authors to the construction of the form of objects are also felt in the works of Pan Yuliang. In the painting "Vase with Flowers" he relies on oil painting techniques, especially in solving the background of the painting, perspective cuts that create the effect of depth of space and volume. At the same time, the role of the line in the author is strong in an oriental way, since it is due to them that the outlines of flowers, leaves and stems are emphasized. In the conditions of realistic art, Shi Zhiying works, who scrupulously studies the "life" of individual objects, placing them in a kind of emptiness, admiring the shape and interaction of colors (Fig. 7). Wang Daji creates hyperrealistic still lifes, but at the same time actively uses the expressive possibilities of the same lines and empty spaces (Fig. 8).

Thus, the Chinese and Western versions of the still life have been developing in parallel for a long time. The Chinese focused on the things that tradition led them to admire. The difference in techniques and materials suggested differences in the ways of expression. Gradually, the range of objects of attention in Chinese still life began to expand, and attempts to master the art of oil painting became more frequent. It was under the influence of Western art that still life began to establish itself as an independent genre. This status was finally consolidated in the 1980s, when the Chinese, who had the opportunity to come into contact with the creative experiments of European and American artists, began their own experiments with avant-garde, impressionistic and expressionistic reading of the image of objects. The stay of Chinese authors in a state of searching for an original concept of painting at the beginning of the XXI century led to the apparent lack of stylistic consistency in the art of still life, but an obvious desire to rely on the principles of the national art of pen and ink.