The Ideological Foundations of Chinese Traditional Landscape Painting Art

Lu Sa Graduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, Herzen State Pedagogical University 191186, Russia, Saint Petersburg, nab. Sinks, 48, room 6, room 51 tkachenko.lnik@gmail.com Other publications by this author

 In Chinese art studies, scientific works of various levels are very widely presented, analyzing the history and features of the landscape art of the country at various stages.

There are also works exploring the history of garden art, the authors of which consider the manifestations of its traditions in the works of Chinese painters. Especially often scientists seek to correlate pictorial images and poetic ones, which are associated with the description of glades, ponds and fruit trees in gardens and parks of the Celestial Empire. A similar situation is observed in Russian science. Among the most significant works in Russian, we will include the books of E.V. Zavadskaya, N.A. Vinogradova, O.N. Glukhareva, the dissertation of Ya.V. Yakovlevsky, as well as other authors who were attentive to the search for the ideological foundations of images in the works of Chinese artists of different periods. Meanwhile, philosophy and literature are traditionally considered as a source of inspiration for the masters of Chinese painting. At the same time, it is obvious that under the influence of the principles of organizing such garden and park spaces as a means of spiritual self-improvement, the picturesque landscape also changed.Fig. 1. Xi Yunren.

Reflection in the mirror water of the entrance to the Mermaid Palace. Beijing. Photo. 1949. A source:https://www.163.com/dy/article/H55Q00JN0514IU34.htmlThe history of the formation of the image of the garden in Chinese art began during the Qin and Han dynasties, when the great emperors tried to maintain stability and demonstrated their power through the pomp of architectural buildings ^{[1, p. 13]}.

They built palaces, surrounded them with pavilions, planted rare plants, and also arranged cascading rockeries, ponds and other garden ventures. In terms of their scale and decorative design, these palaces surpassed all subsequent royal gardens and parks. Examples include the palaces of Qin Shi Huang and Weiyang Han Wudi, built in the II–I centuries BC on the territory of modern Shaanxi province. Judging by the very vague but expressive descriptions of that time, the gardens then looked more like hunting grounds with a large number of rare birds and animals, lush trees and luxuriously decorated gazebos.

The emperors built magnificent gardens not only out of love for nature and practical needs, but also out of interest in Taoist ideas about the natural principle. According to them, they sought to turn their home into a magical place on earth, hoping to achieve immortality through spiritual practice. Taoism advocated a "return to nature" both internally and externally, that is, a person had to establish the closest relationship with nature on the spiritual and material levels. The life of an individual reflected the rhythm corresponding to the constantly changing life forms of nature. For example, the Chinese artist of the Tang dynasty, Gu Kaizhi, painted paintings that reflected scenes with wildlife, into which he seemed to immerse his viewer. His contemporary Zong Bing was fond of rocks, believing that they both in painting and in reality symbolize a person's path to perfection in the darkness and danger of the world.

A similar vision was reflected in poetry. So, the poet Tao Yuanming in "The Return", written at the beginning of the V century about the meaning of the garden, wrote the following: "When you return home, you realize that there is no idyll outside the house. Since you take your heart for a form, you are melancholic and lonely <...> The boat sails far away with a light nose, and the wind blows your clothes <...> Three paths are empty, but pine trees and chrysanthemums still remain. The garden is fun, and the door to it is always closed <...> Yun Wuxin comes out of the gazebo, and the birds fly away when they get tired. Jing Ying is about to enter, caressing the lonely pines" ^{[2, p. 155]}.

Fig. 2. Unknown master of the Ming Dynasty. An idea of the royal mountain garden of the Han Dynasty. Freer Museum of Art, Washington. Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/H55Q00JN0514IU34.htmlDuring the Han Dynasty, a Rabbit garden appeared near the Yaohua Palace, owned by King Xiao of the Liang Kingdom.

According to the descriptions of this object, it was pitched around the Bailin Mountain with the Qilongxiu Cave, and also had a fish pond. It was decorated with rare trees, flowers and birds. Many of the constituent elements of this garden subsequently found their place in later Chinese garden and park ensembles. They also had caves and rocks, even if artificial in the form of grottoes, winding paths and waterways, dense forests and rich vegetation — all this created the effect of fabulousness. But the most important feature of these gardens was an artfully constructed rock garden, consisting mainly of stone blocks. So gradually Chinese gardeners focused on the transformation of natural landscapes and the creation of artificial ones.

The development of landscape art of that time also stemmed from the romantic views of Taoist philosophy. Artists played on this theme, trying to depict magnificent palaces and gardens. Their works are known from copies of masters from the later medieval Song and Ming dynasties. Some depicted marble platforms, intricate pavilions, towering pagodas, open terraces and other architectural elements, and placed them among lush trees and stones surrounded by white clouds. Due to the desire to create an image of a special fairy-tale place, their works did not fully reflect reality, but rather embodied an idealized image (Fig. 2).

Fig. 3. Yang Wujiu. A zen room surrounded by trees and rocks and a garden wall. The beginning of the XII century. Freer Museum of Art, Washington. Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/H55Q00JN0514IU34.htmlLater, Taoist scholars and artists began to lay out gardens around their homes, and they undoubtedly differed in scale and principles of organization from gardens built by wealthy aristocrats and rulers.

Private gardens were usually small and located in hard-to-reach places, for example, in the mountains or on the banks of rivers. Terraces on the mountains were planted with bamboo and plum trees, river banks with willows, and outside the house was lost behind fruit trees and plantings of chrysanthemums and peonies. The gardens were surrounded by fences made of bamboo branches. This contributed to a closer connection between man and nature, united people who lived surrounded by gardens, emphasized not power and strength, but rather the ingenuity that they sought to express in life and creativity.

Due to the fascination with private gardens, the theme of landscape painting is changing, as it switches to the image of protected areas. Thus, in a composition characteristic of that time, a copy of which was performed by Yang Wujiu in the XII century under the title "Zen room surrounded by trees and rocks and a garden wall", it is noticeable that the unknown author of the IV century moves away from idealization towards a sufficiently detailed image of a corner of nature transformed by man, in which the owner meditates. In an effort to repeat the principles of garden art, the artist leaves the space around the pavilion, bringing plants and rocks to the perimeter — symbols of the dangers of the real world (Fig. 3). Thereby they begin to play the role of framing, and a contrast is built: a light and almost empty center and a dark periphery saturated with shapes and spots.

Taoist ideas about nature and its relationship with man have undoubtedly had a great influence on the development of gardens and parks in China, as well as on their images in poetry and painting. However, Buddhism, which developed side by side with these ideas, also had an impact on the art of landscape. In China, starting from the IV–V centuries, Buddhist monasteries and temples began to be actively built, usually located in picturesque places, which pushed the founders and residents of these monasteries to organize garden spaces. One of the most famous was Bailian, founded by Hui Yuan in the city of Lushan, Jiangxi province. The followers of the teaching gathered in the large garden, who, returning to their native lands, created a semblance of this landscape — the so-called Lushan gardens.

Buddhism encouraged people to dive deeper into the world of nature, which, in turn, became a source of inspiration for painting and garden art. This development became more noticeable during the Song and Ming dynasties, when the Chinese transformed Indian religion with the help of local traditions and philosophical thought. This had a decisive influence on painting and, as a result, on garden art. Rich Chinese who turned to religion began bequeathing gardens to Buddhist monasteries before their death in order to preserve their "privileges" when they die and go to another world. This phenomenon was very common. In the book describing the history of the origin of Buddhism "Luoyang Jialang Ji" (), which was published in 547, a detailed description of Zhang Lun's garden is given: "The beauty of garden mountains and ponds is inaccessible to any king. The owner erected Jingyang Mountain, which was similar to a natural one. Deep streams and ravines are connected together. A tall forest giant tree is enough to cover the sun and moon. Hanging branches and rhizomes expel wind and smoke from the pavilions. The road, cut by stones, seems winding. A person comes here who is happy in the mountains and wilds and travels so as not to return back" ^{[3, p. 39-40]}. This description is rather vague, but it captures some characteristic elements of the basic layout of the garden, such as paths, ponds and rock gardens, which gave the garden a picturesque effect.

No less famous is the garden of the same time called Jingu, the first mention of which dates back to the IV century. It belonged to Shi Chong, one of the richest people in China of that period. It was this garden that became the object of attention of a number of artists whose works have come down to us. However, these works still belong to the Ming Dynasty. So, there is a painting by the artist Qiu Ying, who turned to the image of this garden, but the emphasis was not on reflecting the peculiarities of the organization of space, but on embodying the image of joyful holidays in the midst of architecture of small forms and graceful beauties, one of which was the legendary inhabitant of the garden — "Green Pearl". If we summarize the available artistic material of that period, it turns out that most of the scrolls and paintings showed, first of all, secular pavilions or monastic monasteries, usually located on mountain platforms or in valleys.

Compared with the lavishly decorated palace garden and park complexes, such gardens looked more modest, but began to appear more often in painting. Due to their proximity to the wild, they were more closely connected with the need to live naturally and simply — poetry, painting, and garden art reflected this desire. Among the poems describing secluded pavilions and gardens, the lines written by the poet Xie Lingyun "Help in planting a garden of Tiannan trees" are still well known, which describe the specifics of the garden's location: "A garden under a clear sky attracts the wind from afar. The meditation room faces north, and the open gate faces the south river. Hibiscus stands like a column in front of the window ..." ^{[4, p. 69]}. Obviously, this little secret garden faced the mountains to the north and faced the river to the south. Only hibiscus was mentioned in the poem of plants, but there were undoubtedly chrysanthemums and bamboo groves, as well as other trees whose branches shaded the pavilions. It is noteworthy that with the development of such gardens, separate images of garden plants appeared in Chinese painting, primarily flowers and bamboo — the main motifs of the "flowers and birds" genre. Small spaces encouraged owners to pay more attention to details, making them objects for admiring ^{[5, p. 23]}. One of the first artists who turned to this motif was probably Xu Chunxi, who painted elegant flowers and leaves with colored ink over silk and thin rice paper, introducing insects and poetic lines into the composition. At the same time, he left the space around him unpainted (Fig. 4).

Fig 4. Unknown author of the Ming Dynasty. Woodcut based on a painting by Xu Chunxi of the IV century. Private collection. Source: https://www.163.com/dy/article/H55Q00JN0514IU34.html

In the VI century, when the capital of the state was in Nanjing, artistic activity associated with the reflection of feelings and emotions began to prevail, and landscape finally stood out as an independent genre. This happened due to the fact that the painting perfectly conveyed the changing mood of nature and its observer. Thus, the works of the artist Wang Wei, both in the field of poetry and painting, fully reflected this feature. Judging by the available copies of the works of painters of that time, the masters preferred to paint small scenes with huts covered with thatched roofs, in which hermits lived; open pavilions on the banks of mountain rivers, lost between trees at the foot of the mountains; ponds with water flowers in the middle of the forest. In addition, small orchards or groves of gnarled pines or bamboo swaying in the wind were depicted. The artist Zhang Senyao, who worked at the beginning of the VI century, was particularly successful in creating such images. He painted hermit huts that were located on the shores of lakes or rivers, where willows and other trees provided shade and there was enough space for flowers and trees.

During the reign of the Northern Song and Ming dynasties, images of open pavilions erected on a small plot of land protruding from the water became fashionable. Another option is that at the foot of the mountain, the painters painted several small pavilions surrounded by rocks and dense bamboo forests. These motifs are closely related to the trend that prevailed in medieval gardens and was expressed in the creation of secluded corners. Such views are shown in paintings by Zhao Danyan, Li Wei and other authors. For example, Yan Buzhi's ink drawing depicts a garden with a low hut and a thatched roof in the center, and trees and other plants around it. At the same time, endless expanses with mountain peaks overgrown with pine and bamboo forests can be seen behind the garden wall. A hut in the middle of mountains and endless distances is a place of secluded peace in a raging world.

Around this period, the work of Xu Shichang was painted, depicting a pavilion built by the water. The stream flows to the foot of the mountain, and there you can see a small plot with a garden surrounded by a fence. Bamboo groves and blossoming plums lean towards the fence, and tall pines and willows are located on the left and right. Behind — endless mountain peaks, lost in the fog. It is noteworthy that such an organization of landscape composition was typical for artists of the Southern Song Dynasty, in particular for the Ma Xia art school.

Fig. 5. Sheng Mao. Autumn boat trip on the river. 1361. National Museum, Beijing. Source: https://wiki5.ru/wiki/Sheng_MaoIn the Ming era, Mao Sheng worked, who created the scroll "Autumn Boat Trip on the River".

It is noticeable in it that the author has become more attentive to details, trying to show even the species of plants, their uniqueness (Fig. 5). Moreover, it is plants that become key in his work. The artist's painting "Assembly in the Orchid Pavilion" shows depicts a literary gathering of forty-one scientists who celebrate the annual Spring Cleansing Festival in the "Orchid Pavilion". During this event, cultural figures were engaged in composing poems. Cups of wine lying on large leaves floated on the surface of the water, and if a scientist could not find a rhyme or put a verse together, he had to drink a drink. The celebration became more fun as getting the bowls became more risky.

The first paintings, including the image of the orchid pavilion, date back to the IX century. Many centuries later, the same figures of men and several boys sitting along the stream and examining the scroll are written on the scroll of Mao Sheng. However, they are placed in a conditionally empty space, while the plants are "taken out" by the master to the periphery. They serve as a kind of framing of the scene. This corresponds to the principles of building a Chinese garden of that time. The influence of Western art affects the more detailed drawing of plants and in the desire to fill the entire plane of the scroll with the depicted objects.

Fig. 6. Chen Hongshou. Drinking wine in the garden. 1649.Shanghai Museum, Shanghai.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Hongshou#/media/File:Chen_Hongshou,_Drinking_Wine_in_the_Garden.jpgFollowing Mao Sheng, many Chinese painters turned to the theme of the meeting in the orchid pavilion.

For example, the Chinese artist Chen Hongshou tries to convey in his works his emotional state and feelings about the decline of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu conquest that rooted the Qing Dynasty. His scrolls combine elegant lines with decorative flowers and plants. Chen Hongshou depicted both human figures and birds, flowers, landscapes. His painting is distinguished by its decorative manner and stylizations.

The scroll "Drinking wine in the garden" was written in the middle of the XVII century and conveyed a scene with a scientist drinking wine among banana trees against a background of rocky stones. He holds his glass high and sits looking into the distance. The master strives to convey the spirit of the past through antique dishes and costumes. Meanwhile, the organization of the garden corresponds to modern principles for it. In those days, gardens were organized so that they seemed as natural and open as possible with obligatory stone slides and other structures laid out of this natural material. Wanting to emphasize the "air", the master shifts the thickets of banana trees to the left edge, placing figures, masonry and plants so as to balance the composition (Fig. 6). The color scheme is moderate. Dark lines outlining the outlines of figures and natural objects are complemented by small spots of green, red and blue. This underlines the desire of the artist, who followed the ideas of Confucius, to renounce the world within a safe garden.

In the era of the Qing Dynasty, first of all, in the gardens of the provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong, architecture of small forms began to develop in the form of gazebos, lanterns, bridges, etc. Thanks to this, Chinese artists received new motifs in their arsenal. The most famous artist of the XVII–XVIII centuries is considered to be Len Mei, who combined the western and eastern style of creating works. He painted the secluded corners of the great imperial park. As a rule, it was a lake surrounded by hills and trees. He conveyed them in a rather saturated color scheme ^{[6, p. 176]}. During the Qing Dynasty, miniature landscapes were also popular, mainly with images of private gardens in southern China ^[7]. An example is the "Garden of the Wu Family" by an unknown author.

Fig. 8. LEng Mei. Figures. XVIII century

National Palace Museum, Taipei. Source: https://wiki5.ru/wiki/Leng_Mei

At the turn of XVII–XVIII centuries there were many artists who were active in the field of landscape. One of them was len Mei from Shandong province. In the beginning of his career he was a pupil of the artist and astronomer Jiao of Benjina. During the reign of the Kangxi became a court painter. The artist became famous for his works depicting people, including ladies and beautiful women. He imagined them in their scrolls not only inside the Palace interiors, but in the midst of gardens. Unlike predecessors, who had rarely entered the architectural motifs in the landscape, the wizard made a bet. Moreover, he very boldly used a colorful palette, achieving a contrast and bold combinations.

Concluding the analysis of the landscapes of Chinese artists in the context of the development trends of landscape art, note, that the motives which they are elected, largely due to the level and nature of development of philosophical and religious thought that is associated with the awareness of the connection between man and nature. Thus, the greatest impact on the composition of landscape as a genre, which has taken origins in the fifth century, had Taoism, who saw in nature is the path to spiritual perfection. After that the nature has become a major preoccupation of poets and writers, many of whom were supplemented their poetic images of spectacular. The latest on the dawn of the genre at first reflected the wild and transformed by human nature, but in the idealized way. Then with the development of landscape art of the attention focused on the man-made motifs garden plants and architecture of small forms. First, to focus the attention of painters were part of the Imperial parks and gardens of the nobility, which led to a desire to cover them in integrity, panoramically. Hence, complex compositions and scenes. From the VI century began to develop a small, private gardens, and then the master of landscape began to focus on separate from the world and pleasant gardens, the impenetrable wall surrounding owners. At the same time began to develop the genre images of floral compositions, many of which were the result of observation of the growth and flowering of the plants in the garden. Later with the development of garden architecture artists began to focus on the image of the pavilions and other buildings, among which are surrounded by trees, the various events.

Thus, the landscape painting in China has undergone many transformations, as the manner of the painters themselves, and one of the main factors that stimulate these processes were philosophical ideas about the connection of man and nature, as well as the success of the Chinese in the creation of gardens and parks.