Interpretation of the symbols of "snow painting" in Chinese art as a reflection of the process of changes in national religious, philosophical and aesthetic concepts

Chan Zhui Postgraduate student, Department of Arts and Design, Far Eastern Federal University 690920, Russia, Vladivostok City District, Russian Island, FEFU Campus, building F, office 406 changrui@rambler.ru

"Snow painting" or "snow landscape" is a special phenomenon in Chinese traditional painting, which has a complex mythopoetic content, which, in turn, is due to the religious, philosophical and aesthetic ideas of the people. It is noteworthy that most of the country is located in a temperate climate zone with mild but snowy winters, and the territory of the modern state captures a small area of a moderately cold zone, where winter lasts for several months. It was in these parts that this kind of landscape art originated. It was closely connected with literary creativity, as Chinese writers and poets repeatedly turned to this natural phenomenon, admiring its aesthetics and the ability to use it to convey emotional overtones associated with something mysterious, magical, gloomy, otherworldly. In addition, given the limited means of expression available to the masters of pen and ink, the graphic nature of winter landscapes perfectly corresponded to them. Following the literary images, pictorial ones began to be created, which were constantly changing, absorbing new signs and symbols. They, in turn, influenced the imagery of all Chinese painting, its evolution. Meanwhile, against the background of growing interest in the art of the Middle Kingdom, there are practically no works in Russian science that would consider this phenomenon. Indirectly, as a rule, in the context of the development of landscape art of the Celestial Empire, or rather the symbolic and artistic system of "mountains and waters", it was considered by such researchers as E. V. Vinogradova ^[1], V. L. Sychev ^[2], M. A. Neglinskaya ^[3], S. N. Sokolov-Remizov ^[4], E. V. Zavadskaya ^[5], L. I. Kuzmenko ^[6], as well as a significant number of Chinese art historians. This work is an attempt at a comprehensive understanding of the voiced topic.

"Snow painting" is directly related to philosophical reflections and religious ideas. The image of snow is especially important for Buddhism, since snow–capped mountains are a kind of "nirvana", since the whiteness of snow seems to cleanse the dirt of sins, and the cold introduces a special state close to a blissful state, freeing from life's worries and aspirations. For Buddhists, snow is a welcome emptiness, nothingness, thoughtlessness, a true world without decorations and dust. He seems to embody the process of purification and the attainment of bliss. In Chinese poetry, snow is associated with the idea of peace and solitude, through which bliss is also achieved. Art historian Wang Bomin wrote the following about the artists who worked during the Yuan Dynasty: "Although all their works are based on the depiction of real mountains and waters, regardless of whether they describe spring, autumn, summer or winter landscapes, highlands or shallow waters, plateaus or slopes, their images always cause people to feel desolation, indifference, striving for a world "without fireworks"" ^[7].

The establishment of "snowy landscapes" as a theme in Chinese art was largely facilitated by the work of an artist of the Eastern Jin Dynasty named Gu Kaizhi. Before him, painters were mainly focused on depicting figures against the background of landscapes that were of secondary importance, and the depicted time of year was mainly summer or spring. However, during the reign of Jin, among enlightened officials, life in the bosom of nature, in mountains or forests, began to become fashionable, promoting solitude and tranquility, and through them helping to achieve inner harmony and, thereby, perfection. Naturally, the Chinese, who were inclined to painting, could not ignore the natural motifs that they discovered, as well as those with spiritual content that they associated with them. Gu Kaizhi discovered the special aesthetics and symbolism of snow-covered distances for Chinese landscape painting. His painting entitled "View of the Old Peak in snow and Fog", which has not survived to this day, is the first winter landscape mentioned in historical documents in the history of Chinese art. She has become a kind of model for new generations of authors, although her visual range is not known to us.

1. Zhang Senyu. Mangroves in the snow-capped mountains. The Southern Liang Dynasty. Taipei National Palace Museum. Source: https://zhuanlan .zhihu.com/p/600632675

The earliest surviving work of this kind should be called "Mangroves in snow-capped mountains" by Zhang Senyu from the Southern Liang Dynasty (VI century). The author refers to polychrome silk painting. To depict the alternating planes of the vertices, he uses the method of rubbing white ink into the surface of the fabric, and then shades the light areas with cinnabar, green and other colors. The mountains serve as a frame for the scene in the foreground with travelers from the literary work "Seng Yao" riding over a bridge and road, as well as a house lost among hills and autumn-colored crowns of mangroves (fig. 1). It is noteworthy that at about the same time, in the first half of the VI century, The artist executed frescoes in monasteries, specializing in figures of Taoist saints, the plasticity of which he partly transferred to the landscape in question. In relation to the natural environment, the use of fresco painting techniques is also noticeable, vividly expressed in the flat image of snow-capped mountains shaded by tree crowns.

 2. Wang Wei. Snowy creek. The Tang Dynasty. Taipei National Palace Museum. Source: https://baike .baidu.com/pic/%E9%9B%AA%E6%BA%AA%E5%9B%BE/8345471/1/e7cd7b899e510fb3c69d52e1d433c895d1430c3b?fr=lemma&fromModule=lemma_top-image&ct=single

The growing understanding of the aesthetic self–worth of nature, including snowy expanses, manifested itself in the "Snowy Stream" by Wang Wei, who lived during the Tang Dynasty (VII–X centuries) - the period of the rapid flourishing of Chinese landscape painting. The author of the painting, after leaving government office and adopting Buddhism, lived in seclusion in a country house near Chang'an, the ancient capital of imperial China. He became interested in poetry, in which he recreated pastoral images, as well as painting, which echoed his poetic creativity and vision of the world. In the "Snowy Stream" the author depicts a lake, and around it – snow–capped mountain slopes, fishing houses and illuminated figures of people (fig. 2). His snow is not painted fragments of silk canvas, around which the outlines of water and mountains are highlighted with dark tones of ink and lines. The desolation and cold of the winter landscape help to create a sense of peace and vastness of nature, against which people actively act as a spiritualizing force ^[8]. The combination of the movements of the white figures and the static of their surroundings, the simplicity and lightness of the drawing, flatness and desolation will later become a characteristic technique in the transmission of winter views in Chinese painting. Wang Wei also outlined his views on the new topic in the treatise "Theory of Landscape", believing that the snow cover "borrows" a place for itself from the earth, but at the same time, like earlier water and sky, it can be left empty, as if discharged, so that the viewer can imagine it for himself ^[9].

 3. Zhao Qian. Snowy creek. A fragment. The Tang Dynasty. Taipei National Palace Museum. Source: https://baike .baidu.com/pic/%E9%9B%AA%E6%BA%AA%E5%9B%BE/8345471/1/e7cd7b899e510fb3c69d52e1d433c895d1430c3b?fr=lemma&fromModule=lemma_top-image&ct=single

After the overthrow of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (X century), political events and the general turbulent state of affairs in the country prompted even more representatives of the nobility and learned dignitaries than before to move away from the hustle and bustle in the quiet of country houses and palaces. In the light of the development of manor culture, an even more significant number of landscapes began to appear, including those depicting snow. Artists of this era succeeded in finding new means of expression for paintings with winter views. One of the most innovative works for that period was the scroll "The First Snow on the River" by Zhao Qian, which depicts fishermen leisurely fishing (fig. 3). A cold wind blows around them and barely noticeable snowflakes fall. To recreate this natural phenomenon on silk, the author applied light ink to it, and then sprinkled with white powder. Thus, he achieved the effect of a light snow shroud. The dark line of the yellowish reed sets off its light surface. The long tree trunks are painted in dark ink and slightly covered with white paint resembling frost. The techniques used by Zhao Qian introduced previously unknown dynamics and liveliness into the previous static image of snow as an unfilled void ^[10].

The period of the Song Dynasty (X–XIII centuries) was the culmination of the formation of "snow painting" in the Chinese art system. At that time, works that became textbook were created, such as "Snowy Landscape in a fishing village" by Wang Xun, "Snow Painting in Hanjiang" by Song Huizong, "Map of Mountains and Waters in Xuejing" by Liang Kai, "Map of Ma Yuan", "Map of Xuejing" and other equally famous "snowy landscapes". Each of the artists sought to depict winter views in their own way, abandoning previous schemes and techniques. Moreover, the symbolic system of their canvases also became more individual. If earlier she expressed the idea of contemplative peace peculiar to Buddhism, now the painters expressed through the image of winter and snow the nuances of their personal lyrical state. For example, the master Fan Kuan is characterized by the structurality and stability of the composition, rigor in the transfer of objects, the desire to make the picturesque space as easy as possible by eliminating unnecessary details in favor of the most accurate transfer of natural objects. Through the snow-capped mountains, the author tells the viewer about his reverence for the giants breathing cold peace, their steadfastness before the passage of time, cataclysms, and human influence. Fan Kuan does not paint over the places where the snow lies, at the same time it tones the sky. The artist Song was attracted to the idea of loneliness in the winter landscape, expressed in the desolate and cold expanses. He carefully outlined the outlines of lonely white peaks, at the foot of which gloomy forests seemed to freeze in the snow. This state of nature, which may seem gloomy to a foreign viewer, is full of a bright, elegant mood for the perception of the Chinese.

The literary artists of the Yuan Dynasty (XIII-XIV centuries) were much less interested in northern snow views, more inclined to summer and southern ones. One of the exceptions is Huang Gongwang's "snowy landscapes", the rest of the outstanding works with snowy landscapes are mostly difficult to find. In the Map of the Nine Peaks of Xueji, Huang Gongwang uses a vertically oriented canvas and depicts mountain peaks one after another, alternating them in a certain rhythm. The silhouette of the white mountains is much more complex than that of previous authors, and closer to the foreground, the foothills are carefully prescribed, down to the separate stones. The composition is enlivened by trees growing on the slope, in the form of dark strokes. Unlike the snow cover, the author strongly tones the sky from above and the water from below, setting off its whiteness. His works, including "House on Mount Fuchun", "Nine Peaks with Snow", "Stone Wall of Tianchi" and other "snowy landscapes" demonstrate the author's commitment to vertically oriented composition when depicting mountainous terrain, as well as the use of techniques developed by the previous generation of masters ^[11]. It is known that this work was created as a gift to the Confucian scholar Weizhi and expressed a sense of sadness from contemplating a series of snowfalls in the spring.

In the Ming Dynasty (XIV–XVII centuries), "snowy landscapes" became relevant again for Chinese artists. Moreover, representatives of the so-called Zhejiang school focused their attention on them, who continued and interpreted the styles proposed by the masters of the Southern Song Dynasty in their own way, and masters Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and Dong Qichang used the techniques of artists of the Yuan Dynasty. Their work to a certain extent repeated the artistic solutions proposed by previous generations of authors, and did not introduce anything new into the symbolic and aesthetic concept of "snow painting". Later, already in the Qing era (XVII–XX centuries), landscape painters who turned to winter views were more interested in the technical side of the issue, innovations in the manner of pen and ink, the study of the expressive possibilities of Western European painting, than the development of the substantive part of their works.

4. Fu Baoshi. The moon, the river, the mountain, and so much beauty. A preparatory sketch for the painting "The country is so beautiful." 1959. People's Assembly House, Beijing. Source: http://www.chinashj.com/sh-jxdsh-ss/10814.html

In the art world of modern China, which is rethinking the experience of the art of the past and interacting with the global art process, interest in "snow painting" is increasing. Many authors using the technique of traditional painting turn to the techniques of the old masters, as well as those who work in oil or watercolor, but are looking for a peculiar manner in the national spirit. Of course, Chinese artists, both in the XX and in the XXI century. they already have a different attitude to nature in comparison with ancient authors, they are able to work with different types of perspective, they have the skills of chiaroscuro modeling of the form. However, they were attracted and are still attracted to the compositional schemes of the past, the aesthetics of the motifs and the meanings behind them. Especially, as centuries ago, the masters were attracted to the Xuejing Mountains. In the middle of the last century, already in the history of New China, the painter Fu Baoshi, when performing together with Guan Shanyue the monumental composition "The Country is so Beautiful", radically revised the essence of the winter landscape, moving away from the theme of solitude and an elegiac mood towards affirming the idea of joy from contemplating the beauty of his native land, which sounds in Mao Zedong's poem "Spring snow in Qinyuan" (fig. 4). Guan Shanyue painted pine trees in the foreground and snow–capped mountains in the distance, and Fu Baoshi painted a flowing stream of water. The authors fill the entire surface with a colorful layer. They "sculpt" mountains with dark colors, mark darkened areas. Snow-capped peaks and wave crests are marked with light tones and white, which are viewed from above, as if from a bird's-eye view. Hence the format of the work, oriented horizontally to show the breadth of the panorama opening. The symbolic meaning is revealed in many ways due to the juxtaposition of dark mountain ranges in the lower right corner and light ones in the distance, personifying the future.

 5. Tao Lengyue. Snowy moonscape. 1989. The National Palace Museum of Beijing. Source: https://www.sohu.com/a/618089751_121119344

At the end of the XX century, Tao Lengyue in the "Snowy Lunar Landscape", made at the end of his creative career, accumulated the developed technical skills, visual techniques and knowledge of traditions in order to combine Chinese and Western approaches in the "snowy landscape" (fig. 5). He combined the motifs of snow-capped mountains, water and moonlit night, creating The atmosphere is full of coolness and elegance. When depicting natural objects, he no longer leaves unpainted areas, darkening the sky and water, and covering with white, shaded with dark stripes of shadow, those places where snow lies on the slopes. His visual plane is heterogeneous, full of inner excitement, which makes this image even more poetic. On the example of this work, the painters' attraction to the contemplation and elegy of the "snowy landscapes" of the past is noticeable, but at the same time enriching them with new previously uncharacteristic techniques and motifs ^[12]. Similar trends can be found in such famous works as "Qingyuanchun Xue" or "Linhai Xueyuan" by Li Keyan, who actively used chiaroscuro modeling, "Xihai Xueji" or "Ten Thousand Snowy Peaks" by Song Wenzhi. The latter depicts mountains literally drowning in cloud masses, merging with them. Both masters achieve a feeling of coldness emanating from the peaks, silence and grandeur, which is close to the concepts of art of the past.

 6. Yu Zhixue. The Northern House. 2005. A private collection. Source: http://www.zgsshw.cn/content.asp?id=45991

In the arena of modern Chinese landscape painting, the "snowy landscapes" performed by Yu Zhixue are now especially appreciated. This artist, whose creative path began at the end of the XX century. in the wake of changes in the art of the Middle Kingdom, remains faithful to the style of traditional painting and the motives of the northern territories chosen by him. In his works, the search for optimal means to express the purity of snow and the transparency of ice, the coldness and desolation of winter species in different states is noticeable (fig. 6). In fact, the artist, remaining within the boundaries of ink painting, changes the technical component, looking for his own techniques for each motif. For example, he often sprinkles white on top of the paint layer, dripping them to convey the "beauty of the cold." In addition, he prefers to concentrate dark objects in one part of the work, leaving more room for the play of light on a snowy surface and in cloudy skies. For Yu Zhixue, it is important to show that the former painting of writers can be changed from coldness and detachment to emotionality and impetuosity ^[13]. He sees this as the key to the future development of the "snowy" variety of the landscape genre in the context of contemporary Chinese art.

Since "snow" entered the aesthetic and conceptual field of Chinese culture, it has become endowed with symbolic meaning, turning into a metaphor. However, with the development of Chinese art, changes in the socio-cultural sphere and people's perception of the world, transformations took place in its perception and understanding, as well as in the ways it was depicted. In China, snow, because of its whiteness and purity, was a symbol of beauty and a metaphor for loyalty and nobility. But there is another polar meaning associated with destruction, devastation and death. This is the peculiarity of the images in "snow painting", since one image has two different meanings. In addition, white snow in painting is a void that should be filled with vision, ideas and emotions by the viewer himself. The image of snow allows you to imagine the work, to complement it with new connotations. Moreover, the interest in "snowy landscapes" among artists, as a rule, arose during difficult periods of the country's history, turning points. For a long time, the writing of such works was associated with the desire of their authors to find solitude, and through it harmony with the world and themselves. It is only in the art of the New China, largely influenced by the traditions of Western art, that this theme begins to be rethought, and the "snowy landscape" begins to acquire not only a minor sound, but also a positive attitude associated with hopes for renewal. At the same time, "snow painting" as a unique phenomenon of traditional Chinese painting allows masters to develop within its limits, still looking for new techniques and objects for the image. Chinese artists, often fascinated by symbolic realism, are looking for a space in it to embody their fantasies and metaphorical images.