Names should be given according to the overall artistic conception, overall idea and the scene described in the picture.
A picture of a lady, also known as a picture of a lady, is a painting with the life of upper-middle class women in China feudal society as its theme. A typical pattern of porcelain decoration, with ladies as the theme. It was first seen in Changsha kiln porcelain in Tang Dynasty. The rare pictures of ladies in Song and Yuan Dynasties had a lot to do with the prevalence of flower-and-bird paintings at that time.
the formation and development of ladies' paintings:
the development stage of ladies' paintings
the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties are the early development stages of ladies' paintings. The women depicted are mainly ancient virtuous women and fairies in myths and legends, and the prototypes of such images generally come from literary works such as poems and poems and folklore. When artists express these idealized women who are far away from real life, they are most concerned about how to show their inner spiritual temperament through the expression of women's external bodies. From the earliest surviving scroll painting of ladies, the depiction of the goddess Luoshui in Gu Kaizhi's Poem "Luoshen Fu Tu" based on Cao Zhi's "Luoshen Fu" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (a copy of the Song Dynasty), we can see that the typical beauty in Wei and Jin Dynasties is thin and clear, with lofty and ancient charm.
Luo Shen's face is oval, with delicate features, slim and graceful figure, and light and slender. She didn't show ecstatic expression because she met Cao Zhi by the Luoshui River, nor did she show sadness and indignation because she left Cao Zhi. She finally faced the development of the situation with an indifferent and peaceful expression, thus successfully showing the extraordinary beauty of Luo Shen, which was consistent with the characteristics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties when people advocated metaphysics, paid attention to people's inner spiritual temperament and pursued detachment.
the flourishing stage of lady painting
As the most glorious era of feudal society, the Tang Dynasty is also the flourishing stage of lady painting. Painters pay close attention to the rich and colorful real society with the optimism of actively entering the WTO, and are especially keen on expressing the leisurely lifestyle and monotonous and leisurely life mood of aristocratic women. Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang were famous ladies painters in this period. Zhou Fang's "Flower-wearing Ladies Picture" and "Fan-waving Ladies Picture" represent the outstanding achievements of the palace ladies painting in the Tang Dynasty in terms of both form and spirit. The painter pays attention to realism and truth-seeking in modeling. The woman's face is round and full, her body is plump and strong, and her temperament is elegant and noble, showing the luxurious beauty of royal women in the prosperous times of the Tang Dynasty.
This kind of beauty, with a strong sense of the times, catered to the aesthetic interest of the big bureaucrats and nobles in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, attracted much attention and became the main artistic feature of the ladies' paintings in the Tang Dynasty. The Five Dynasties after the Tang Dynasty was an era of frequent regime alternation, and painters inherited the tradition of the Tang Dynasty and made some changes in the creation of ladies' paintings. For example, compared with the ladies in the Tang Dynasty, the female geisha described in Gu Hongzhong's "The Night Banquet of Han Xizai" has the most remarkable change that the plump skin of the geisha is more healthy and beautiful because of the lack of the lazy posture of the ladies in the Tang Dynasty. The slender figure of fairies in Ruan Gao's "The Picture of the Fairy in Langyuan" is even more out of the plump and obese modeling program of ladies in the Tang Dynasty. Even if fairies were painted in the Tang Dynasty, they began to pay attention to the curvy beauty and charming posture of women's figure lines.
Innovation
The Song Dynasty was an era of relatively stable political power, developed economy and prosperous culture. In the creation of ladies' paintings, they inherited the prosperity of the Tang and Five Dynasties and made some innovations, especially in the subject matter, whose scope of expression has expanded to an unprecedented extent.
In addition to the aristocratic women in court and the women in myths and legends are still depicted, the poor women at the lowest level in life have also begun to attract the attention of painters. For example, the women in Wang Juzheng's "Spinning Wheel Map", compared with the ladies written by Gu Kaizhi in Jin Dynasty and Zhou Fang in Tang Dynasty, have no beautiful appearance, attractive figure, gorgeous costumes and noble status, and they are only the most ordinary rural women in life. The old woman with patched clothes and trousers looks haggard and slow, and her hard life makes her look full of vicissitudes. The author expresses them in a realistic artistic way without beautification, aiming at praising their attitude towards life and unpretentious personality beauty, and at the same time expressing sympathy for their poor life. The picture reflects the artistic characteristics of the ladies' paintings in the Song Dynasty, with rigorous figures, accurate proportions and vivid and natural postures.
Ladies' paintings in the Yuan Dynasty showed a declining trend
During the reign of Mongolian aristocrats, the special social situation and ethnic conflicts in the Yuan Dynasty made painters take refuge in Shan Ye and devoted themselves to landscape painting to express their feelings of seclusion, which led to the decline of ladies' paintings in the Yuan Dynasty. In the selection of themes, painters did not inherit the tradition of actively expressing many women in various classes, identities and situations in the Song Dynasty, but stayed away from real life, looking for themes in historical stories and literary works, and inherited the legacy of the characters "receptive, aloof, sweet-mannered, sincere and with soft fine skin and well-balanced bone" in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, such as Du Qiu in Du Qiu Tu painted by Zhou Lang, and Du Qiu in Fan-waving Lady Tu by her and Zhou Fang. The body is plump and fat with a straight long skirt, which hides the curvy beauty of women's waist.
With certain aestheticism
The Ming Dynasty was a period of political stability in feudal society, and the painting of ladies was greatly developed with the active participation of literati and painters. In terms of subject matter, besides portraits, all kinds of women in dramas, novels and legendary stories have become the images of ladies that painters are most willing to create. The modeling of characters gradually tends to be freehand brushwork with certain aestheticism from the figurative realism in Song Dynasty. Ladies are graceful, dignified and beautiful, and their manners reveal the elegant and quiet beauty of women. Especially, they are happy between pavilions and platforms, wearing tight-fitting bright clothes, which further enhances their slender and elegant posture.
The Ming Dynasty is the mature stage of ladies' painting. During this period, not only many outstanding ladies painters and their works emerged, but also their expressive techniques were rich and colorful, and they made high achievements. For example, Wei Wu's "Wuling Chuntu" represented the highest level of sketching ladies' painting in the early Ming Dynasty.
Wuling Spring is painted with thin and even ink lines, and the picture is elegant and smooth, which more appropriately shows the delicate and quiet spirit of the hostess. Wen Zhiming's "Xiang Jun Xiang Fu Tu" represents the highest realm of pale-colored ladies' painting. The light colors of the characters with vermilion white powder as the main tone show the gentle and beautiful beauty of the goddess. Chou Ying's ladies' paintings have the comment that "Zhou Fang rose again, but failed to pass". His "The Picture of the Imperial Lady's Little Makeup" fully shows his profound skills in meticulous painting of beautiful women. Although Yang Guifei and Maid-in-waiting depicted in the picture are ladies of the Tang Dynasty, they are actually the images of ideal beauties in the minds of Ming literati. Their neck trimming, shoulder cutting, and waist-bending are totally different from those of Zhou Fang's ladies-in-waiting with curved eyebrows and rich cheeks, short neck and wide chest.
Raise it to the supreme position
As the last dynasty of feudal society, the Qing Dynasty's ladies' painting developed to this point, and it was elevated to the supreme position above the performance themes of landscapes, flowers and birds. Just as Gao Chongrui said in "Matsushita Qingzhai Collection" in the Qing Dynasty, "the world is famous for its mountains and rivers, and its flowers and birds are exotic, but the beauty can have both. Although Jing and Guan splashed ink, Cui and Ai spent a lot of money, no"
The paintings of ladies in this period are increasingly divorced from life and become a conceptual and stylized theme. The women in the paintings, whether they are virtuous women, ladies, fairies or Mulan and Liang Hongyu who joined the army to practice martial arts, all have the body shape of trimming neck, cutting shoulders and waist, the face of long face, details and lips, and the charm of "wind dew and sadness" and a sad little family.
During this period, both court painters Jiao Bingzhen and Leng Mei, and literati painters Gaiqi and Fei Danxu all took the expression of women's manners of "leaning against the wind and being powerless" as their aesthetic pursuit. This stylized "morbid beauty" didn't change until the appearance of Shanghai painter Ren Yi and others. Painters' enthusiasm for the creation of female images does not show respect for their personality, and women are just artistic ornamental objects to be displayed. Therefore, the improvement of the status of women's theme paintings in the painting circles of the Qing Dynasty reflects the declining social image of women. Although the style of ladies' painting in Qing Dynasty lost the healthy and stretching style of ladies' painting in Tang and Song Dynasties, it absorbed some positive factors of literati painting in expression skills, emphasizing graceful posture and advocating elegant and elegant style, and integrating the advantages of western painting into the works, which opened the way for the later innovation of figure painting skills.
Masterpiece:
A picture of a lady with a hairpin
A picture of a lady with a hairpin was written by Zhou Fang, a painter in the Tang Dynasty. The picture depicts the leisure life of ladies. They use simple pens. Elegant, gorgeous and luxurious, they play in the courtyard, with leisurely movements, picking flowers, patting butterflies, playing dogs, watching cranes, walking slowly, sitting idly and doing nothing, and the waitresses follow the fan. Its coloring skills, clear levels, dizzy face and decoration of clothes are all extremely ingenious. The lightness and softness of the veil and the moist luster of the skin are all vividly painted, showing that the author has a high degree of artistic skills and generalization ability.
Zhou Fang was born in Chang' an. He was active in the timely period of Li Yude and Li Dezong (AD 763184). His family background is noble, and his brother Zhou Hao is a general with meritorious military service. Zhou Fang lived in a noble life.
Zhou Fang's painting is very serious. It is said that he kept thinking about "as for understanding dreams, showing the appearance of the instrument and spreading it to the masters". -I saw the image I was pursuing in my dream.
The most famous Buddhist image created by Zhou Fang is "Shui Yue Guan Yin", which is recorded. Zhou Fang's paintings are found in the southeast courtyard of Shengguang Temple Tower in Guangdefang, Chang 'an, a frame found in Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and the cave murals in Wanxi Wanfo Gorge, and there are still examples of Guanyin paintings of Shuiyue in Tang Dynasty. Zhou Fang's Buddhist paintings have become a popular standard for a long time, which is called "Zhou Family Style".
the characteristics of Zhou Fang's works are "simple clothes" and "soft and beautiful colors" according to the records of the people at that time, and the women's images depicted are "rich and generous". These characteristics can be seen in the existing works of Zhou Fang, such as "Wan Fan's Picture of a Lady" and "Zanhua's Picture of a Lady".
Tune the piano and sip the tea
Tune the piano and sip the tea, and Wan Fan's Lady were both regarded as Zhou Fang's works in the past. The times and styles of his works are close to those of Zhou Fang. "Tune the piano and sip tea" shows two women quietly waiting for another woman to fiddle with the strings and prepare to play. In the picture, the back of the trance sipping tea and the meticulous movements of fiddling with the strings are described accurately and expressively.
This painting depicts the carefree mood of ancient aristocratic women in the monotonous life of doing nothing through the gesture in an instant. "Wan Fan Ladies" is also a success in this respect. At the opening of the book, a lady sat lazily, and her thoughtful expression also revealed the loneliness of their lives. There are thirteen people in the full volume of "Wan Fan Ladies", which shows the daily life of the court.
The Picture of the Ladies with Flowers is based on the life of court women, and the luxuriously decorated concubines are strolling in the garden. The characters are plump, with leisurely movements and serene expressions, and the identities and life characteristics of the concubines are fully demonstrated. The environment is only hinted by two cranes and puppies, but not directly described. The main success of this painting is in the depiction of image and dynamics.
The most popular theme in these ladies' paintings is loneliness, idleness and boredom in the narrow and poor life of ancient aristocratic women. Described their gorgeous appearance, but also revealed their emotional life through their demeanor, to a certain extent, reflecting the feudal society's bondage to women.
Many of Zhou Fang's works have been lost, but we can see the general contents from the titles, such as: pictures of ladies in various names, such as You Chun, brew tea, Pinglan, Flute, Crane Dancing, Lan Zhao, Flute Playing and Weiqi.
Zhou Fang's works were very popular with Koreans in the Tang Dynasty. Up to now, it can also be seen that Japanese ancient ladies' paintings in Zhou Fang style have been preserved. The plump image of women was widely popular in the Tang Dynasty, especially in the middle Tang Dynasty and thereafter. It was also found in the ancient tomb in Turpan, Xinjiang. There are also many pottery figurines in the Tang Dynasty.
Zhou Fang's disciples are Cheng Xiusi, Wang Bi, Zhao Boxuan and Zhao Bowen. Among them, Cheng Xiu followed Zhou Fang for twenty years, and had the deepest relationship with Zhou Fang, which was also the most valued at that time.
The theme of Zhou Fang's works includes the themes involved in the works of Zhang Xuan and other ladies painters at that time. Apart from the general themes of aristocratic women's lives, it is particularly noteworthy that there are works that specifically describe the activities of Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan in the Tang Dynasty, such as the Ming Dynasty enjoying the cool, the Ming Dynasty fighting chickens and shooting birds, the Ming Dynasty hitting the phoenix tree, the Ming Dynasty's night tour, Yang Fei's bathing, the Taizhen teaching parrots, and pictures about the wife of Guo. These works directly express the extravagant and romantic life of the emperor and his life without causing discrimination, and are repeated by many painters. This also shows the social and psychological background of the flourishing development of lady painting at that time.
In the above-mentioned examples of the paintings of ladies in the Tang Dynasty, the pictures of tuning the piano and sipping tea, You Chuntu, the wife of the State of Guo, and the pictures of pounding practice all have obvious plots, and the descriptions of actions have also achieved great success. At that time, the ladies painters described the activities of ladies, such as swimming in the spring, leaning on the railing, playing the flute and taking photos, with the aim of expressing the emotional state of people engaged in these activities. All the paintings of ladies in the Tang Dynasty that can be seen today (including newly unearthed murals and silk paintings with ladies) embody the characteristics and aesthetic thoughts of the times and are also of great significance.
Han Xizai's Night Banquet Picture
The Night Banquet Picture of Han Xizai was written by Gu Hongzhong at his mansion in Han Xizai at night on the orders of Li Yu, the late emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty (according to the record of Xuanhe Huapu). Han Xizai, the main character in the painting, was born in the northern aristocratic family and took refuge in the southern Tang Dynasty. Li Houzhu wanted to make him the prime minister, but Han Xizai, seeing that the country was in trouble, did not want to take up this post, so he indulged himself all day and had a long night drink with his guests. Most of the other characters in the painting were real people, such as the top scholar Lang Kui and the monk Deming, who were frequent visitors to Korea. In the picture scroll, although Han Xizai is a degenerate, his eyebrows are locked all the time, and it is hard to hide his worries. The console table is relatively low, which is the transition period from sitting on the floor to sitting with feet hanging high. Pipa, flute and drum, bed with beautiful piers and indoor furnishings all reflect the characteristics of the times. The realistic theme requires the painter to observe life deeply, capture the details of life, remember it by eye, and carefully experience it, and then reproduce it artistically, raising the natural form to an artistic form.
Gu Hongzhong, a native of Jiangnan, was in the Southern Tang Painting Academy in the Five Dynasties. His "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" is rigorous and exquisite in composition, elegant and vivid in character modeling, vigorous and smooth in lines, bright and elegant in colors, and fully reflects the style and features of figure painting in the Five Dynasties in terms of skills and styles.
Han Xizai's Night Banquet is a masterpiece in the history of Chinese painting, which depicts the scene of Han Xizai's family having a feast and having fun in a long scroll. In order to avoid the suspicion of Li Yu, the late ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Han Xizai took sensuality as a hiding place. Every time he had a big banquet, he indulged in swimming with his guests. This picture depicts the whole process of a banquet hosted by the Han government, which can be divided into five parts according to the sequence of events.
The first part depicts people listening to the pipa. At this time, the banquet began, and the case was mixed with wine and fruit. The guests were sitting or standing, and the men and women were wrong. A woman was sitting and playing the pipa, and most people's eyes were focused on her. At this time, Han Xizai was sitting on the couch with a tall crown and a long beard, and he lowered his eyes and looked thoughtful. The second part describes the dance scene between banquets. Wangwu Mountain, a small and exquisite prostitute, is dancing in response to the festival, and Han Xizai, who stands in front of the Jie drum and rolls up his sleeves and grabs the drumstick, is announcing the rhythm with drums. At this time, his interest has gradually increased. The third part depicts Han Xizai retreating into the inner room to rest after the music and dance. A maid-in-waiting is taking a basin.