An Evolutionary Development of the Traditional Chinese Painting

Chinese painting is a microcosm of the Chinese culture. It not only exhibits an evolutionary development of the Chinese culture, but such kind of development is also realized in its own development as a culture and its evolving genres. Starting from the Neolithic stone carving, excavated colored pottery, earliest paintings on silk, Grotto murals, brick and lacquer paintings, to the evolving genres of figure painting, birds-and-flowers, and landscapes, the form and technique of Chinese painting is ever changing, and as a matter of fact, the term “traditional Chinese painting” is often referred to not only a mainstream of painting in the specific historical period, it also witnesses the prosperity and adversity of that period and reflects the social, philosophical, or political convictions of the artists.This paper aims at defining the term “traditional Chinese painting” by its evolutionary development and investigating its ever-developing and ever-changing characteristics with references to Chinese culture in a specific time span, and exploring its salient features as an art form which does not merely rely on drawing technique alone but is intermingled with religion, philosophy, intellectual ideas, formal and informal education, and other forms of arts such as calligraphy, music and poetry in every period. Traditional Chinese painting, therefore, should be regarded as a major stream of Chinese painting in its period of time and it reflects the spirit of the era that the artists live. And, the essence of traditional Chinese painting in the present age is expressed through the artists’ perception of life, their ideas and sentiments of the outside world adding beauty to the inner world of their paintings.