Outlook of Oriental Painting in the 21st Century

Planet Earth is home to a multitude of ethnicities, each with its quintessential cultural traditions. Cultures merge with one another after generations of heritage passing and exchange. Today, three distinct cultural communities have formed: the Christian culture in Europe and America, the Islam culture in the Middle East, and the Confucian culture in East Asia. The first two are both founded on a religion. The last, Confucianism, is not a religion per se (though some argue it is); rather, it is a school of thought, a lifestyle, a philosophy.

 

From the academic and historical perspective, the world history of painting may be divided into the Western and Eastern schools. The Eastern school is represented by ink painting, which was invented and is still led by the Chinese and which exerts influences over the entire East Asia. The Western school is primarily represented by oil painting, which was invented and popularized by Western Europeans and its influences extend to Europe and North America and even the rest of the world. However great the differences in utensils, materials or expressive techniques between the two major schools, both have followed the same path in terms of artistic philosophy and theory. Spiritually, artists from both sides have always pursued and strived for expressive freedom. Formally, art has evolved from realism (sketching) to lyrical (form distortion) and finally free expression through abstraction (conceptual). One school may have enjoyed dominance or faster development over the other at one point and vice versa, but both basically traced the same developmental trajectory in spirit and in form,

 

Chinese painters, in their pursuit of expressive freedom, sought to find value in the painting itself. Influenced by philosophers Laozi and Zhuangzi, Chinese painting has already evolved into the lyrical stage in the Tang Dynasty and was widely accepted as such. Unfortunately, works from this era did not survive. The earliest extant paintings today are The Second Patriarch in Contemplation by Shi Ke from the 10th century (now in Japan) and Drunken Celestial by Liang Kai from the 13th century (now at Taipei National Palace Museum). For the Western school, this stage of evolution did not materialize until the West laid its eyes on Japanese ukiyo-e and prints at the Paris World Expo in the late 19th century. These Eastern genres with their two-dimensional spatial expression set into motion breakthrough changes and development as the Western school shifted from realism into lyrical (form distortion). In the early 20th century, emerging Expressionists in Germany finally caught up in artistic philosophy, expressive techniques and painting styles with that of SHI Ke and LIANG Kai. Evidently, the Western school once lagged behind the Eastern school by almost a millennium prior to the 20th century.

 

After the Yuan Dynasty, literati dominated the Chinese painting scene; they looked down on painters with disdain, playing them down as mere craftsman. Consequently, professional painters were actually marginalized in the painting circle. The literati are usually government officials or those studying to become such, and painting is only a hobby they undertake in their evening spare time after reviewing and drafting government documents, writing poems or practicing calligraphy. They have no interest in further developing the art of painting, and under their monopoly, the proficiency of calligraphy inscription within a painting became the gauge its quality. Chinese painting went down a path of decline generation after generation, as traditions were simply passed on without any attempt to innovate. It was not until the Ming Dynasty drew to an end when artists like SHI Tao and Bada Shanren, who began full pursuit of painting only after they left the secular world to become monks, came to recognize that the true virtue of art lies in creativity. To this end SHI Tao said:
"The ink sets the spirit, and the tip of the brush gives life. When you let go of the brush, a light starts to shine from darkness. Never mind the brush, the ink, nor the painting, for it is I that exists in what I paint."

 

China, once the greatest civilization in the East, lost her political dominance near the end of the Qing Dynasty due to inept emperors. China lost first the Opium War and then the struggle against the Eight-Nation Alliance. Becoming a quasi-colony, she lost all her confidence, dignity and values and finally became a hostage of Western culture and a colony of Western painting philosophy. Chinese painters had held on to the withering traditions of literati painting for over a century. Young artists were frustrated by their conservative attitude and the state of Chinese painting, so they flocked to learn Western painting. They tried to follow Western thinking and paint Western styles, believing they are more innovative than traditional artists. In fact, they are just as conservative as the Chinese artists they despise. In the 60s, I made the statement, "Imitating the new does not replace imitating the old; copying the West does not replace copying the Chinese."

 

In the last few centuries, the West had been oblivious to Chinese culture and history. If indeed the 21st century becomes the "Chinese Century", the magnificent charisma of this ancient civilization is bound to attract the attention of the world with her growing economic, military and political might. The study of New Confucianism has become massively popular in the academic sphere and a lot has been accomplished. Likewise, we have seen many achievements in the reform of Eastern painting in Taiwan in the early 1960s. Five decades have passed since I put forth the idea and practice of "modernization of Chinese painting", and the idea has not only gained the recognition among artists but also support among art historians and critics. Chinese painting has broken free from the feudalistic monopoly of literati painting and blossomed into pluralistic modern styles. Furthermore, this development has propelled the development of ink painting in other countries sharing Confucian traditions, pushing Eastern painting into a brand new territory. Large-scale exhibitions on modern ink painting are being held one after another around the world. Among non-Asian countries, the British Museum held in 1996 a Euro-Asia touring exhibition entitled, Twentieth Century Chinese Painting: Tradition and Innovation. Guggenheim Museum in New York held in 1998 a touring exhibition in the United States and Europe entitled, A Century in Crisis: Modernity and Tradition in the Art of Twentieth-Century China. In the same year, Linden Museum in Germany held A 2000-Year Perspective of Modern Chinese Paintings and Sculptures, In 2010, Boston Museum of Fine Arts held the exhibition New Ink, while Harvard Art Museums launched in conjunction the exhibition entitled, Re-View: Brush and Ink Reconsidered: Contemporary Chinese Landscapes. In 2013, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a large-scale show entitled, Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, while in 2015, the very first Ink Asia exposition in the world was held in Hong Kong. There are numerous other exhibitions on ink painting, demonstrating the impressive development in ink painting innovation. In 2007, the Palace Museum in Beijing hosted a large-scale retrospective for me entitled, Universe in the Mind, 60 Years of Painting by Liu Guosong. The event proves modern ink painting has now been recognized by the highest and most classic arena of Chinese culture and accepted as a new tradition in Chinese painting. It also shows modern ink painting has become the mainstream in Chinese painting. We must restore dignity and confidence in ourselves: Chinese painting once led Western painting by a millennium, so there is no reason why the Eastern school cannot regain the lead once again. As artists, we should all contribute our share to embrace the advent of the "Chinese Century". One day, the best Chinese painters will also prove to be the best painters in the world.