ART-HIST 355 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Taoism, Stroke, Song Dynasty
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
ART-HIST 355
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Introduction
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
2:21 PM
• The earliest forms of painting, in archeology, are in pottery
• Gentleman Riding a Dragon and A Woman, Phoenix, and Dragon, ink on silk, 3rd century
o One of the earliest paintings
o Not technically a portrait
o Primary form of portrayal of message is through line
▪ Thickening and thinning of line throughout
• Line is the number one thing when looking at a Chinese painting
o Not true for Chinese paintings today
• Brush-and-ink painting, Chinese painting, is totally different than watercolor painting
• Materials
o Brush
▪ Core
▪ Mantel
▪ Reservoir
▪ Outer layer
• Made out of hair from wolves, horses, rabbits, goats, squirrels, etc.
• Hairs can be all different types and textures
• Bundled in a way that the center of the brush sucks up more water, like a
reservoir
▪ Ways to hold a brush properly
o Ink
▪ Usually made out of pine resin, pressed into a stick, and ground on an ink stone
▪ Ink stones become objects of collecting themselves
▪ Brush washers
▪ Brush-holders
▪ Major colors
• Blue
• Green
• Yellow
• Red
• Black
• White
o Ground
▪ Silk vs. Paper
• By about the 4th century, paper becomes very popular
• Porosity behaves differently on silk
• Both paper and silk are sized (alum sizing)
• Formats
o Wall painting
o Screen
o Hanging scroll
▪ Mounted on the wall
▪ Portable
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Handscroll
▪ More intimate
▪ More interaction with the painting
▪ Can keep adding on to it indefinitely
▪ Portable
o Album
o Album leaf
o Fan
o Mounting
• Calligraphy
o Speed and pressure can really change the desired effect of the writing type
o Script Types
▪ Seal script
▪ Clerical script
• Line is somewhat more even, more measured
• Sense of balance
• Square, regular, not too much variation in speed or pressure
▪ Standard script
▪ Running script
• Softer brush to create fluidity
▪ Cursive script
• The Parts of Painting
o Brushstroke
o Texture strokes
o Wash
o Color
▪ Dilution can create different tonalities of paint
o Texture
• Interacting with Painting
o Signature
o Inscriptions
▪ Functions of Inscriptions:
• By the painter: circumstances of creation, date, name, place
• By a friend, at the same time or later, sometimes a poem, or recounting a
response ot the painting
• By a later viewer:
• To record the circumstances of viewing
• To express appreciation
• To claim ownership
• To connect to figures of the past
• In forgeries: to give a painting a new attribution
• Least frequently: designed to harmonize calligraphy and painting
o Colophons
▪ Functions of Colophons:
• Appreciative comments
• Providing interpretation of the painting
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
