Treasures of Chinese Culture: Painting and Opera

International audienceCurrent presentation discusses question of the Chinese culture and among others, painting, calligraphy and opera. Painting and calligraphy are of the same origin and are regarded as two treasured arts in China. They are both liked with free movement and distribution of lines in expression. Together with music and chess, they formed the four skills for a learned scholar to pursue in ancient China. They have also been held as a good exercise to temper one’s character and cultivate one’s personality. Chinese painting has a long history and excellent tradition. Through thousands of years, it has developed its own style, its own techniques, and a complete system of art which expresses the aesthetics of the nation. Through its unique style and features, it has established supremacy in the world of art, Chinese painting emphasizes the point that “Inspiration comes from close observation and understanding of Nature.” Traditional Chinese painting is the art of painting on a piece of Xuan paper or silk with a Chinese brush that was soaked with black ink or colored pigments. It is regarded as one of the three “quintessence of Chinese culture”. Chinese paintings are usually in the form of hanging pictures or of horizontal scrolls, in both cases they are normally kept rolled up. The latter paintings, often of great length, are unrolled bit by bit and enjoyed as a reader enjoys reading a manuscript.There is no fixed or standard viewpoint or perspective. Chinese painting is far less concerned with notions of symmetry, balance and proportion than its European counterpart. Because it lacks a single focal point, Chinese artists are free to paint on long strips of paper (or silk) and can compose pieces of amazing complexity in a rather comic book-like manner.Artists could paint a whole chain of pictures to depict continuous scenery. Many pictures include objects that are both far away and near, but they are depicted as being of the same size. It is more likely that the artists were trying to paint life exactly as they saw it. The presentation was held at OUC, 2017