Art test 1

Chinese Painting Materials and Formats

Chinese painters created murals in caves but they had a love for painting and writing on silk and paper in different formats. Archaeologists have founds texts dating to the 4th Century CE and also in these texts quoting earlier texts and images

Stoneware

Later potters developed techniques to fire clay pottery at a higher temperature, hard and dense

Daoism

Attributed to Laozi (604-531 BCE) and Zhuangzi (370-301BCE) - stresses intuitive awareness nurtured by harmonious contact with nature and shuns everything artificial. Daoists seek to follow Dao (the universal path) that is only described in analogies. An example given is like water unyielding but able to wear away a hard stone. Strength comes from flexibility and inaction. Daoism encourages retreat from society and personal cultivation in nature and perfect balance between Yang (active masculine energy) and Yin (passive Feminine energy)

Chinese Porcelain

Chinese Porcelain emerged in the Tang Dynasty (618-906) and was imported all over the world. Potters in the West did not master this technique until the early 18th Century. Porcelain Objects are fired at a very high temperature (over 2000 degrees), in a kiln until they are a hard, dense substance resembling stone or glass. Porcelain is made from a fine white clay called Kaolin that is mixed with ground petuntse. Pure porcelain is translucent and rings when struck. It's shiny surface resembles jade. Chinese porcelain is often decorated with colored designs or pictures. Ground minerals and water are mixed with a binding agent (glue) to produce the decorations. All the minerals change color in the kiln. The painters apply a base coat of mineral colors on the object before firing and then apply a clear glaze over them. The underglaze bonds to the porcelain but the variety of color is limited because the raw materials must withstand the heat. The most stable and common color used is the cobalt compound, which produces a intense blue. A wider palette is achieved when painting is applied over these first layers of minerals and firings. The overglaze colors or enamels fuse the glazed surface in additional firings at a lower temperature. Enamels also offer the artist a brighter palette such as reds, greens and browns, but they do not have the durability of the underglaze.

Confucianism

Confucianism attributed to Confucius (551-479 BCE) is a philosophy and religion based on compassion, order and stability. The Junzi (Superior person or Gentleman) who possesses Ren ( Human Heartedness) personifies ideal social order. Anyone can become a Junzi by having empathy for suffering, pursue morality and justice, respect ancient ceremonies, and adherence to social relationships: parent - child, elder - younger, husband - wife, ruler - subject. Confucius spent most of his adult life trying to find a ruler willing to apply his teachings. He died disappointed. His student Mengzi 371-289BCE) developed Confucius' ideas further by stressing that a Kings legitimacy depends on the goodwill of his people and that the King should share his joys with his people and will know his laws are unjust if they bring suffering to his people.

Indian Miniature Painting Technique

Indian artists used opaque watercolors and paper, sometimes cloth, to produces their paintings. The assistants created pigments by grinding natural minerals like malachite for green, lapis lazuli for blue, earth ochers for red and yellow, and metallic foil for gold, silver, and copper. They made brushes from bird quills and kitten or baby squirrel hair. The artist first sketched the composition, then transferred it to onto the actual paper by tracing (pouncing) it on gazelle skin that is placed on the sketch and outlined by pricking the contour of the design with a pin. The artist then places the tracing on the actual paper and forcing black pigment through the holes,to transfer the composition. They first paint with black and reddish brown then add the layers of colors, gold being last. After the painting is dry, the artist burnishes the surface by polishing the paper with a crystal or an agate.

Lacquered Wood

Lacquer has been used to cover wood since antiquity. Lacquer is made from the sap of the sumac tree that grows in central and southern China. Lacquer often contains minerals with pigments. Lacquer makes wood extremely hard and keeps it from decaying. The process to lacquer a wood object is to first purify the sap by heating it. Then the artist mixes minerals (cinnabar and black carbon are common) to the sap. The lacquer is applied with a small round brush. Each coat must be allowed to dry and sanded before the next coat is applied. If the lacquer is thick enough it can be carved to create designs. Artists also inlay mother-of-pearl and gold powder in the lacquer

Silk Road

Silk is considered the finest fabric ever made. It is produced by the cocoon of silkworms. Silk was well established by the 2nd millennium BCE and is still produced the same way today. Farmers raise silkworms from eggs and feed them mulberry leaves. The silk worms form a cocoons froma liquid they extrude from their bodies that produce a filament. The filament hardens from the exposure to the air. Before they transform into moths the farmers kill the silk worm with steam or heat. The silk workers soften the cocoons with warm water and unwind the filament, bonding them together when they still are soft and sticky. The workers later twist several strands together to form a thicker yarn and weave the yarn on a loom to produce silk cloth. The cloth can be dyed or decorated by weaving threads of different colors (Brocades) or by stitching in threads of different colors (embroidery) or by painting directly on the silk. Silk was greatly admired throughout the ancient world. The transportation of Silk was long and dangerous over mountain ranges and through deserts. The passion of the Romans for Silk lead to the naming of the Silk Road that linked China to the Mediterranean world. Gold, Ivory Gems, Glass, Lacquer, Linen, Exotic animals, and other goods were traded along the Silk Road

Calligraphy Inscriptions on Chinese Paintings

The Chinese hold calligraphy as a more esteemed art over painting. Calligraphy can range from linear and angular seperate characters in rows to cursive, round characters that flow into the next .appear everywhere in China - on buildings, in gardens, on furniture and sculpture. The combination of pictures and poetry have a long tradition in China

Shang Bronze Casting

Their technique consisted of using piece molds. They first created a solid clay model, when it dried they pressed damp clay around it that hardened but remained somewhat pliable, at that point they cut the mold into pieces, removed them and baked them in a kiln to form hard earthen sections. The sculptors then carved intricate designs into the inside of the mold. The artist then reduces the size of model and reassembles the mold around it and adds spacers to preserve a space between the model and the mold. Another layer of clay in applied to the outside to hold everything together, leaving open ducts. The caster then pours the molten bronze into the void and the gases escape by the ducts. After the bronze cools, the clay is broken away and the sculpture is polished

Buddhist and Buddhism iconography

Urna - a curl of hair between the eyebrows, shown as a dot Ushnisha - a cranial bump shown as hair on the earliest images, but later as part of the head Wheel - palms and soles imprinted Mundras - hand gestures conveying meaning, including the Dhyana (meditation) mundra -with right hand over left, palms upward Bhumisparsha (earth-touching) mundra,right hand down reaching to the ground, calling the earth to witness the Buddha's enlightment Dharmachakra (Wheel of Law or Teaching) Mundra ,a two-handed gesture with right thumb and index finger forming a circle Abhaya (do not fear) Mundra, right hand up, palm outward, a gesture of protection or blessing

Earthenwares

clay bodies fired at low temperatures in open pits or kilns, they remained somewhat soft and porous that allowed liquids to penetrate the clay when decorated. This technique was used to produce terracotta sculptures of animals and humans

Hindu temples

deity manifests him of herself within the cave and takes various forms in sculpture. The temples are homes to the gods on earth and the place that they make themselves visible to humans (Vishvanatha Temple, Rajarajeshvara Temple, Rock-Cut Rathas,) INdia

iconography

the writing of images referring to the content and subject of an artwork