Well Inspired Chinese Landscape And Painting

On a recent trip to China, I was lucky enough to see some fine examples of Chinese landscape painting. Art is much revered in China and they are very proud of the masters of the ancient past. Museums and galleries take great care in preserving and displaying beautiful paintings. I was also able to see some of the scenery depicted in the paintings, mostly glimpsed from train windows.

The Chinese landscape was an inspiration to the poets of the past too, poetry being another important part of Chinese culture. In fact the actual landscape, poetry, painting, pottery and calligraphy all seem to complement each other. The rest of the world discovered Chinese landscape painting, when the trading routes were established. It was fashionable in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for the aristocracy in the UK to collect Chinese landscape painting and pottery and show it off in their stately homes.

The Chinese landscape, and therefore the Chinese landscape painting are unique. There is a combination of mountains, forest and water that can't be found anywhere else. There are several movements, known as art dynasties, most of them enduring for hundreds of years. Royal court officials and members of the aristocracy in ancient times, were often gifted in calligraphy and painting. Painters worked on silk and then paper became popular after it was invented in the first century.

As from the Tang Dynasty, (618-907), the main subject of painting was the landscape. This school of art was given the name shanshui, which translates as mountain water. This Chinese landscape painting was impressionistic, rather than an attempt to depict realistic detail. The traditional method used in Chinese landscape painting was the same technique to be found in calligraphy, of a paintbrush and black, or sometimes colored ink. Oils were not introduced until much later. The paintings were then usually transferred to scrolls, but could also be displayed on beautiful lacquer work or on walls. Europeans did not paint landscapes until after the 17th century, and so most experts believe that the very first landscape painting was created in China.

Different art movements developed over the years in Chinese landscape painting, often influenced by the principles of Buddhism. A wider use of the color palette was used during the Ming Dynasty, and advances in color printing were made in the 1600's.

Unfortunately, with modern day China in the relentless march to industrialization, the landscape is taking a battering. Industry desperately needs energy, and scenic countryside is often sacrificed in the quest for more coal and timber. My train journeys also bore testimony to this, as I saw the countryside being unceremoniously carved up with no thought to the legacy left behind. For me, it makes the Chinese landscape painting all the more significant. The paintings capture a more romantic past. They are a time capsule of a unique landscape that is disappearing fast.

Landscaping With The Right Touch

There are literally thousands of landscape painters out there, so if you are looking for just the right decorative touch to your house or office, it should be no difficulty to find. It is a natural fact that landscape paintings are seen as desirable by a wide variety of people. Not everyone out there can have their house landscaped in the scenic and appealing fashion, and then many environments that just do not admit a whole lot of nature inside. This is why it can be so nice to have a nice landscape painting out in your house. The fact is that everyone needs a little touch of art now and then. Whether it is one of the great works hanging in the famous museum, or a simple humble work one of the many landscape painters, it can do so much to lift your spirits and make your day that much better.

In addition, although many of us do not like the inconvenience and discomfort of being out in the wild, we are all nature lovers at heart. All of us yearn for the great outdoors in some part of our soul. We may long for a warm summer days with the sky is bright and cloudless, or for a rugged autumnal storm, but either way, landscape painters can deliver. You see, landscape painters do not only paint bright picturesque paintings. The fact is landscape painters paints what they think will sell, or what their muse tells them to. Either way, there are landscape painters who depict all kinds of different scenes, from the most sunny and pleasant, to the most dark and brooding.

No matter what, you will be able to find landscape painters with painting just for you, or so it will seem. This is one of the best things about adding painting by landscape artists: more than in any other genre of art, landscape art is able to accommodate almost any conceivable taste. Nature conveys the wide range of human emotions, and the landscape painter makes it his job to copy nature. The fact is that if you have seen it outside, there are probably some landscape painters who have seen it and portrayed it as well. It is just simply a matter of being patient until you find the perfect work of art for you. If you believe that it is out there, it probably is. Now, it is yours to find.