Bamboo painting
Encyclopedia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n painting. In a work of bamboo painting in ink, a skilled artist and calligrapher will paint a bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
stalk or group of stalks with leaves. The contrast
Contrast (vision)
Contrast is the difference in visual properties that makes an object distinguishable from other objects and the background. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view...
between the foreground and background, and between the varying textures represented by the stalks and the leaves, gave scope to the painter to demonstrate his or her mastery with an inkpot and a brush.
The bamboo painter often inscribes a poem that accompanies the painting and further elucidates the motif. The poem is often an integral part of the work as a whole. A viewer of the work can compare the calligraphy of the poem with the calligraphy of the painting, as both are typically inscribed with the same brush and reflect a similar mood and state of awareness.
Because of the volume of bamboo works painted over time, the production of a work of ink bamboo became one of the standard subjects to which an East Asian student could be set in a competitive examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
.
Appreciation
From the days of their common origin, Chinese painting and Chinese writing have been allied arts. They use the same equipment and share aims, techniques, and standards. Ever since the beginning, bamboo has been written and also been painted in the same manner, in other words, a work depicting bamboo is both a painting and a piece of calligraphy. There are so-called “bamboo painters” who all their lives paint only bamboo. The bamboo is strong, upright, and dependable. He may bend with the wind, the storm and the rain, but he never breaks. He is a true gentleman of courage and endurance (Ju 1989).The bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
plant came under close observation by many Asians because of its persistence and vegetative productivity. The plant was especially appreciated by men and women educated in the tradition of Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
. It came to be seen as an exemplar of moral force
De (Chinese)
De is a key concept in Chinese philosophy, usually translated "inherent character; inner power; integrity" in Taoism, "moral character; virtue; morality" in Confucianism and other contexts, and "quality; virtue" or "merit; virtuous deeds" in Chinese Buddhism.-The word:Chinese de 德 is an ancient...
, and appreciating the bamboo was seen as an act of self-cultivation. It was said of the ink bamboo painter Wen Tong
Wen Tong
Wen Tong was a Northern Song painter born in Sichuan famous for his ink bamboo paintings. He was one of the paragons of "scholar's painting" , which idealised spontaneity and painting without financial reward....
that "there are whole bamboos in his heart" (胸有成竹).
Bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
is not exclusive to the Four Noble Kind
Four Gentlemen
The Four Gentlemen, also called the Four Noble Ones, in Chinese art refers to four plants: the orchid, the bamboo, the chrysanthemum, and the plum blossom. The term compares the four plants to Confucianist junzi, or "gentlemen"...
group. It also belongs to a distinct group where it openly fraternizes with pine trees and plum blossoms. Collectively, they are called the Three Friends of Winter
Three Friends of Winter
The Three Friends of Winter, also known as Suihan Sanyou, are the pine, bamboo, and plum. Every year, as the cold days deepen into the winter season, many plants begin to wither. That the pine, bamboo and plum do not was noted by the Chinese. Known by them as Three Friends of Winter, they entered...
because bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
do not wither on winter days and the plum blossoms starts blooming during the cold season.
Bamboo also exhibits a certain visual appeal on educated people because its silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
cast by either the sun or moon on the paper windows of a Chinese house produced a poetic effect. Its straight stalk was the symbol of the sage, in that adversity could always bend it but it could never break it. The inner region of the bamboo stalk symbolizes the void that must be established in one's mind before thinking of useful ideas. To put it in simpler terms, one should always have clarity of mind when dealing with things to avoid chaos and to achieve desired results.
On the technical area, one needed to be an expert with the brush in order to execute perfectly cylindrical, smooth and hard internodes, and thin, translucid, nervous leaves placed in various perspectives. One should also have a keen talent in identifying where to place dark tones
Lightness (color)
Lightness is a property of a color, or a dimension of a color space, that is defined in a way to reflect the subjective brightness perception of a color for humans along a lightness–darkness axis. A color's lightness also corresponds to its amplitude.Various color models have an explicit term for...
and light tones in the painting.
These characteristics are enough to validate that bamboo is a complete subject because it portrays lasting values one needed to get on with life and it commands a truly talented painter to create varying tones that never repeat.
See also
- Guan DaoshengGuan DaoshengGuan Daosheng was a Chinese poet and painter who was active during the Yuan Dynasty.She was born in Huzhou and was the wife of Zhao Mengfu. She was talented in calligraphy and painting ink bamboo and plum with delicate and elegant strokes...
- Wang FuWang Fu (painter)Wang Fu ; ca. 1362-1416 was a Chinese landscape painter, calligrapher , and poet during the Ming Dynasty .Wang was born in Wuxi in the Jiangsu province. His style name was 'Mengduan' and his pseudonyms were 'Youshi , Jiulong shanren , and Aosou' . Wang's painting followed the style of Wang Meng and...
- Gu AnGu AnGu An , style name as Dingzhi , pseudonym as Yuna Jushi , was a famed Chinese painter in the Yuan Dynasty.Gu An as born in Huaidong . He excelled in bamboo painting, particularly bamboo waving in the breeze.-References:* Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui Gu An , style name as Dingzhi (定之), pseudonym as...
- Ke JiusiKe JiusiKe Jiusi ; ca. was a Chinese landscape painter, calligrapher, and poet during the Yuan Dynasty .Ke was born in the Zhejiang province. His style name was 'Jingzhong' and his pseudonyms were 'Dan qiusheng' and 'Wuyun geli' . Ke's painting followed the style of Wen Tong, utilizing bold and delicate...
- Xia ChangXia ChangXia Chang ; ca. 1388-1470 was a Chinese painter during the Ming Dynasty .Xia specialized in ink bamboo painting, following the style of Wang Fu. His style name was 'Zhongzhao' and his pseudonyms were 'Yufeng' and 'Zizai jushi' .-References:* Zhongguo gu dai shu hua jian ding zu . 2000. Zhongguo...