China Popular Itineraries |
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Gu Kaizhi (in the Eastern Jin Dynasty) : Ode to the Luo Goddess |
Gu Kaizhi(346 - 407), a painter of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was born in Jinling which is now Wu Xi City, Jiangsu Province. He was so talented that he was not only good at poems but also at painting, especially the painting of portraits, historical figures, birds, animals, and landscapes as well. He laid special stress on the finishing touches of the eye pupils of his figures, which he thought would bring life to the figures he drew. It was said that he would not put in the eye pupil to his figures for years. When asked, he said, "It was just the eyes that are expressive and true to life. " In his view, the most critical thing in vivid painting is the appearance of the eye rather than the shape of the figure. His painting style is characterized by his use of continuous graceful but firm strokes that look as free and natural as a silkworm spinning silk, spring clouds floating in the air and water flowing on earth, bringing the line intro-duced in the Warring States Period to further perfection. As he was adept in examining and refining the subject and the characters with his sharp eyes, he brought to his paintings a certain depth of thought that provokes thought in the viewers. There are no real paintings of his preserved except the three that are said to be imitations of his real works: Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies, Ode to the Luo Goddess, Ladies of Virtues.
Ode to the Luo Goddess (picture No. 1, see p. 676) was painted based on the literary works of the poet, Cao Zhi, who, in the first person and his own majestic style created a dreamland in which a man falls in love with the God-dess and expresses his disappointed feeling in love. Centering round the threads of the story, the painter sets the plot in the environment of the rivers and mountains presenting the beautiful image and the delicate charm of the Luo Goddess. The love between the figures is expressed not by the facial ex-pressions but by the ingenious treatment of the relationship between them. In the picture the Luo Goddess is looking with tenderness and love at Cao Zhi who tries to speak but is wordless, thus expressing a sorrowful feeling of something within sight but beyond reach. This is fully expressive of Guo Kaizhi's maxim in painting: "Understanding for understanding' s sake ( or Correct understanding leads to the power of expression)." |
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