The Analysis of the Art and Its Visual Characteristics: Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks

Background and Introduction

An Lushan, a provincial commander in the Chinese emperor, marched into the capital to drag an elderly emperor known as Ming Huan into exile in 755. A tone of Chinese artists has repeated this subject because of its negative impacts on the enlightened leadership of the Chinese emperor. Lushan was a liberal, not to mention an extravagant one. For instance, he, had over 400 trained horses to dance in banquets and he had eight informal bands from across the world. His enthusiastic philanthropy and art collection inspired artists, painters, poets, and philosophers with new artistic ideas, which they put in play during the Tang period. This period birthed landscape painting as well as nature poetry where artists used rocks, streams discharging qi, earthbound human beings and many other aspects of art. To the Chinese, portraits and pictures became puzzling things containing hidden meanings such as the essence of nature in the world. Towards the end of the sixth century, an unknown painter set down painting standards by defining six fundamental laws in portrait painting. Since then, these laws have been the foundation of all the Chinese arts. The rules included the correct color combination, proper disposition, the structural strength of the brush, the precision to the object and the spirit accord. Tang artistry finally directed landscape painting, which became the key topic for every literate painter in the Chinese emperor.

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The Analysis of the Art and Its Visual Characteristics

"Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks" is among the best landscape paintings in China during the 900-1000 A.D accredited to Li Cheng. This landscape painting is among the few remaining examples certified to him. It is very beautiful, and it allows the viewer to stroll through the scenery. There is an enormous mountain landscape containing a temple close to its center and a tone of human activities towards its base. In the picture, the skies are slowly clearing, and the only thing that is left is mist on the valleys. It appears to be the autumn season because of these features. In the forefront, there are several huts and a temple built just above the water. Mainly, there is a large pool of water on the foreground which sets a pleasant mood for the viewers. Two waterfalls are feeding this pool of water, which sets a musical tone because a viewer imagines how the people in that setting hear the sound of the flowing water and the pleasant effect it has on them.

The sequence of Chen Li's painting starts with a path on the left side of the foreground that leads to the forest, and two travelers are wandering on the way. As the road progresses, it crosses a bamboo bridge that stretches across the stream of water. After the bridge, the route proceeds across the edge of the river until it enters a clearing. There are small buildings centered around the space where the trail ends. The paths then continue until the top of the hill, where the temple lays.

Chen Li painted the buildings and other figures paying close attention to detail since the viewers can distinguish between the rustic and the henchmen. Looking closely at the painting, one can see the henchmen at the wine shops while gazing at the landscape beneath. The temple occupies the central part of the picture showing that it dominates over the landscape. Such supplementary, consistent and exceptional configurations of figures used to include the mountains, the water, and the buildings are what makes this painting one of the most powerful and referenced works of Chen Li even by today's artists. Also, these compositions of the Chinese landscape in the 10th century makes it a world-class sensation.

Consequently, Chen Li conceived the art with prowess and accuracy that carries the weight and volume of the scene in which it was created. The brushwork used in the painting captures the enthusiasm of nature and Chen Li's control over the paint allows the elements of architecture to remain independent from the other figures in the picture such as the trees, mountains and the river streams. For instance, the architecture of the temple is clear and rational because of the level of detail put in place by the artists, and the forest around the temple is distinct because of his mastery of brush painting, which allows him to stroke on the grass to create a distinction between the twisted trees and the temple.

Placing the Artwork in Its Historical Context

As mentioned earlier, "Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks" is a landscape painting of the 10th century, a time when painters had a unique preference for wintery scenes. Such scenes were full of bleak, stone-filled Craigs, twisted trees to create a forest, leafless trees with branches shaped like crab-claws and distant hills and mountains. Also, painters of this historic time had a particular preference for monochrome ink, and in this specific painting, Chen Li uses monochrome ink on silk and ragged stroke to create essential outlines of figures such as trees, rocks, and buildings. After distinguishing these shapes, the artist then broke them down before modeling them with ink wash. Also, they placed cans and little brush strokes on top of these shapes to create a sense of touch or to bring out its textural characteristics. After the painting was complete, it was mounted vertically on a scroll just like Chen Li's painting is installed on a decoration, to create a comfortable angle for the viewers. This type of art is closely related to calligraphy, which allowed the Chinese painters to use brushes to paint as a hobby.

Besides, Chen Li's contemporary known as Jing Hao lay down the painting ideas of the 10th century in an essay called, "the Record of Brush Methods." In the essay, Jing Hao put down his thoughts about landscape painting, which included: The spirit, the rhythm, the thought, the scenery, the brush scenery, and the ink. This brought about the ideology of a logical system in landscape painting which begins with highlighting the concept of the picture before laying down its expression. The method further distinguishes resemblance in portrait and brings about the outward aspects of what is genuinely depicted by the painting, in this case, the spirit. The reason for using the spirit by the painters was to help the viewers understand the inner reality of a picture by striking a balance between what is represented by the visible forms of nature in the scenery and their deep meaning. It symbolized realism, a doctrine of the 10th century that aimed at depicting the truth from natural appearances, although not by overlooking the pectoral examination of the way nature works.

Chen Li's painting is not only a representation of idealism but also an emotional trigger for the viewers to grasp the rhythm of nature. For instance, in his art, the trees and the forest are intertwined and twisted while some are bent, but they are all constructed in an organic manner such that they can expose their skeleton roots, their branches, and trunks. The way Chen Li arranges all these parts of the trees are an indication that he does not use art at the expense of nature, which is a clear depiction of realism in his work. Also, realism explains why Chinese paintings such as the one in question take a shifting perspective. For instance, in this painting, Chen Li invites the viewers to enter into the only temple at the top of the hill through the pathway on the left. As one progresses through the path, it is possible to explore the forefront through the landscape.

One can wander across the bridge by looking down to see the rooftops over some buildings down the valley. It is impossible to take a single view of all these things from either inside the painting or outside it because the artist does not intend for the viewers to do so. He plans for nature to be revealed little by little as the viewer walks in and out of the painting. In light of this, Chen Li combines the elements of time the same way musicians do. This is an example of how Chen Li, just like other painters of the 10th-century shifts perspective to make a powerful impact on individual viewers through a journey towards understanding the painting. For instance, in the painting "The Great Image Has No Form Or On The Non-Object Through Painting," the two correlated factors are the visible and the invisible and just as Chen Li wishes for people to interpret what they see and leave what hey cannot understand, the painting process in this painting unfolds its two perspectives.

Such paintings were meant to create a visual exercise for the viewers by examining the painter's details while appreciating the structure of nature. The importance of this painting along with other pictures in the 10th century is taking the viewers out of themselves to provide them with spiritual refreshment or solace for a little while.

Comparison With Other Artworks

All paintings of this historical period had individual contributions to different aspects of life such as politics and religion. For instance, a solitary temple is used in this painting to represent the religious affiliations of the people in the setting. Spirituality is one of the essential traits of a nation. In the real sense, without art or religion, there is no possibility of making allowances that play with other faculties to make true morality of a nation. Also, the painting was a way of communicating with the Chinese the natural feelings and thoughts to the country. The features conveyed the spirituality and beliefs or reveal ideas that correspond to inspiring beliefs. The art did not act as the spirituality but a vessel to communicate spirituality. Of course, skill is not necessary for religious purposes. However, the feelings held by the art express the daily thoughts. Other historical techniques such as Guo Xi's towering mountains.

As seen previously, the art can be compared with different techniques. Early spring by Guo Xi is a Chinese landscape art of 1072 A.D. The two paintings share some similar features and at the same portray different elements. Both techniques were made in China. Identical to a solitary temple amid clearing peaks, early spring is a landscape artist. Both arts have a mountain, and some vegetation followed a mist break. The images show their three backgrounds differentiated by use of color intensity technique. Techniques of deep, tall and flat distances are used to make an ideal landscape on both arts hence creating a clear path to travel in the imagination. However, the mountains in early springs scatter from top to bottom while the hills in the other art slopes uniformly to the bottom.

Travelers among Mountains and streams by Fan Kuan and landscape in Moonlight by Ma Yuan are other similar arts that closely relate with a solitary temple amid clearing peaks. All these arts are china made in a similar landscape technique. The painters brought the different features together by applying different color intensity on the edges of the elements. The paintings used different texture to demonstrate different heights and length of objects. The brushwork is providing light to the viewers by creating patterns that showed hope in the world. In spite of their similar characteristics, the arts were designed to express different messages.

In many cases, the landscaping technique shows the rise of a revelation on the public expectations. Different acts have rotated through the same idea of refreshing the souls and promising hope and redemption. These arts have been found to emphasize eradicating misery and struggle. However, these paints differ from the beliefs around them.

Bibliography

Cosgrove, D. (2017). Prospect, perspective and the evolution of the landscape idea. In Environment (pp. 89-106). Routledge.

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