Painting and art have been part of the Chinese culture for centuries, and the type of art the Chinese civilizations engaged in distinguish them from vast western arts. In this regards, major artists have attributed the Chinese art as having a unique essence, compared to the aesthetic art embraced by western cultures. Therefore, different authors have bid to explain the uniqueness of the Chinese painting and art, but in doing so, they have also had different methodologies and approaches of attaining a similar goal. For instance, Wen and Kathlyn, both wrote about Chinese art and painting, but their methodologies used in explaining the ordeal are quite different.
However, both authors depict almost similar message, but the depth of information passed across differs in depth, as well as the development of judgment by the audience. Among the vast methodologies used to write about art and exhibitions, formal analysis is widely employed by Weng to elucidate the various collectibles of Chinese art. Apparently, formal analysis and writing of art entail a situation where the writer gives a glimpse of what a piece of art could have been, but does not give any particular of precise implications as to why the piece of art was an emblem, and also does not depict its significance use in history.
Similarly, Kathyln wrote the eight views of Beijing in the same way, but her method of writing was more pictorial and engaged a lot of poems in explaining various phenomena. In this regard, Kathyln used an approach that employs distinct explanation of a given piece of art. The initial writer of the ‘eight views of Beijing’ known as Wung copied vast Chinese cultures which he portrayed in his paintings. However, Wung did not give vivid explanations about his paintings, and Kathyln used poems and Wung’s paintings to explain the ideology behind the paintings. Therefore, considering the time of publication, the use of poems alongside paintings was a suitable way of writing about art that was elucidative.
Furthermore, the explanation of the esteemed pieces of art gives a distinguished explanation of the significance and use of a piece of art in its time. For instance, the landscape painted for Mizhai depict the significance of leadership amongst ancient Chinese civilizations, and how they valued environmental conservation, in lands construed by conflict. Moreover, in the journal Chinese art is history; Weng discusses Chinese art as having a distinct purpose in depicting significance of a certain period. For example, in the painting ‘the shade of summer trees’ depicts distinct climates that the Chinese celebrated as a show of appreciation to their gods. Furthermore, the painting shows serenity, to show a time in history when the Chinese community was faced with serenity and peace. Therefore, the painter passes down important message to the audience to preserve peace, as the principal function of cultural paintings is to spread peace.
According to the journal, formidable art is one which distinctively preserves a moment in time through the representation of feelings and attitudes of the painter at that time. Hand scrolls that represent the ‘eight views of Beijing’ preserve times in history when art and architecture marveled among the Chinese civilizations. Therefore, Chinese art compliments the history of the Chinese civilizations, by providing the audience a chance to interact with the painting, and draw their conclusions. On the other hand, Kathyln embraces the methodology of providing the audience with a set of peer reviewed information, in such a way that a reader or a critique can get first hand information of what the piece of art represented, without developing biased information. Moreover, the approach used by Weng is iconographic, with a lot of critics for modern and aesthetic western art. In comparison with the western paintings, Chinese paintings are representational and show attributes of creativity and culture embedded in the paintings.
However, western paintings are not representational, but rather a direct imitation of ideas, that are not construed to preserve culture or otherwise evoke a feeling of progression. Therefore, the critique method of writing art that Weng adopts directly contrasts Kathyln approach, which is explanatory, complementary, and does not criticize the inability of other cultural paintings to match the creativity in Chinese paintings. However, the two authors use descriptive techniques to distinguish various ages that the different paintings existed. Thus, the descriptive and objective methodology of writing art are inevitable, as cultures thrive to explain the different motives that drove a certain artist to display his or her ideas in painting.
Despite the different methodologies used, ‘Chinese painting is history’, and the eight views of Beijing’, contain various elements that makes them relate to each other coherently. Principally, the relationships are rooted in the methodologies used, the history and nature of Chinese culture, as well as content a critical meaning of painting used. Regarding methodological relationship between the two authors, none of the authors seems to employ alien methodologies in writing art. Therefore, methods used by the two authors all aim at communicating the utmost detail to the audience. For instance, Weng compares the way of depicting a good piece of work to the representational meaning portrayed by every piece of work of art. Hence, Weng attributes forms of art embedded in various ethnographical writings, such as the book of changes, to famous pieces of Chinese painting such as ‘the ritual to pray for good harvest’ and ‘ early spring’.
Both paintings have representational meaning that the ordinary audience does not needs explanations to understand. Such paintings in Chinese history have the painter ideas well portrayed in the painting itself. Moreover, Chinese art usually predetermines the type of art that future artistes will adopt. However, philosophers have deemed this type of painting to having drawbacks when it comes to the issue of creativity.
Moreover, the two authors stress in their articles that every piece of art should be in a position to portray cultural meanings and integration. For instance, the wall of Mongolia in the journal of ‘why the Chinese painting is history’ shows the social organization of ancient Chinese, and also how the Chinese people valued hierarchy and economic development. Therefore, its ability to portray a distinct time in history gives Chinese painting a reason to stand out for long held cultural beliefs. However, the cultural presentation should not be judged from the view of the audience, but rather from the painter’s ideology, which is the essence of painting among generation. The reason behind the ideology of both Weng and Kathyln is that paintings show the self-projection of a certain painter, alongside the cultural beliefs that were practiced in that time.
Similarly, the two articles relate to each other in the sense that they both show how foreign forces influence art and the way of life of a given civilization. For example, Kathyln depicted how trader from other continents affected the social organization and cultural beliefs of the Chinese. ‘Misty trees at Jimen’ show busy traders near a city wall, but their cultural practices feel to be a little alienated from their norms. Moreover, the two articles relate in the critiques that are employed by the author. Apparently, the two authors despise the modern painting, as well as other ancient western paintings that did not depict any purpose. Ancient paintings, especially from the Chinese culture, were utterly purposeful, with establishing able meanings centuries later. It is for these reasons that Weng associates the ease of dating Chinese paintings, due to their purpose and meaning. However, modern paintings have been termed to be messy, with mixed interpretation, thus giving them a bad quality of art.
Different publishing dates have a significant impact on the methodological approaches used by the two authors. For instance, formal, iconic, and descriptive methods are almost similar in nature but only differ in the depth of information provided. Initially, traditional writing of art, employed by Kathyln did not pay much attention to explanation and thus used pictorial representations in most cases, which were then followed by short descriptive essays and poems to explain what happens in the painting, but not the significance of the paintings. However, modern writing methods require adequate documentation of a piece of art, its dating, purpose it plays in making sure that the observer is not confused by the message, as well as its role in preserving cultural beliefs.
Bibliography
Fong, Wen C. 2003. "Why Chinese Painting Is History". The Art Bulletin. 85, no. 2: 258-280.
Fong was an art guru, for a young age, and deemed to perfect his enthusiasm of art at the Princeton school. Fong acquire his M.A in art at Princeton University, after which he wrote a formidable dissertation that earned him a doctorate in art at the same university. Therefore, ever since, Fong has been rooted to the Princeton University, where he is a teacher in history and art of the Chinese. In 1998, Fong earned an award as the teacher of history at Princeton University, an award that has been ordained to him ever since. Fong uses a comparative approach to crown Chinese art
Liscomb, Kathlyn. 1988. ""The Eight Views of Beijing": Politics in Literati Art". Artibus Asiae. 49, no. 1-2: 127-152.
Kathlyn Liscomb teaches at the University of Victoria. Apparently, Liscomb acquired her degree at the university of Chicago , where she also acquired her M.A, and was later ordained with a Ph.D. after furthering hers studies at the university. Her methodology of analyzing Chinese and Japanese art is an illustrative one,, which combines both imagery and essay illustrations
Slyvan Barnet, 2010. ‘Writing a Review of an Exhibition,’ A Short Guide to Writing About Art, p 157-174
Sylvan Barnet was a literature Professor, who studied at New York University, and acquired his ma, and later joined the Harvard University where he acquired his Ph.D, for the development of vast methodologies to cultural literature
