Chinese Painting Types

Chinese painting History of Chinese Painting Chinese Painting Types
Figure Painting Calligraphy Painting Animal Painting
Landscape Painting Flower Painting Dragon Painting
Mountain & Rock Painting Narcissus Painting Insect Painting
Water & Waterfall Painting Lotus Painting Tiger Painting
Trees & Bamboo Painting Peony Painting Birds Painting
Building and People Painting Leaves Painting Fish Painting

Chinese Painting Types

Painting in the traditional style is today known in Chinese as guó huà 国画, meaning 'national' or 'native painting', in opposition to Western styles of art which became popular in China in the 20th century. Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink; oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made of paper and silk. The finished work is then mounted on scrolls, which can be hung or rolled up. Traditional painting also is done in albums and on walls, lacquerwork, and other media.

There are mainly two techniques in Chinese painting, which are

  • Meticulous - Gong-bi (工筆) often referred to as "court-style" painting

    chinese paintings     chinese painting
  • Freehand - Shui-mo (水墨) loosely termed watercolour or brush painting. The Chinese character "mo" means ink and "shui" means water. This style is also referred to as "xie yi" (寫意) or freehand style.