Traditional Chinese painting is growing increasingly rich and specific through thousands of years. And after thousands of years of continuous innovation and development, Chinese painting has created a distinctive style with colorful expression modes. It occupies an important place both at home and abroad..We should be proud of having such world treasure. Chinese painting can be divided into several categories as following: Chinese Landscape Painting, Chinese Flower and Bird Painting, Chinese Fish Painting, Chinese Animal Painting, Chinese Figure Painting and others.
Among so many kinds of Chinese painting, the Flower and Bird Painting seems to be peculiar to China. Even western artists are fond of birds and flowers; they rarely show them in their paintings. In the eyes of western artists, the bird-and-flower is not a special genre, while in Chinait is just the opposite. As far as we know, plants and animals can be given all kinds of symbolic meanings.. And Chinese artists would like to paint such birds and flowers to express their feeling, either to praise the nature beauty or to reflect the reality life. As a result, it becomes a popular tradition in ancient China. Have you ever heard Three Friends of Winter? It is treated as a representative of birds and flowers painting. From this painting, we can see that pine, bamboo, and plum blossom are standing together in a scroll painting, which are separately symbolize indomitableness, doughtiness and transcendence. A lot of Chinese artists dabbled at this style and left us numerous masterpieces.
Peacock and Peony
What is the form of Flower and Bird painting? It is much simpler and freer than that of figure painting and landscape painting. Chinese artists have concluded their experiences and came up with the best aesthetic principles. It is Chinese Flower and Bird painting that covers the most of this concept. Roughly, Chinese painting falls into two major categories, the meticulous (gongbi) and the freestyle (xieyi). These two styles are perfectly used in Chinese birds and flowers paintings. To tell the truth, each style has its own virtues and weakness. An outstanding artist is able to make full use of the virtue and avoid the weakness. If you appreciate meticulous delineation and strong colouring，then you would prefer gongbi. Meanwhile, xieyi lovers enjoy bold brushwork and excellent ink application.
Flower and Bird Painting contains various styles varying from precise to a few simple strokes. It fully embodies Oriental culture with mildness and connotation, while western painters always require sharper edges and more detailed description. After we take a close look at some typical Chinese paintings, we will find that the painting always connect with calligraphy, neither of them can exist effectively without the other. In the process of appreciating Chinese painting we are able to have a better understanding about the history of our country. Flower and Bird Painting, as one of the most typical representatives has attracted more and more attentions.
