SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1987
CHINESE
PAINTING
THE production of objects
destined for the purpose of artistic embellishment is common to every age and to every people. Some nations like the French, the Italians and the Japanese have made
By
T. PAUL GREGORY
more progress in this sphere brated for the glories of Its of endeavour than others. ceramics and painting. Indeed. But of all the peoples of the to the Sung artists pictorial re- globe, the Chinese on ac- presentation was a passion, and count of their amazing some of the work has been classed as amongst the greatest versatility have earned the which the world has ever seen. unique distinction of being consummate masters in every field of art. Even their first
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH WEEK-END SECTION
E
of
the
*
galaxy tiresome and AMONGST the
matchless painters who groping efforts executed graced the period of the Sung during the period of the was Wan Naam-t'in. In Han dynasty (206 B. C.— consensus of critical opinion, he A. D. 220) reveal in their created "transeripts of scenery that for breadth, atmosphere primitive form and colour- and
picturesque beauty can ing the elements of a re- scarcely be surpassed, and the markable culture. As all points in which he differs from lovers of art know, the modern European artists are characteristics of aesthetic counterpoised by appreciation amongst the essential elements of artistic excellence." So highly esteem- Chinese manifest themselves ed is his work that Chinese in the employment. of artists for the past magnificent combinations of centuries
taken him exquisite colours and won- as the model par excellence and drous skill of composition. marvellous style. To this day have endeavoured to emulate his These factors are perhaps the majority of Chinese land- best exhibited in their scapes in water-colour are efforts of pictorial delinea- frankly based on the work of tion; for as illustrators, the this great master.
Chinese are peerless, and
have rendered the world
have
the more.
seven
their eternal debtors on E artists of the Ming
account of the decorative Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) ex- features of their art which celled in portraiture, and we may be truly said surpasses have outstanding examples of that of the West by its their polished technique. The de-
lineation of the fermie face and degree of unprecedented Agure was their especial forte, splendour.
and those pictures which
survived the
ravages are justly esteemed
the
of time
CELESSTPAKA
*****DE
24 REAL SÅ MAN SÊ 452
The entire world is under tast have. ing obligation to the Chinese for their fragile delicacy of belletristic accomplishments has been more or less relegated people; for it are indebted of outline and judicious by the great Emperors K'ang- to the works produced in the to the Sons of Han for many of refinement of colouring. Paint- hai, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung ateliers of lesser-known artists. ing during the time of the Ming themselves virtuosi of ability The introduction of the methods the amenities of our daily lives. period became elevated to the was so great that it has been of oil painting is attributed to The porcelain service, for in- level of a polite accomplishment said that almost the whole of the early Jesuit missionaries, stance, from which we partake of the gentry, and Chinese al- the literati were more or less although certain of the pupils of the Irish our meals owes its inception to bums record the names of many imbued with a desire to dabble George Chinnery,
accomplished men and women in the art of painting. Much of artist who resided at Canton inventive genius of some whose work was acclaimed by the work of the latter reveals during the early thirties of the forgotten Celestial artisan; the the dilettanti of that day.
skill of a high order, and last century, were instrumental paper upon which We write During the time of the Sung to this day, there may be in popularising working in oils
And Ming, Chinese
in the artists found
collections to a limited extent. Only one of or draw is, too, the pro- paid much attention to the of Chinese connoisseurs many Chinnery's pupils attained any duct of the scientific research of representation of birds and examples of painting which eminence and this was the one "Rome ̄savant of old-Cathay; and animals. The paintings them-evoke the admiration-and-praise-whom-foreigners-called-Lam- lastly, but not least, the ink selves whilst lacking in the per- of the beholder. Some of these qua". This artist maintained a which is employed in depicting spective, which we of the West Ts'ing period paintings are un- studio on the island of Honam to associate with signed and others bear merely across the river from Canton upon the white sheet those pictures of this kind, are never the seal of the artist dis- sometime during the years 1840- symbols which represent human theless so infused with vivid tinguishert by the
of 47, and was reputed by Europa- thought is a discovery dating realism that it is doubtful if any Kui-sz, or "retired scholar"-a an visitors to have attained
other people have been more modest appellation signifying high degree of excellence in his from China's long past. Thus successful in imparting such that the hand which painted the portraits in oil. Indeed, those when we stop to discuss the vitality to the pictured object. picture did not seek to win the which the writer have seen reveal vast sphere of Chinese art, we There is, however, no such cla- acclaim of the world.
horntion of detail as in the are immediately confronted by
comes over 115
wont re
of 11.y
title
a
a superiority in technique, some of them, too, so closely resem- work of Western artists, as for The greatest exponent of the bling the work of Chinnery the formidableness of the sub- instance, that of Edwin Land- talent and ingenuity of the that if it were not for the fact of jeet. A sense of humility, awe seer and Rosa Bonheur; for the Tsing school of Chinese paint the artist's seal being attached and reverence
Chinese master of the brush ing is represented by the mas- to them, they would readily be Can- mistaken for those of his mas- deemed the depicting of mere ter, Kui Kwoo-is'uen, u when we contemplate the glori detail
less conse- tonese artist who flourished ter. ous succession of great artists quence than the expression during the early years of the In his work are during all the epochs of China's of the actual soul or spirit be last century.
found the sublime concept -vicissitudinous and kaleidosco- hind the idea of the artist.
of MODERN Chinese artists have subject. the exquisite mastery ceaselssly striven to enter the pic history. The great erns of
of colouring, the consummate seventh heaven of the ultimate Chinese art and culture are of
skill and the ecstatic poetic in pictographic delineation as course those of the Tang and THE Tsing or Manchu dynasty, sense of typical Chinese genius. portrayed by the great masters Sung dynasties. The former whilst politically a tragic It may be mentioned here that of the past. Some of them have (A. D. 618-906) WALA re epoch, was in the sphere of art the Chinese have never taken been peculiarly successful, and
great period
in much interest in the style of it may be said that many of literature: whilst the latter Chinese history; for the encour- Western art. Painting in oils their works in water-colour are
cele-agement given to the cultivation whilst nol unknown in China, comparable
nowned for the excellence of its 4.
(A. D. 960-1279)
Was
truly
☀ *
TEST ANSWERS
Weck-End Problems
PROBLEM I.
TWO BLOCKS
stand to one another in there
Current Affairs
(1)
3) (0)
4. (17)
3
(2)
I (10)
3
(10)
2
The
respective sides
(or
(3)
J (11) 2
(19)
4
elgen) of the two blocks must
(4)
2 (12)
5
(20)
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rnlios:
(5)
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(13)
4
Block A: 4.
Permanent Waves
(B)
2 (14)
1
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12
We use the finest Cluster Curl oll
(7)
5 (15)
3 (22)
1
of Lavender, non-ammonia solution
(0)
1 (10)
6 (23)
3
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HAIR-DRESSING
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Hell Knows No Fury
Robinson had been trapped by Irene Colller. (Was the plot her own or Playfair's?— that
WOR never oficially known.) At any rate, there had not, in fact, been any Are- drill. Robinson thus involved himself, as soon as he began to explain his movements, in n nexus of palpable les
5.
12
B:3...... 10 Hence the longest edge of block A is one-fifth longer than the longest edge of block B.
*
PROBLEM IL.
NEWT
EMIR
WINE TREE
He was condemned to death, but, la consideration of his youth and lack of mental balance, the sentence was com- muted to one of penal ser- vitudo.
with the master- pieces of the great painters of previous epochs. One of those whose pictures are liable to im- press posterity with their excel- lenco is Ko K'ei-fung. This gentleman at the time of his passing in 1935 at the comparn-, tively early age of fifty years hal achieved by the excellence of his work an enviable reputa- tion which extended throughout the Far East.
Some of his pupils have, like their master, obtained the com- mendation of Chinese virtuosi for the studied excellence and high standard of their produc- tions. Amongst the most talented of there who have enjoyed the privilege of study under the guidance of such famous master are that talented trio of Hongkong arilsta Hsiung Pi-shang, Yao-shang and Pei-shang. These young ladies-the eldest of whom
24 is but
ycara of age have studied Chinese painting for more than ton years and
វា
Two brilliant studies by the Halung sistors, Hongkong's tal- unted Chinese artists,
have already won wide acclaim for their masters of a difficult art. In their paintings, they portray a spirit of vitality that is refreshing, and the scope of their subjects recalls the glamour of the effulgent past. It is such artists, who whilst grateful for the cultural heritage of their country's age-old history are yet discerning enough to rea- lise that the most priceless gift that China can bestow upon the appreciative rations of the West is the aesthetic conception of un art which is truly divine.
T
THE MORTAL STORM By Phyllis Dotiome
(Faber and Faber, 2s. 6d.)
HI8 novel is written to a thesis and ruined in the re- sult. A pity, because I have never shared the view that "art" and "propaganda cannot mix. Doubly R pity, because Miss Bottome's thesis, being anti-Fus clat, is one which I strongly ap- prove.
But it is all cut too nently to pattern the German girl who loves à Com- munist and has Nazl brothers and a Jewish father: the shooting of the Communist by the girl's aristocratic lover while he is attempting to escape to Austria; the murder of the father, a world-famous scientist, in a concen. tration camp.
}
Heaven-and Hitler-knows Auch things have happened. But the CET- MATE heroine remains obstinately English. And the Argument academic. A noble attempt, bút It's all
too ladylike, too fictional. R. P.
The SNAPSHOT GUILD
TRAVEL INTO FAIRYLAND
Have a heart-to-heart talk with yourselft Double exposure, accurately planned, will let you.
Do you remember the wonder talos Rader. Arrange the light ea the fest
samo Ølm.
you road when a child, the for- are not too brightly filuminated. bidding castles Alled with ogros, the This will help eliminate evidence of hugo jinn of the Arabian Nights, light errors in the position of the the trolls that lived under bridges subject. Suap the shutter a second and the fairies that haunted myste When the picture la developed, Ume and the final picture is made. rious woodlandat
You can up your camera to rethe big one, facing each other on tho presto!-thoro nro the little man and
create theso childhood memories. You can make glanta walk through
You will probably make misinkes your pictures. You can hold yourself, in pincement on your first tries, bo- or a tiny version of yourself, in the canso the vlow findor is small, but hollow of your own hand. You can this in part of the fun of trying pose in intimate conversation with trick photography and some of the frish "weo people,” the elven and your orrors may giro a tonaler ple- fairies and the cobbling leprechaun. turo than the one you carefully.
I'e not hard. The method is to planned. It is well to remember that uno our old friend, the doublo ex-only the figures in these shots caa posure-two shots on the same film, be lighted—If surrounding objecta All that is necessary is accurate pos-show up, they will spoil the picturo. ing and careful control of the light,) If your camera has an "open" di- A black background in necessary or roet vlow-finder, without glass, it is you can pose your subject before|best not to try this sort of work. If, the door of a dark room,
however, you have a camera with
Note the picturo above. Although ground glası back, you can place It was made with a camera having a figures wih greater accuracy. ground glass for focusing, which With this tochalquo, you can make simplifies making such pictures, youļa fairy danen on the table in front can get the amino effect with your of you—the fairy belag your small own small cantera. First, pose the daughter in her ballet dress. If you subject fairly close to the camera, want to make the little figures trans- with his empty band extended, Snup parent, shorten exposure a Iiille, the picture and mark the position You can, it you ilko, do costuma of the band on the glass vlow Andor, į work, Mustrating the fairy tales you very carefully, with a tiny dot of enjoyed as a child. Try Jack and the ink.
Beanstalk, with an intrepid small Now, without winding the film, boy cluding the grasp of a flarco more the camera back noveral feet,) ogre. Or get an old hiking brogan 'as the subject appears sinnll in tho and a copy of Mother Goose and view ander. Let him atand, facing picture the Old Lady Who Lived In A his former position, so that his feet Shoo. appear right on the ink dot in the
John van Guilder
DOES WAKING TIRED EVERY MORNING
ruin a Woman's
'YES,' says
well known doctor
That drawn, tired look,
that dullness in your eyes, those tiredness lines will leave you get
you when rid of Night Starvation
WWAKING TIRED every morning
is very often a sign of Night Starvation. It shows in your face in a
looks?
LIFELESS HAIR. -***
DULL BY
DİAWN PACE.
DROOPING SHOULDERS
TIRED WALK
Where'
Night Starvation
symptoms first show
H2
dozen different ways. Even the colour No beauty treatment can hide the of course you wake feeling and LOOKING of your skin changes. Shadows come in unattractive results of Night Starvation. fired Night Surved, in fact, all the wrong places, making you look You have to get rid of the cause. Do you What to do about it drawn and old, Night Starvation shows
know that you bum up energy even. Doctors say there is nothing 10 good as in your body, too. Shoulden droop while you sleep? Breathing alone takes
your whole figure sags. Your step 20,000 muscular efforts during the Horlicks to conect this condition. Start taking Horlicks, a hot cupful every lackt youthfulness and vitality.
night. Unless energy is replaced during sleep,
night. You will wake feeling refreshed -sparkling eyes, fresh healthy skin. No drawn look. No shadows. Your face, your whole appearance, will have that vivacity and charm other women envy.
Women who always wake fired never have charm like this.
“YOU SLIKE: DESNOLY
'HORLICKS GUARDS TAGAINS
TARVATION
AND WAKIAN LAME