Chinese Painting Analysis

The art of Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in history. Its unique evolution is unparalleled in the art world. From highly colourful religious art works, to distinctive monochrome landscapes. The painters of China have strived for centuries to represent and reflect on the environment around them in this vast country. In doing so, they have created an aesthetic which is truly unique to these land Being installed here at the Victoria and Albert

Museum are a selection of Chinese paintings that so rare that none of them were ever intended to be hung in a gallery or museum. Masterpieces of Chinese Painting spans some 1200 years and includes over 70 rare of Chinese Painting spans some 1200 years and includes over

Why the written word had a huge influence on painting style. And how an artist emperor helped to bring about the country 's golden age of painting. I 'm in the Gobi Desert, some 1500 miles way of Beijing to see a highly-prized collection of early Chinese painting which was hidden from the world for centuries.

These are the Mogao caves, the oldest and largest collection of

Buddhist art anywhere in the world. Inside this vast complex of groet owes lie 45,000 square meters of painted murals and thousands of sculptures. Between them they span more than a millennium of culture history. Situated at a crucial crossroads on the ancient Silk Road, this area was once the gate which to the Chinese empire from Central

Asia. The earliest caves date back as far as the 4th century AD. The outside influences of passing traders on the silk route are clear from the stunning art work on the walls ever these caves. It 's the most extraordinary thing walking in from the Gobi Desert to find a cave this vast. This bud ya is 20 meters tall. Surrounding him are these murals in different colours all vibrant. Even though they have been here in the desert for hundreds of years. The secret to that

To this day the tradition of landscape ink painting has endured and the techniques of those early masters are used to teach the next generation the ways of the classical arts. The way in which this valuable information is imparted may come as a surprise, in China in order to become a great artist, first you have to learn the art of copying.

These students are studying classical Chinese painting at the

Central Academy of Fine Art. The Professor Chen is overseeing a class of students copying an old master of their choice. A process which could take as much as five weeks. To copy the old masters correctly, the students must learn the strict rules of landscape painting.

Each student has chosen a work by one of the great masters of landscape painting. They stretch their canvas over the top of its outline, and using magnets to cling to the original, trace the lines of the masterpiece with their brush. Although they are copying, the students are encouraged to express themselves. In order to earn that right, it 's essential for them to know the basics.

The tradition of copying has allowed the distinctive techniques of

Chinese painting to be handed down. It gives us insight into