History of Painting - Eastern Painting - East Asian Painting

East Asian Painting

See also Chinese painting, Japanese painting, Korean painting.

• Paintings on tile of guardian spirits donned in Chinese robes, from the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD)

• Gentlemen in Conversation, tomb painting dated to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD).

• Emperor Sun Quan in the Thirteen Emperors Scroll and Northern Qi Scholars Collating Classic Texts, by Yan Liben (c. 600-673 AD), Chinese

• Eighty-Seven Celestials, by Wu Daozi (685-758), Chinese

• Portrait of Night-Shining White, by Han Gan, 8th century, Chinese

• Spring Outing of the Tang Court, by Zhang Xuan, 8th century, Chinese

• Servant, 8th century, Chinese

• Ladies making silk, a remake of an 8th-century original by Zhang Xuan by Emperor Huizong of Song, early 12th century, Chinese

• An illustrated sutra from the Nara period, 8th century, Japanese

• Ladies Playing Double Sixes, by Zhou Fang (730-800 AD), Chinese

• Yard concert, 10th century, Chinese

• The Xiao and Xiang Rivers, by Dong Yuan (c. 934-962 AD), Chinese

• Night Revels, a Song Dynasty remake of a 10th-century original by Gu Hongzhong.

• Court portrait of Emperor Shenzong of Song (r. 1067-1085), Chinese

• Golden Pheasant and Cotton Rose, by Emperor Huizong of Song (r.1100-1126 AD), Chinese

• Listening to the Guqin, by Emperor Huizong of Song (1100-1126 AD), Chinese

• Children Playing, by Su Han Chen, c. 1150, Chinese

• Chinese, anonymous artist of the 12th century Song Dynasty

• Portrait of the Zen Buddhist Wuzhun Shifan, 1238 AD, Chinese

• Ma Lin, 1246 AD, Chinese

• A Man and His Horse in the Wind, by Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322 AD), Chinese

• Shukei-sansui (Autumn Landscape), Sesshu Toyo, (1420–1506), Japanese

• Kanō Masanobu, 15th-century founder of the Kanō school, Zhou Maoshu Appreciating Lotuses, Japanese

• A White-Robed Kannon, Bodhisattva of Compassion, by Kanō Motonobu (1476–1559), Japanese

• Yi Ahm (1499-?), Mother Dog, 15th century, National Museum of Korea

• Tang Yin, A Fisher in Autumn, (1523), Chinese

• Nanban ships arriving for trade in Japan, 16th century, Japanese

• A screen painting depicting people playing Go, by Kanō Eitoku (1543–1590), Japanese

• Pine Trees, six sided screen, by Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610), Japanese

• Scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma, "Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha", Hakuin Ekaku (1686 to 1769), Japanese

• Hanging scroll 1672, Kanō Tanyū, (1602–1674), Japanese

• Peonies, by Yun Shouping (1633–1690), Chinese

• Genji Monogatari, by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691), Japanese

• View of Geumgang, Jeong Seon (1676–1759), 1734, Korean

• Ike no Taiga, (1723–1776), Fish in Spring, Japanese

• Maruyama school, Pine, Bamboo, Plum, six-fold screen, Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795), Japanese

• A Cat and a Butterly, Kim Hong-do (1745-?), 18th century, Korean

• A Boat Ride, Shin Yun-bok (1758-?), 1805, Korean

• Rimpa school, "Autumn Flowers and Moon", Sakai Hoitsu, (1761–1828), Japanese

• A tanuki (raccoon dog) as a tea kettle, by Katsushika Hokusai (1760—1849), Japanese

• A House amongst Apricot Trees, Jo Hee-ryong (1797–1859), Korean

• Katsushika Hokusai, The Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mt Fuji, Japanese

• Miyagawa Isshō, untitled Ukiyo-e painting, Japanese

• Tomioka Tessai, (1837–1924), Nihonga style, Two Divinities Dancing, 1924, Japanese

China, Japan and Korea have a strong tradition in painting which is also highly attached to the art of calligraphy and printmaking (so much that it is commonly seen as painting). Far east traditional painting is characterized by water based techniques, less realism, "elegant" and stylized subjects, graphical approach to depiction, the importance of white space (or negative space) and a preference for landscape (instead of human figure) as a subject. Beyond ink and color on silk or paper scrolls, gold on lacquer was also a common medium in painted East Asian artwork. Although silk was a somewhat expensive medium to paint upon in the past, the invention of paper during the 1st century AD by the Han court eunuch Cai Lun provided not only a cheap and widespread medium for writing, but also a cheap and widespread medium for painting (making it more accessible to the public).

The ideologies of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism played important roles in East Asian art. Medieval Song Dynasty painters such as Lin Tinggui and his Luohan Laundering (housed in the Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art) of the 12th century are excellent examples of Buddhist ideas fused into classical Chinese artwork. In the latter painting on silk (image and description provided in the link), bald-headed Buddhist Luohan are depicted in a practical setting of washing clothes by a river. However, the painting itself is visually stunning, with the Luohan portrayed in rich detail and bright, opaque colors in contrast to a hazy, brown, and bland wooded environment. Also, the tree tops are shrouded in swirling fog, providing the common "negative space" mentioned above in East Asian Art.

In Japonisme, late-19th-century artists like the Impressionists, Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Whistler admired traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige and their work was influenced by it.