Earlypaintings often

showed hunting
scenes of man chasing
various animals, such
as: horses, rhinoceros,
lions, buffaloes,
mammoths.
.
These prehistoric
paintings were
drawn on the walls
of caves, blocks of
stone, etc.and
found all over the
world, including
What other
important
information do you
need to remember
in East Asian Arts?
PAINTING
SUBJECTS OR
THEMES
1. Flowers and birds
2. Human Figures
3. Landscapes
4. Animals
5. Palaces and Temples
6. Bamboos and Stones
 1. Scenes from everyday
life
 2. Narrative scenes
crowded with figures and
details

 Subjects are divided into five
categories:
 1. landscape paintings
 2. Minhwa (the traditional folk
painting)
 3. Four Gracious Plants (plum
blossoms, orchids or wild orchids,
chrysanthemums)
 4. bamboo
 5. portraits
 Landscape painting was regarded as
the
 highest form of Chinese painting.
They also
 consider the three concepts of their
arts:
 Nature, Heaven and Humankind (Yin-
 Yang).
 Silk
was often used as the
medium to paint upon, but it was
quite expensive. When the Han
court eunuch, Cai Lun, invented
the paper in the 1st Century AD it
provided not only a cheap and
widespread medium for writing
but painting became more
economical