GRADE 8

QUARTER 2
Important aspects in East Asian
Painting:
 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.
 The ideologies of
Confucianism, Daoism, and
Buddhism played important
roles in East Asian art.
 Chinese art expresses the
human understanding of the
relationship between nature and
human. This is evident in the
form of painting of landscapes,
bamboo, birds, and flowers, etc.
This might be called the
metaphysical, Daoist aspect of
Chinese painting.
Six Principles of Chinese Painting
established by Xie He, a writer, art
historian and critic in 5th century
China.
1. Observe rhythm and movements .
2. Leave spaces for the eyes to rest
3. Use brush in calligraphy
4. Use colors correctly
5. Live up to tradition by copying the
master’s artwork.
6. Copy the correct proportion of the
objects and nature.
 The history of Korean
painting dates to 108 C.E.,
when it first appears as an
independent form. It is said
that until the Joseon dynasty
the primary influence of
Korean paintings were
Chinese paintings.
Mountain and Water
are important features
in Korean landscape
painting because it is a
site for building temples
and buildings.
Landscape painting
represents both a portrayal of
nature itself and a codified
illustration of the human view
of nature and the world.
Painting is
closely related
to calligraphy
among the
Chinese
people.
Calligraphy
-is the art of beautiful handwriting.
Traditional painting involves essentially
the same techniques as calligraphy and
is done with a brush dipped in black or
colored ink; oils are not used. In
calligraphy, the popular materials which
paintings are made of paper and silk.
Poets write their calligraphy on their
paintings.
Did you know that
the earliest known
Chinese logographs
(ancient writing
symbols) are engraved
on the shoulder bones
of large animals and
on tortoise shells?
For this reason, the script found on these objects is
commonly called jiaguwen, or shell-and-bone script.
It was said that Cangjie, the legendary inventor of
Chinese writing, got his ideas from observing
animals’ footprints and birds’ claw marks on the
sand as well as other natural phenomena. He then
started to work out simple images from what he
conceived as representing different objects such as
Woodblock printing is a technique
for printing text, images or patterns
used widely throughout East Asia. It
originated in China as a method of
printing on textiles but eventually
became a method for printing on
paper.
This method was adapted in Japan
during the Edo period (1603-1867)
and became one of their oldest and
most highly developed visual arts.
The most common theme in Japan
for printmaking describes scenes
from everyday life. It narrates the
scene and is often packed with
figures and detail.
Woodblock Printing
Japanese Ukiyo-e
The best known and most popular
style of Japanese art is Ukiyo-e,
which is Japanese for "pictures of
the floating world” and it is
related to the style of woodblock
print making that shows scenes of
harmony and carefree everyday
living.
Ukiyo-e art was
produced in a
diversity of
different media,
including painting
and became an art
domain of the
upper classes and
royalty but later
was also produced
by the common