Chinese Painters | Page 2

Oriental art, of the Chinese language, and of Buddhist iconography. His most important work in this line is La Philosophie de la Nature dans l'Art d'Extrême Orient, a sumptuously printed folio published by Laurens in Paris, with illustrations by the Kokka Company, and written with as much charm as insight. Petrucci's knowledge of Chinese gave him an authority in interpreting Chinese art which writers on the subject have rarely combined with so much understanding of art in general, though as a connoisseur he was sometimes over-sanguine. His translation from a classic of Chinese art-criticism, originally published in a learned magazine, has lately appeared in book form. With his friend, Professor Chavannes, whose death, also in the prime of life, we have had to deplore still more recently, Petrucci edited the first volume of the splendid series Ars Asiatica. The present work, intended for the general reader and lover of art, illustrates his gift for luminous condensation and the happy treatment of a large theme.
A man of winning manners, a most generous and loyal friend, Petrucci wore his manifold learning lightly; with immense energy and force of character, he was simple and warm-hearted and interested in the small things as well as the great things of life.
LAURENCE BINYON
BRITISH MUSEUM October, 1919
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CONTENTS PAGE
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR 5
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE BY LAURENCE BINYON 7
INTRODUCTION 15
PART ONE. TECHNIQUE
I. EQUIPMENT OF THE PAINTER 21
II. REPRESENTATION OF FORMS 26
III. DIVISION OF SUBJECTS 33
IV. INSPIRATION 38
PART TWO. THE EVOLUTION OF CHINESE PAINTING
I. ORIGINS 45
II. BEFORE THE INTERVENTION OF BUDDHISM 46
III. THE INTERVENTION OF BUDDHISM 54
IV. THE T'ANG PERIOD--7TH TO 10TH CENTURIES 58
V. THE SUNG PERIOD--10TH TO 13TH CENTURIES 72
VI. THE YüAN PERIOD--13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES 92
VII. THE MING PERIOD--14TH TO 17TH CENTURIES 114
VIII. THE CH'ING PERIOD--17TH TO 20TH CENTURIES 131
CONCLUSION 140
BIBLIOGRAPHY 149
INDEX OF PAINTERS AND PERIODS 151
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ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
I. Sculptured stones of the Han dynasty. Second to third centuries. Rubbings taken by the Chavannes expedition 23
II. Portion of a scroll by Ku K'ai-chih. British Museum, London 27
III. Kwanyin. Eighth to tenth centuries. Painting brought from Tun-huang by the Pelliot expedition. The Louvre, Paris 31
IV. Palace of Kiu Cheng-kung by Li Chao-tao. T'ang period. Collection of V. Goloubew 34
V. Portrait of Lü Tung-ping by T'êng Ch'ang-yu. T'ang period. Collection of August Jaccaci. Lent to the Metropolitan Museum, New York.[A] 39
VI. Painting by an unknown artist. T'ang period. Collection of R. Petrucci 47
VII. Geese. Sung period. British Museum, London 51
VIII. White Eagle. Sung period. Collection of R. Petrucci 59
IX. Horseman followed by two attendants. Sung period. Collection of A. Stoclet 63
X. Landscape in the style of Hsia Kuei. Sung period. Collection of Martin White 67
XI. Landscape by Ma Lin. Sung period. Collection of R. Petrucci 73
XII. Mongol horseman returning from the Hunt, by Chao Mêng-fu. Yüan period. Doucet collection 77
XIII. Pigeons by Ch'ien Hsüan. Yüan period. Collection of R. Petrucci 85
XIV. Bamboos in monochrome by Wu Chên. Yüan period. Musée Guimet 93
XV. Paintings of the Yüan or early Ming period. Style of the Northern School. Collection of R. Petrucci 97
XVI. Portrait of a priest. Yüan or early Ming period. Collection of H. Rivière 101
XVII. Horse. Painting by an unknown artist. Yüan or early Ming period. Doucet collection 105
XVIII. Visit to the Emperor by the Immortals from on high. Ming period. British Museum, London 109
XIX. Egrets by Lin Liang. Ming period. Collection of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Junior 115
XX. Flowers and Insects. Ming period. Collection of R. Petrucci 119
XXI. Landscape. Ming period. Bouasse-Lebel collection 125
XXII. Beauty inhaling the fragrance of a peony. Ming period. Collection of V. Goloubew 133
XXIII. Halt of the Imperial Hunt. Ming period. Sixteenth century. Collection of R. Petrucci 137
XXIV. Painting by Chang Cheng. Eighteenth century. Collection of M. Worch 141
XXV. Tiger in a Pine Forest. Eighteenth to nineteenth centuries. Collection of V. Goloubew 145
[A] Now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss.
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INTRODUCTION
Whatever its outward expression, human thought remains essentially unchanged and, throughout all of its manifestations, is fundamentally the same. Varying phases are but accidents and underneath the divers wrappings of historic periods or different civilizations, the heart as well as the mind of man has been moved by the same desires.
Art possesses a unity like that of nature. It is profound and stirring, precisely because it blends and perpetuates feeling and intelligence by means of outward expressions. Of all human achievements art is the most vital, the one that is dowered with eternal youth, for it awakens in the soul emotions which neither time nor civilization has ever radically altered. Therefore, in commencing the study of an art of strange appearance, what we must seek primarily is the exact nature of the complexity of ideas and feelings upon which it is based. Such is the task presented to us, and since the problem which