The three countries that Dominic, and I will be researching will be Japan, China, and Africa. The art in these countries has been along for hundreds of years. We will be exploring the artistic patterns of the 1400-1600 time period and see what mediums they work with, how they use line etc. We started the process by looking at photos on the Metropolitan Museum website.
Throughout history Chinese art has majorly changed. The time periods we will be looking at include the Tang and Ming Dynasty. The techniques that were used in these days were far different to our modern day art. The mediums used in this time in China were mostly sculpture, and ink drawings/ painting, and pottery.
The Tang dynasty was before the Ming Dynasty. Through looking at works it is easy to notice patterns in the motifs. The main technique that was used was the use of thin simple lines to outline a shape or object. The lines were very simple, but extremely detailed in some cases. Many sculptures were made at this time. Many sculptures of Buddha’s would be made during this time. Sculptures of horses, and pottery sculptures were all a main part of Tang Dynasty Art. The motifs they created with their black ink was known as a masterpiece in some cases, so much that, we cannot replicate these drawings today, it is too tough. Through the Tang Dynasty there was a shift towards people drawing more figures, and leaving the background unnoticed. Instead of drawing the background the setting would be written in a poem (Chinese Script) to describe the setting of the figure. This helped to give more meaning to a painting, where it throws the viewers focus on a single object and let them imagine the setting.
The Ming Dynasty followed the Tang Dynasty some 300 years later. These years brought much change to Chinese Art. Through this time more landscape was starting to be used in drawing and paintings. The background would not be recited in a poem but drawn or painted. The main difference between the two periods was the use of colour. The Tang Dynasty consisted of plain black ink drawings or sculptures. The Ming Dynasty started to involve warmer colours in their drawings while maintaining those thin simple lines. Overall the Chinese motifs consisted of thin use of line to make detailed drawings, and the use of poems and colour involved in Chinese art works. Sculptures, and pottery were also made in this during these time periods.
Japanese Art I found to have many patterns. The periods I chose to discover were the Muromachi and the Momoyama time periods. The Momoyama i found to involve a heavy use of colour. The detail was extremely fine and the mediums were for the most part inks and paints. One pattern I found with these motifs was the use of screens, as if the painter were looking out over a vista from his/ her place. To do this they simply draw vertical lines across the page such as the ones below. The vista would be the painting and in most cases would be in very fine detail.
Both of these motifs show the use of the screen and also a heavy use of the colour white. This use of white was mostly starting to change as people would change their palettes from one consisting of just black and whites to a variety of colours. The mediums that were used in Chinese Art included pottery, and wood sculptures, along with painting on paper. Japan like China uses lots of black ink, and brushes to paint. Although there is more colour and detail put forth in these Japanese photos. The Muromachi period brought more focus on the figures in the painting rather than the background. The figures were more recognizable and detailed, as the background would be vague and rough. This was not as evident in the Momoyama period as it seemed that the artist did focus on more of the background, as they would paint vistas with not figurative piece in the artwork.
The last region we decided to look at were the African countries of Kenya and Ethiopia. Both two countries used many different techniques than that of the Chinese and Japanese painting and art works of the time. African Art in general consisted of many different mediums. These included the heavy use of sculpture, pottery, painting, and basket weaving. Sculptures were made out of many different materials such as wood and copper, to sculpt things from people to crosses. The motifs made in this time were very simple. Lots of colour would be used but the figures would be extremely simple and the rest of the painting might not be as detailed but would still get across the message. I found the African art to be more distorted compared to the precise works of the Chinese and Japanese. I felt that the African Motifs were less skillful focused more on simplicity, while using more line.
Although it did seem that they stressed simplicity, but as I looked at more motifs I started to notice the very skillful use of pattern of line in some of the African Arts. This is a technique that has stuck with African Art to this day the line work and patterns created by line. There was use of a thicker line compared to the Japanese and Chinese motifs. Overall the African art consists of many sculptures and colourful motifs that portray a very simple figure of the human form.
This picture shows the heavy use of patterned line in some pieces from Ethiopia.
1. The motifs that I found in these three different countries in these time periods were all very different. The Chinese Motifs consisted of a lot of black and heavy use of thin simple lines to get across detail. These drawing mostly focused on the figure and left the background either undrawn or written in a poem. The Japanese motifs used more colour and instead of mostly black and whites it used more paintbrush. The motifs I found to focus on more of the vistas during the Momoyama period but during the Muromachi period the motifs would focus on single or a group of figures, taking away from the background. The African motifs were focused on simplicity. The line they used was thicker. The motifs would focus less on the figure but more heavily on the patterned line work.
2. I found that the motifs in Africa to stay more similar as the Chinese and Japanese motifs changed. The biggest change as I stated in the first question was the change between the Momoyama and Muromachi period motifs. The change from a background oriented motif to one that focuses on the figure. The Chinese motifs changed by using more colour as time went on.
3. The figure in Non-Western art has played a huge role. Whether it is detailed or not, to stand out or to be hidden in the background were all choices these cultures made when producing these art works. All of these cultures have sculpted, painted, or drawn the human figure in ways some thought impossible. The human form for the most part is proportional in these countries except in African Art figures may be distorted to help get a feeling or emotion across.
4. In the motifs I found I noticed many different designs. The last two motifs are African from Ethiopia and I feel that the general design of the motif is designed around the figure and is decorated with patterns and colour. The Japanese Art (the screen motifs + one below) show many unique designs. The vista view showing the background through "screen doors" shows lots of simple and light lines. The use of colour is more developed but still softer than African line. The Chinese motif is the first of all the pictures on this blog, and it shows all the focus on the figure. This is a way of showing praise towards this man who is immortal. One can notice the simple line and use of colour, mixed with a faint background. Overall lots of the same ideas in each of these motifs but each culture has their own way of displaying these ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment