Talk by Ling Zhu, Chinese paintings specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh
Co-presented by The Ink Society and Asia Week Hong Kong at the Kee Club
2 June 2015
Both Chinese and Western painting strive to create a dynamic surface and both have achieved this by developing a highly advanced use of the line. However, the Chinese and the European approaches to the line differ fundamentally from each other. With regard to European painting, Ling Zhu focused the talk on classical and Renaissance art, not modern and postmodern art.
In this insightful talk, Ling Zhu spoke on the differences of the use of line in Chinese and European painting. Whereas classical European painters created volume in their paintings, Chinese painters strove to create lines that were painted in one breathe. By analysing particular paintings in great detail, Ling explained the differences in their visual dynamics. For instance, figure paintings by the Southern Song dynasty painter Liang Kai fail to describe the human body. Instead, each of his figures is composed of quick and minimal brushstrokes. Ling Zhu also emphasised that the development of an artistic technique is a reflection of the aesthetic ideal of the people.
