The Embodiment of Zhuangzi‘s Ecological Wisdom in Chinese Literati Painting (wenrenhua 文人畫) and Its Aesthetics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.1.221-239Keywords:
harmonija, dao, stvar (wu 物), ekologija, transformacijaAbstract
The paper deals with the relation of Daoist (mainly Zhuangzi’s) ecological ideas on inter- penetration and “communication-without-communication” of things to Chinese landscape and bamboo painting, more specifically, to the ideas about the harmonization of the painter with the things (scene) painted in the process of producing the artwork. Its purpose is to explore a more nuanced, philosophical and non-Eurocentric interpretation of this peculiar kind of harmony of things or their “unity in particularity”, as inspired by Zhuangzi’s ideas and seemingly embodied in Chinese literati painting. For this purpose, the paper introduces few conceptual models, formulated by Western sinologists, as the particular philosophical schemes for the understanding of Zhuangzi’s epistemology and cosmology, and then discusses their applicability with regard to the relationships between the painter and the world, as presented in early and classical Chinese painting aesthetics and theory.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Acker, William Reynolds B., transl. 1954. Some T’ang and pre-T’ang texts on Chinese Painting. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Ames, Roger T., and David L. Hall. transl. 2003. Daodejing. “Making This Life Significant”. New York: Ballantine Books.
Bezhin, Leonid. 1982. Бежин Л.Е. Под знаком “ветра и потока” Bezhin L.E. Pod znakom “vetra i potoka”. (Under the Sign of the “Wind and Streams” (fengliu 风流)). Moskva: Nauka.
Binyon, Laurence. 1923. Painting in the Far East: An Introduction to the History of Pictorial Art in Asia, Especially China and Japan. London: E. Arnold.
Bush, Susan. 1971. The Chinese Literati on Painting. Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bush, Susan, Shih, Hsio-yen, eds. and comps. 1985. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press.
Cahill, James. 1982. The Compelling Image. Nature and Style in Seventeenth-century Chinese Painting. Harvard: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Cook, Scott, ed. 2003. “Harmony and Cacophony in the Pipes of Heaven.” In Hiding the World in the World, 64–87. New York: State University of New York Press.
Gao, Jianping. 1995. “The Reclusive Spirit in Chinese Painting.” The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies 6: 102–24.
–––. 1996. “The Expressive Act in Chinese Art. From Calligraphy to Painting.” Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 7. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Graham, Archie. 2004. “Landscape of Silence.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 31: 1 (March): 33–45.
Jullien, Francois. 2009. The great Image Has no Form, on the Nonobject through Painting. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Krivtsov, В.А. Кривцов. 1993. Эстетика даосизма Estetika daosizma (Daoist Aesthetics). Moskva: Fabula.
Li, Zehou. 1995. “Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism.” In Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics, edited by Zhu Liyun and Gene Blocker, 143–78. New York et al.: Peter Lang.
Lin, Yutang, transl. 1967. The Chinese Theory of Art. London: Heineman.
Liu, Chengji 刘成纪. 2006. “Daojia sixiang yu dangdai shengtai meixue 道家思想与当代生态美学 (Daoist Thought and Contemporary Eco-Aesthetics).” In Meixue yu wenhua, dongfang yu xifang 美学与文化东方与西方 (Aesthetics and Culture, East and West), edited by Gao Jianping and Wang Keping, 236–49. Anhui jiaoyu chubana she.
Miller, James, et al. 2001. “Sectional Discussion: What Ecological Themes Are Fund in Daoist Texts?” In Daoism and Ecology, edited by N. J. Girardot, James Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, 341–7. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Moeller, Hans-Georg. 2004. Daoism Explained. From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court.
Roth, Harold D. 2010. “Bimodal Mystical experience in the ‘Qiwulun’ Chapter of the Zhuangzi.” In Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi, edited by Victor H. Mair. Dunedin: Three Pines Press.
Rowland, Benjamin. 1954. Art in East and West: An Introduction through Comparisons. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Rowley, George. 1947. Principles of Chinese Painting. Princeton, N.Y.: Princeton University Press.
Siren, Osvald. 1956. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. Vol. I. New York: The Ronald Press Company.
Strassberg, Richard E. transl. and comp. 1989. Enlightening Remarks on Painting by Shih-T’ao. Pacific Asia Museum Monographs, No.1. Pacific Asia Museum.
Sze, Mai-mai. 1956. The Tao of Painting. A Study of the Ritual Disposition of Chinese Painting. Bollingen Series XLIX, New York: Pantheon Books.
Taehyun, Kim. 2009. “Reading Zhuangzi Eco-Philosophically.” Journal of Daoist Studies 2: 1–31.
Wang, Zhenfu 王振复. 2006. Zhongguo meixue fanchou shi 中国美学范畴史 (A History of Chinese Aesthetic Categories). Taiyuan: Shanxi jiaoyu chuban she.
Watson, Burton, transl. 1968. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press.
Yearley, Lee. 2010. “The Perfected Person in the Radical Zhuangzi.” In Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi, edited by Victor H. Mair, 122–35. Dunedin: Three Pines Press.
Zavadskaya, Jelena. 1975. Esteticheskiye problemy zivopisi starogo Kitaya Завадская Е.В. Эстетические проблемы живописи старого Китая (Aesthetic Problems of the Painting in Early China). Moskva: Iskusstvo.
Zhang, Dainian 2002. Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press; New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Zhuangzi. 1999. Translated into English by Wang Rongpei. Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Hunan People’s Publishing House, Foreign Languages Press.
Ziporyn, Brook. 2003. “How Many Are the Ten Thousand Things and I? Relativism, Mysticism, and the Privileging of Oneness in the ‘Inner Chapters’. In Hiding the World in the World, edited by Scott Cook, 33–63. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Ames, Roger T., and David L. Hall. transl. 2003. Daodejing. “Making This Life Significant”. New York: Ballantine Books.
Bezhin, Leonid. 1982. Бежин Л.Е. Под знаком “ветра и потока” Bezhin L.E. Pod znakom “vetra i potoka”. (Under the Sign of the “Wind and Streams” (fengliu 风流)). Moskva: Nauka.
Binyon, Laurence. 1923. Painting in the Far East: An Introduction to the History of Pictorial Art in Asia, Especially China and Japan. London: E. Arnold.
Bush, Susan. 1971. The Chinese Literati on Painting. Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bush, Susan, Shih, Hsio-yen, eds. and comps. 1985. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press.
Cahill, James. 1982. The Compelling Image. Nature and Style in Seventeenth-century Chinese Painting. Harvard: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Cook, Scott, ed. 2003. “Harmony and Cacophony in the Pipes of Heaven.” In Hiding the World in the World, 64–87. New York: State University of New York Press.
Gao, Jianping. 1995. “The Reclusive Spirit in Chinese Painting.” The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies 6: 102–24.
–––. 1996. “The Expressive Act in Chinese Art. From Calligraphy to Painting.” Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 7. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Graham, Archie. 2004. “Landscape of Silence.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 31: 1 (March): 33–45.
Jullien, Francois. 2009. The great Image Has no Form, on the Nonobject through Painting. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Krivtsov, В.А. Кривцов. 1993. Эстетика даосизма Estetika daosizma (Daoist Aesthetics). Moskva: Fabula.
Li, Zehou. 1995. “Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism.” In Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics, edited by Zhu Liyun and Gene Blocker, 143–78. New York et al.: Peter Lang.
Lin, Yutang, transl. 1967. The Chinese Theory of Art. London: Heineman.
Liu, Chengji 刘成纪. 2006. “Daojia sixiang yu dangdai shengtai meixue 道家思想与当代生态美学 (Daoist Thought and Contemporary Eco-Aesthetics).” In Meixue yu wenhua, dongfang yu xifang 美学与文化东方与西方 (Aesthetics and Culture, East and West), edited by Gao Jianping and Wang Keping, 236–49. Anhui jiaoyu chubana she.
Miller, James, et al. 2001. “Sectional Discussion: What Ecological Themes Are Fund in Daoist Texts?” In Daoism and Ecology, edited by N. J. Girardot, James Miller, and Xiaogan Liu, 341–7. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Moeller, Hans-Georg. 2004. Daoism Explained. From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court.
Roth, Harold D. 2010. “Bimodal Mystical experience in the ‘Qiwulun’ Chapter of the Zhuangzi.” In Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi, edited by Victor H. Mair. Dunedin: Three Pines Press.
Rowland, Benjamin. 1954. Art in East and West: An Introduction through Comparisons. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Rowley, George. 1947. Principles of Chinese Painting. Princeton, N.Y.: Princeton University Press.
Siren, Osvald. 1956. Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles. Vol. I. New York: The Ronald Press Company.
Strassberg, Richard E. transl. and comp. 1989. Enlightening Remarks on Painting by Shih-T’ao. Pacific Asia Museum Monographs, No.1. Pacific Asia Museum.
Sze, Mai-mai. 1956. The Tao of Painting. A Study of the Ritual Disposition of Chinese Painting. Bollingen Series XLIX, New York: Pantheon Books.
Taehyun, Kim. 2009. “Reading Zhuangzi Eco-Philosophically.” Journal of Daoist Studies 2: 1–31.
Wang, Zhenfu 王振复. 2006. Zhongguo meixue fanchou shi 中国美学范畴史 (A History of Chinese Aesthetic Categories). Taiyuan: Shanxi jiaoyu chuban she.
Watson, Burton, transl. 1968. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press.
Yearley, Lee. 2010. “The Perfected Person in the Radical Zhuangzi.” In Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi, edited by Victor H. Mair, 122–35. Dunedin: Three Pines Press.
Zavadskaya, Jelena. 1975. Esteticheskiye problemy zivopisi starogo Kitaya Завадская Е.В. Эстетические проблемы живописи старого Китая (Aesthetic Problems of the Painting in Early China). Moskva: Iskusstvo.
Zhang, Dainian 2002. Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press; New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Zhuangzi. 1999. Translated into English by Wang Rongpei. Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Hunan People’s Publishing House, Foreign Languages Press.
Ziporyn, Brook. 2003. “How Many Are the Ten Thousand Things and I? Relativism, Mysticism, and the Privileging of Oneness in the ‘Inner Chapters’. In Hiding the World in the World, edited by Scott Cook, 33–63. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Downloads
Published
30. 01. 2017
Issue
Section
Unity of Skill and Art through the Lens of Zhuangzi’s Philosophy
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Loreta Poškaitė
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
POŠKAITĖ, Loreta. 2017. “The Embodiment of Zhuangzi‘s Ecological Wisdom in Chinese Literati Painting (wenrenhua 文人畫) and Its Aesthetics”. Asian Studies 5 (1): 221-39. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.1.221-239.
