1)Describe: from the layout of the paintings, what are the obvious differences between Chinese and Western paintings?
2)Argue: Some western scholars argue, based on the apparent formal differences between Chinese and Western landscape paintings, first that the Chinese have the idea of“heaven and man merging into one”( tian ren heyi 天人合一), man is not separated from nature and Chinese landscape thus represents pure nature with no human figures in the center"; second, "Western landscape tends to be more realistic than its Chinese counterpart". How do you agree with these two points? Do they seem reasonable to you? What do they see? What do they overlook?
Western landscape painting, rooted in humanism and scientific observation, adopts linear perspective and chiaroscuro to achieve realism, focusing on reproducing nature's appearance.
A Chinese landscape is like a poem you take a journey through, while a traditional Western landscape is like a theatrical stage you observe from a seat in the audience
China's landscape paintings are more blank and pay attention to freehand brushwork, while the western ones pay more attention to realism, which is very similar to reality
They see that Chinese paintings reflect "tian ren heyi" with nature - centered scenes and Western ones stress realistic depiction. However, they overlook that Chinese paintings can have human elements subtly integrated, and Western landscape art also has non - realistic, expressive styles.
Traditional Western landscape painting emphasizes "resemblance in form", while Chinese landscape painting is a "spiritual realism" that focuses on "conveying the essence through freehand brushwork".
Chinese artist does not fix the viewpoint at a single spot. On the contrary,western artists fix the viewer’s eye at one point, with objects diminishing in size.
I think Chinese landscape painting carries a poetic realm and is rich in the emotions of most people, while Western painting is closer to reality and focuses on specific descriptions of reality.