Knowing how to appreciate art is a blessing in life, for knitting into the vicissitudes of our lives is the undying value of the true, the good, and the beautiful of the real treasure; thus we could have a much more meaningful life. In the presence of this imperfect society which is established by mankind with inherent frailties, frivolous and dismal would sometimes disappoint us.
The perpetual peaceful quality of a traditional landscape painting, could be source of pleasure and helps to banish the unmerited spleen for our bad moods could find a vent ; nevertheless the power of higher appreciation has to be cultivated, lest the recourse to art for amusement should be in vain.
No matter what trials and tribulations we have experienced in this world, our ancestors also had gone through, and their situations always were worse than us. Suffering, misery, sorrow are just commonplaces, mere platitudes in human history.
Our precursors accepted the encounter with all these unpleasant events, and had their ways to extract themselves from their predicaments. In the past, the literati would indulge their passions for excursions so as to strive for perfect union with Nature. Then all the concerns of mundane world could be left behind. However what could they do when they were getting too old to travel, and how could they marvel at the wonders of Nature when they were confined at home?
In Chinese, the expression‘woyou’which means‘to travel while reclining’first appeared in biography of Zong Bing(375-443)in History of the Song that related how this famous painter and traveler of Southern Dynasties(420-479) was prevented from traveling by his physical frailty when old and how he resorted to admiring while reclining at home the landscapes that he had painted from memory in order to quench his yearnings. Figuratively speaking, Zong was making a landscape journey that brings together his love for art and love for Nature. Incidentally, he has thus ushered in a brand new philosophy that has changed the painting and appreciation of the Chinese landscape for ever.
Therefore in traditional landscape paintings, the artists are telling us that they explore for beauty beyond the explored; picture the truths beyond the pictured. This ideology being translated into the landscape make Chinese painting unique,which in Chinese art does not represent the outward appearance of thing but the reality of the human spirit. What is created in a painting is a landscape that borders on the imaginary that echoes with a sense of isolation and relief felt by the painter.
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