LESSON 1: PAINTING IN CHINA, JAPAN, AND KOREA

What do you call the things you are going to paint?

In East Asia, the objects or items that are usually put into paintings are called subjects,
themes, or motifs. These may be about animals, people, landscapes, and anything about the
environment.

Read to Ponder:
Did you know that painting started from pre-historic man? He used red ochre and
black pigment. Early paintings often showed hunting scenes of man chasing various
animals, such as: horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffaloes, mammoths. These prehistoric
paintings were drawn on the walls of caves, blocks of stone, etc. and found all over the
world, including China.

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The history of Eastern painting is as old as the civilization of China. It is historically comparable
to Western painting. Eastern countries continued to influence each other’s production of arts over
the centuries.
COUNTRY PAINTING SUBJECTS OR THEMES
CHINA
1. Flowers and birds
2. Landscapes
3. Palaces and Temples
4. Human Figures
5. Animals
6. Bamboos and Stones
JAPAN
1. Scenes from everyday life
2. Narrative scenes crowded with figures and details
SOUTH KOREA
NORTH KOREA
Subjects are divided into five categories:
1. Landscape paintings
2. Minhwa (the traditional folk painting)
3. Four Gracious Plants (plum blossoms, orchids or wild orchids,
chrysanthemums
4. Bamboo
5. Portraits

Important aspects in East Asian Painting:

Landscape painting was regarded as the highest form of Chinese painting. They also
consider the three concepts of their arts: Nature, Heaven and Humankind (Yin-Yang). Silk was
often used as the medium to paint upon, but it was quite expensive. When the Han court eunuch,
Cai Lun, invented the paper in the 1st Century AD it provided not only a cheap and widespread
medium for writing but painting became more economical.
The ideologies of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism played important roles in East Asian art.
Chinese art expresses the human understanding of the relationship between nature and
human. This is evident in the form of painting of landscapes, bamboo, birds, and flowers, etc. This
might be called the metaphysical, Daoist aspect of Chinese painting.
To make your painting interesting and realistic apply these Six Principles of Chinese Painting
established by Xie He, a writer, art historian and critic in 5th century China.
1. Observe rhythm and movements.
2. Leave spaces for the eyes to rest
3. Use brush in calligraphy
4. Use colors correctly
5. Live up to tradition by copying the master’s artwork.
6. Copy the correct proportion of the objects and nature.
The history of Korean painting dates to 108 C.E., when it first appears as an independent form.
It is said that until the Joseon dynasty the primary influence of Korean paintings were Chinese
paintings. However, Korean paintings have subjects such as landscapes, facial features, Buddhist
topics, and an emphasis on celestial observation in keeping with the rapid development of Korean
astronomy.
Mountain and Water are important features in Korean landscape painting because it is a
site for building temples and building.
Painting is indeed one of the highest forms of arts in East Asia. Do people from East Asia
use other materials as canvas for painting? Painting in East Asia do not only apply on paper, silk,
and wood. Performers of kabuki in Japan and peking opera in China use their faces as the
canvas for painting while mask painting is done in Korea.

Theatrical forms: Peking opera of China and Kabuki of Japan.

The performers from China and Japan usually paint faces depending on the character or
personification they are portraying. So aside from painting on silk, paper, and printing on wood,
Chinese and Japanese also painted their face and Koreans painted masks for theatrical and
festival performances.
Peking opera face painting or jinju lianpu is done with different colors in accordance with
the performing character’s personality and historical assessment. The hero type characters are
normally painted in relatively simple colors, whereas enemies, bandits, rebels, and others have
more complicated designs on their faces.
It is a traditional special way of make up in Chinese operas in pursuit of the expected effect
of performance. Originally, lianpu is called the false mask.

Kabuki Make- up of Japan

Kabuki makeup or Kesho is already in itself an interpretation of

the actor’s own role through the medium of the facial features.

―On stage, this interpretation becomes a temporalization of makeup in collaboration with the
audience.

The result is a decoding of the drama traced out in the graphic designs of the painted face.‖ —
Masao Yamaguchi (quoted in The Painted Body, 1984)

(http://thestorybehindthefaces.com/2012/01/20/kumadori-japanese-kabuki-theatre-
makeup/)
Kabuki Make up is also another way of face painting which has two types:
1. Standard makeup - applied to most actors
2. Kumadori makeup - applied to villains and heroes
- It is composed of very dramatic lines and shapes using colors that represent certain qualities.
• Dark Red – passion or anger
 • Dark Blue – depression or sadness
• Pink – youth
• Light Green – calm
• Black – fear
• Purple – nobility

Some examples of face painting are the mukimi-

guma or suji-guma, where the lines are painted
onto an actor’s face. These are then smudged to
soften them. The makeup and perfume worn
throughout performances were highly significant
to the stories that were being told.
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1655/VIXGD00Z/posters/kabuki-makeup.jpg

Kumadori — The Painted Faces of Japanese Kabuki Theatre

Korean Masks

Korean masks, called tal or t’al, originated with religious meaning just like the masks of the
other countries which also have religious or artistic origins. Korea has a rich history of masks.
They use it in funeral services to help banish evil spirits and theatre plays dating back to the
prehistoric age.

Masks were also used for shamanistic rites and were kept within temples where they were
honoured with offerings. By the 12th century, the masks became part of elaborate dances and
dramas.
The Roles of Colors in Korean Masks

1. Black, Red, and White masks- bright and vibrant colors that help establish the age and
race of the figure.

2. Half Red and Half White mask- symbolizes the idea that the wearer has two fathers,
Mr.Red and Mr. White
3. Dark-faced mask- indicates that the character was born of an adulterous mother.

Paper Arts and Knot Tying of China, Japan, and Korea

What are the paper arts of China, Japan, and Korea? Who invented paper?
Paper has a great function in the development of arts not only in East Asia but all over the
world.
Paper was first invented by Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. It is indeed one of the
greatest contributions of ancient China in the development of arts.
A paper art of China includes paper cut, Chinese knots, and paper folding and paper kites.
The earliest document showing paper folding is a picture of a small paper boat in an edition of
Tractatus de Sphaera Mundi from 1490 by Johannes de Sacrobosco.
In China, traditional funerals include burning yuanbao, which is a folded paper that looks like
gold nuggets or ingots called sycee. This kind of burning is commonly done at their ancestors’
graves during the Ghost Festival.
A sycee is a type of silver or gold ingot currency used in China until the 20th century. The name
is derived from the Cantonese words meaning “fine silk”.

Origami

The term origami came from “ori” meaning

“folding” and “kami” meaning “paper”. It is the
traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started
in the 17th century Ad and was popularized
internationally in the mid-1900s. It is eventually
evolved into a modern art form.

The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper

into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting
techniques without cutting as much as possible.

Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride
and groom, so paper folding had become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremonies by the
Heian period(794-1185) in Japanese history.
Flowers, animals, birds, geometric shapes, and dolls are the common models used in Japanese
origami.
Decorative Chinese paper cuttings

• Are usually symmetrical in design when unfolded

and adapt the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac
as themes and motifs and mostly choose the red
color.

• The earliest use of paper was made as a pattern

for lacquers, decoration on windows, doors, and
walls.
 • Chinese Buddhists believe that hanging “Window flowers” or decorative paper cuttings,
like pagodas and other symbols of Good Luck, attract good luck and drive away evil
spirits.

• The process of paper cutting is aided by a pair of scissors or knife and other sharp flat
cutters.

Jianzhi

Jianzhi is the first type of paper cutting design, since paper was invented
by the Chinese. The cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows.
They are sometimes referred to as chuang hua, meaning “window flower”.

Kite Making

A kite is an assembled or joined aircraft that was traditionally made of silk or paper with a
bowline and a resilient bamboo.

Chinese kites can be originated in Wei Fang Sandong, China was the capital city of kites during
the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and by the Ming Dynasty (1368-16440). Since 1984 the city has
been hosting the largest international kite festival on Earth.

Did you know that:

The famous 5th century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban were said to be the
inventor of Kites. Later on, the paper kite was used as a message for a rescue mission, for
measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signalling, and communication for military
operations. The earliest known Chinese kites were flat (not bowed) and often rectangular. Later,
tailless kites incorporated a stabilizing bowline. Kites were decorated with mythological motifs
and legendary figures.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)

Knot Tying Zhongguo

In Korea, decorative knot work is known The Chinese decorative handicraft art
as maedeup or called dorae or double that began as a form of Chinese folk art
connection knot, often called Korean knot in the Tang and Song Dynasty(960-
work or Korean knots. 1279AD) in China.

Hanamusubi
Three Main Types of Roofs in Traditional Chinese Architecture

1. Straight inclined – these

are more economical for
common Chinese
architecture.

2. Multi-inclined – roofs with

two or more sections
inclined. These roofs are
used for residences of
wealthy Chinese.
3. Sweeping – have curves that rise at the corners of the roofs. These are usually reserved
for temples and palaces although these may also be found in the homes of the wealthy
Chinese. Originally, the ridges of the roofs are usually highly decorated with ceramic
figurines.

East Asian temples and houses have sweeping roofs because they believe
that it will protect them from the elements of water, wind, and fire. Buddhists
believed that it helped ward off evil spirits which were deemed to be straight
lines. The figures at the tips are called roof guards.

Woodblock printing

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text,

images, or patterns used widely throughout East
Asia. It originated in China as a method of printing
on textiles but eventually became a method for
printing on paper.

This method was adapted in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867) and became one of their
oldest and most highly developed visual arts.
The most common theme in Japan for printmaking describes scenes from everyday life. It narrates
the scene and is often packed with figures and detail.

Japanese Ukiyo-e

The best known and most popular style of

Japanese art is ukiyo-e, which is Japanese for
“pictures of the floating world” and it is related to the
style of woodblock print making that shows scenes of
harmony and carefree everyday living. Ukiyo-e art was
produced in a diversity of different media, including
painting and became an art domain of the upper
classes and royalty but later was also produced by the
common people.
 Chinese Calligraphy

To the Chinese, calligraphy is the art of

beautiful handwriting. Traditional painting
involves essentially the same technique as
calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in
black or colored ink; oils are not used. In
calligraphy, the popular materials which
paintings are made of are paper and silk.
Poets write their calligraphy on their paintings.

Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy, also known as shodo, is the art of writing by hand to create letters or symbols
using brush dipped in ink. It’s a beautiful art form as well as a means of communication. The ability to
do calligraphy is a skill passed from one generation to the next, and it requires a lot of training.
 PERFORMANCE TASK in ARTS Q2: CREATING EAST ASIAN ARTWORK
The arts of China, Japan, and Korea are closely similar to one another. They all have paintings both on fabrics,
paper, and faces. They also have knot tying, paper folding, paper cutting, and calligraphy.
Art Medium 1: COFFEE

Materials Procedure
For the 1st container
Mix two spoons of coffee powder with
Pencil 3 spoons of water. Mix it well to get a
Instant coffee powder( 2 spoonful) medium color.
Canvas board or watercolour paper
Brush For the 2nd container
Natural varnish Mix two spoons of coffee powder with
Container 2 spoons of water. Mix it well to get a
Tissue or rag dark coffee color.
1.Trace a design on the illustration
board or canvas.
2. Apply medium color paint to be the
base of any picture.
3. Apply the dark color paint to do the
darker shadings and outlines. Darker
shade gives a glossy effect to the
picture. If you want a lighter shade, just
mix few more drops of water.
4. When the whole painting is done,
apply the natural varnish coating.

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