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ASK A FOXFOR ITS SKINContentsAsk a Fox For Its Skin

The History of Chinese Arts

Portraits

Still Life

Landscape

Poster

Program

Set Design

THE HISTORY OF CHINESE ARTS

THE HISTORY OF CHINESE ARTS

Art has played a large role throughout history and in Asia there is no difference. Classical arts can cover a wide range of fields. Historically, it is generally agreed that classical arts is made up of six different topics. These consist of poetry, dance, music, paint-ings, sculpture and architecture. Each of these individual classical arts played a great part in China’s history as they all impacted signi-figantly on its culture and helped shape China as it is today..

Thousand of years ago the Chinese used dancing for a myriad of reasons. The Chinese danced for a range of different ceremo-nies, some of these involving prayers and worship. Court Danc-ing begun during this period of time, 7,000 years ago, and it reached its peak popularity during the Tang Dynasty (618–906 A.D). Court Dancing is described as a classy, fancy dance suit-able for large areas, for performance in example, large court-yards (hence the name court dancing). The Tang Dysnasty’s influence was so strong that not only did they have their own dance, the Tang Dynasty dance, but it also spread into neigh-bouring countries like Korea, Japan and Persia. Even today, the traditional dances of these countries have aspects used by the

DANCE

There are many way that the ancient Chinese used to dance. Some dancers would wield weapons such axes, sickles or props like umbrellas, straw hats and scarves which lead to all sorts of different syles and displays. Individual regions in China also have their own indvidiual dance and dance styles. The tea-picking dance was famous in the Yunnan Province, where the Pu-erh tea was fermented and aged in. In Hebei and Guandong Provinces the Lion dances were popular.

It was performed on many different big occasions throughout the nation. Lion dances were performed with glamourous costumes that required more than one person to wear at a time and were performed at events like the Chinese New Year. Lion’s are be-lieved to be lucky animals and are said to bring good fortune.

It was performed on many different big occasions throughout the nation. Lion dances were performed with glamourous costumes that required more than one person to wear at a time and were performed at events like the Chinese New Year. Lion’s are be-lieved to be lucky animals and are said to bring good fortune.

PoemsPoems were one of the the earliest classical arts in China. It orig-inated with ancient myths and legends stories passed down from one generation to another. Classic of Poetry was the first collec-tion of written poems that existed in China and it is said to have been created by Confucius. Chu ci, “The Poetry of Chu: The Songs of the South), was the next compilation of poems to be created, this time it was a manifesto of works from Qu Yuan (a great Chinese poet) and his followers. These legendary works significantly influenced Chinese poetry for years to come. Poems lead to the creation of ballads as artists composed songs to sing while working, prayers for religious ceremonies and love songs. Inspiration for these writings came from a wide variety of places.

PoemsA lot of the themes an topics for poems derive from street perfor-mances and ancient Chinese fables are based of basic things like old proverbs and idioms. One such fable, titled “Ask a Fox for Its Skin” is based on the difficulty of asking someone to act against their own will. It involves a young man name Lishing, wanting to buy a luxurious coat made of fox fur for his newlywed wife but real-ising he didnt have enough money to pay for one. He trugded around the Chinese hillside before seeing a fox and capturing it. He asks the fox for a sheet of its skin, hoping that the fox wont mind. The fox is shocked by the request but slyfully tricks Lisheng into releasing her and escapes quickly. Simple fables like these were written to pass down good morals and lessons their readers.

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Sculpture

Sculpturing was another popular form of art in ancient China, it was used frequently to “accompany dead emper-ors to the afterlife” as well as to represent various religious themes. Sculpting animals such as oxen, horses or dogs were other popular theme to create to. One of the world’s most famous ancient relics, the Terra-Cotta Army, is a prime example of sculptures design to keep those who have passed away company. The Terra-Cotta Army has been listed as “the eight wonder of the world” and it’s not hard to see why. Discovered in 1974, the army consisted of over 7,000 pottery soldiers, 100 chariots with 4,000 ac-companying horses. Each sculpture had subtle differenc-es in there hairstyle, expressions, clothes and even the edges of the soldier’s armour.

According to Confucius, music was said to have been the one of the most important components of the “Six Classical Arts” . His-toric chime bells during the period where many Chinese States were at war with one another (known as the Warring States Period) explain to us that even 2,000 years ago, half-tones and twelve-note octaves were already known and used by the Chi-nese. Instruments such as the Zhong (chime bells), the Di (flute) were used during the Han Dynasty (221–207 BC) as well as more obscure instruments such as the Konghou, Pipa, Tongbo, Yunluo and Huqin. All of these instruments found their way into the orchestras of many different Chinese states and provinces. Instrumental music and singing combined to create folk songs and like dancing, songs would change and vary with different areas of China. Provinces would come up with unique sounds and ballads to create there own individual identities.

Music

Painting

Painting was already prevailant in China during the Neolithic age (10,200 - 2,000 BC) as discovered by rock drawings of the Red Mountain Culture. Throughout the years the Chinese art-ists had been using painting to express their imaginations and tthoughts in many different eras. Paints of the Han Dynasty use precise, simple lines to create surreal pieces of art where-as the paintings in the Wei and Jin Dynasties were focused more on Buddhist themes and ideals. Chinese artists payed very close attention to precision in their line work and aimed to create vivid, contrasting paintings.

PORTRAITS

Portraits // Roughs

Portraits // Roughs

Portraits // Roughs

Portraits // Final

Portraits // Final

STILL LIFE

Still Life // Photosheet + Roughs

I attempted for a very abstract way to show the gruesome natureof skinning a fox for its fur. I used paint and the furry parts

of my snow hat to press and create marks to symbolise the gorein the proccess of skinning an animal. I was pretty pleased with

the outcome as it created some really visceral looking outcomes.

Still Life // Final

Still Life // Final

LANDSCAPE

Landscape // Roughs

Landscape // Roughs

Landscape // Final

Landscape // Final

POSTER

Poster // Roughs

Landscape // Final

I wanted the fox to be the main attractionof the poster, and I based the final around the portrait of his face. I felt that a dance performance would be the most appropriatedue to how short the original fable. I wanted to keep the traditional ancient scroll look about it too, to keep parts of it relevant to the fable’s era.

Landscape // Final

PROGRAM

Program // Final

I wanted the program to have some sort of memorability about it.I though by implementing a certain fold style to reveal more and more

information about the show as well as having a sort of posterand the back of the program would help convince people to keep the

program the show, rather than throw it out straight away.

Program // Final

SET DESIGN

With the set design I wanted to create back dropsto be projected onto the screen behind the dancers,as I feel that it would the most appropriate to pair withcontemporary dancers. The screens would change depending on what Act of the dance it was currently in.

Set Design // Final

Set Design // Final

http://www.asianart.com/articles.html

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/features/chinaoverview/LiteratureandArt.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Asian_art

https://lindanathan.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/img_6511.jpg

REFERENCES