Prayer and Chinese Nature Painting
The Pine, Hawk and Glossy Ganoderma, painted in honour of Yongzheng's birthday, 1724, by Lang Shining, Royal Academy of Arts, The Three Emperors, 1662 - 1795 exhibition, November 2005
This article in Plough gives a wonderful perspective on Chinese landscape and nature art and contemplation.
The philosopher Josef Pieper said that contemplation consists of looking at something, anything, for its own sake, and saying 'yes' to it. 'Yes,' you are good; you are lovely; it is good that you are here. Contemplative affirmation is ultimately grounded in a deeper affirmation, a 'yes' to the world and to its source. It is an echo of the primeval utterance of God on his creation: 'Indeed, it was very good' (Gen. 1:31). - Nathan Beacom
Travelers by Mountains and Streams, Fan Kuan, circa AD 1000
[Fan Kuan’s] life of meditation in the mountains was an effort to become one with things, and his Travelers by Mountains and Streams displays the result of years of discerning the spiritual qualities in the highlands of Shaanxi…These mountains are not painted as they would look in a photograph; each choice of brushstroke, of shade, of placement is made for a reason – to depict the scene as filled with meaning and memory. The Tao is not reducible to human language, the classic Taoist texts hold. Art, however, speaks in another way. Analysis of the painting is not as good as merely spending time with it. - Nathan Beacom
This piece is part of our series, Inspired by Beauty.
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