Chinese and Western landscape painting: key differences

Art

Landscapes East and West

One of the most subtle yet most profound differences between Western and Eastern culture -- specifically, Chinese culture -- occurs in the different values and techniques applied to visual arts. The art of a culture speaks volumes as to the values, beliefs, and perspective of the culture as a whole, reflecting the culture of a given moment not only in the frozen image or scene that a work depicts, but in the techniques and styles used to create it. Interestingly, there are also some commonalities in the artworks created by seemingly disparate cultures that reveal the underlying humanity that is present in all cultures and all works of art. Landscapes were commonly painted by the great artistic masters of both Chinese culture and later Western painting, though the Chinese had been practicing such meditative scenes for millennia before it became the subject of Western art. A comparison between two of the great landscape works produced by each culture reveals both the similarities and differences in their styles.

Fan Kuan's "Travelers among the Mountains and Streams," painted sometime in the early eleventh century CE, is a classic example of a Chinese landscape. The title is somewhat ironic, as the travelers that are the supposed subject of the painting are incredibly overshadowed by the mountains themselves. There is an extreme use of vertical line in the painting, with the mountain appearing as a pillar of rock that takes up most of the painting. Near the mountain's base, the horizontal lines of the mist layer and the path beneath both serve to break up the painting to some degree, but the overall effect is the dominance of nature over the rather insignificant and seemingly futile efforts of mankind. Kuan's use of shadow is used to create the illusion of three-dimensionality, but the lack of color and the regularity of the lines make the painting more symbolic and representational than it is realistic.

Not surprisingly, Caspar David Friedrich's "Morning Mist in the Mountains" from 1808 is a markedly different work of art. His approach is definitely more realistic, and any symbolism in the painting is found strictly in the eye of the beholder. There is also no overt use of line in this painting, but rather the entire image is softened and blurred by the mists covering the mountain. The mountain, too, is seen from a much closer perspective, which actually serves to make it less dominating and forthright as its boundaries cannot be seen -- the mountain forms the entire background, rather than being the most prominent feature of it. In addition, the Western use of perspective and foreshortening is definitely visible in this painting whereas it is decidedly lacking in Kuan's landscape. The most prominent formal aspect of Friedrich's "Morning Mist in the Mountains" is the contrast between the trees and the mist that enshrouds them; these trees represent the only dark valued objects and are also the only parts of the painting that make use of definite lines, making them stand out quite prominently among the white mists and the blurred swathe of mountain and air the fills the painting.