Painting with Light and Shadow. Theoretical and Technical Assumptions of Pictorial Landscape in Chinese Photography

The aim of this paper tries to place the focus on certain issues related to the Chinese photography. The process of composition reveals many aspects in common with the theoretical and technical assumptions of traditional landscape painting. The overall effect of the Chinese brush paintings, which are sometimes known as voiceless poems, should maintain its original freshness and spontaneity. The sought qualities are vitality of spirit, intensity of realization and freshness of perception. These principles are related to the nature of the painting materials. Before setting brush to paper every artist must hold a well conceived draft in the mind’s eye, as once the painting is started it is not normally possible to modify a wrong stroke. The acknowledgment given to a master is the higher the more he reveals himself as a custodian of the tradition. Since the beginning some Chinese photographers maintained the lyric aspirations of Chinese painters. Many landscape subjects revealed the same sensibility of the Literati painting (wenren hua 文人画) which embodied both references to the ancient masters’ styles and the inner spirit of the artist. The works of many famous photographers in Hong Kong, such as Lai Afong 赖阿芳 (Lai Afang, active 1859-1900) are the successful result of the relationship with foreigners, although they reveal their intimate connection with Chinese tradition. During the 20th century, huayi sheying画意摄影 (Pictorial Photography) incorporated the real essence of Chinese ink landscape into photography, leading the two artistic traditions in great harmony. Especially Lang Jingshan 郎静山 (also romanized as Long Chin-san 1892 – 1995) successfully made photos that were in line with the fundamental principles of Chinese paintings and the conception of harmony between man and nature, by creating composite photographs as an alternate processing to create truly “unique pieces” of fine art. The texture and composition of Lang’s landscape photography drew on traditional Chinese ink painting of scenery and landscape. He evokes aspects of Chinese painting in photographic form, whether in the expressive mode (xieyi 写意) of Literati painting or the more detailed naturalism (xiezhen 写真) associated with court and professional painters, and served as the translation of photography. Many photographers showed the variety of compositional and stylistic procedures of visual communication and they attested a close link with the canons of ink painting. Spatial structure in Chinese ink painting is traditionally formed by the modelling of light and shadow, and the spatial effect is stimulated by the gesture and rhythmic indications of line. It is a sort of space created by calligraphy. Ethereal shots that took after the lyricism and vintage composition of Chinese landscape painting well illustrated the pursuit of the traditional Chinese art and culture. Like twin sisters but more so, photography received from painting its historical heritage, ancestral aesthetic and composition as a visual tool. Photography updated technical procedures and imposed its own way of expression to identify itself as the “new” media of art.