Non-Western Artworks

 

Chinese Artworks 

Qing Dynasty Artwork (1644-1911)

 

For my Non-Western blog, I am choosing Chinese artworks from the Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1911. Chinese artworks are organized by the Dynasty period when they were created, which I really like. It seems to simplify the categorization of the arts and makes the research much easier. 

It is also important to add, that there have been three main groups of artists present during the Qing Dynasty:

(1) The traditionalists, who aimed to modernize the reinterpretation of past models, 

(2) The individualists and scholar-artists, who pursued a personal style of art, often containing symbols of political defiance,

(3) And the courtiers and professional artists, who were employed by the imperial court. Their tasks were to record important state events.

Shown below, we can see three different artists with their artworks during this period, which are all incredibly unique and unalike to the art pieces we have seen in our past assignments.

Gong Xian

 

Gong Xian was a landscape painter through the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty he was forced to flee when the city fell to the Manchus in 1645, which was the change from the Ming into the Qing Dynasty. 

Unfortunately, he lost a lot of family members and therefore, he saw himself as a "leftover subject" under the new dynasty, which seems to be a fitting name.

"Mountain Valley with Cottages" was one of his paintings from 1671, done with ink and watercolor on paper, as an album leaf painting. Those are small paintings, made to fit into an album or a book-like covering.

In the lower left corner, he added poetry and I really like his technique with the shading and the little trees on the mountains. It is simple yet still beautiful with the ink strokes and the small details in the huts on the hills.

 

Bada Shanren 

 

Bada, who lived from 1626 to 1705, was a royal and a direct descendant of the Ming Dynasty, prince Zhu Quan. He decided to be a monk and follow the Buddhism after the overthrown of the Ming Dynasty and later, he took on the Daoism. 

Some of his paintings show, that he had a good humor, which was something unusual for this culture during those times. He also took his grief of losing his family heritage and it is said, that in his paintings, balance is maintained in a subtle but extreme way. That was not appreciated by everyone, but I think his paintings are very refreshing and kind of cute. 

 

 

 

One of his paintings was just simply called "cat" and unfortunately, I am not sure when exactly or where it was created but I am guessing that it was around 1680, because this was his most prolific time. 

I still really like it and think it is cute and he used a great ink washing technique, which was typical to this time. With shading, dots, and strokes, he made sure that the creature can be recognized as a cat, even without using colors. 

 

Jiao Bingzhen 

 

Bingzhen lived from 1689 to 1726 and became an incredibly famous painter and even an astronomer. His paintings are my favorites of this period, and he was the first one during the Qing Dynasty, who was influenced by the West. This came from his exposure to the Jesuits at the Directorate of Astronomy. At some point he even converted into a Roman Catholic and got exposed to new ideas on astronomy and religion.

His favorite subjects were people, landscapes, and buildings and even if that sounds a little boring and not unusual, his paintings were unique and beautiful.

 

 

 

One of his art pieces was "The Yongzheng Emperor's Nephew at a Daoist Ceremony for the Recovery of his Father" and just look at the colors. This is such a huge difference to the above-mentioned paintings and in so much detail. From the plants in the background, to the decorative drapes and flags. He put a lot of effort into creating this art piece and that shows. Which is one reason, that makes him to my favorite artist from this period. Not a lot of shading is going on or color washing, but he made sure to give it depth with the rectangular placements, which makes it all flow together. 

It was created between 1723 and 1726 in China with paint and ink on silk. I cannot even imagine how difficult that was to get so much detail into a painting on a silk drape. 

 

 Mid Modern Artists and Styles

 World War 2 and it's Influence in the Arts

 

The second World War was indeed a horrific conflict, which lasted 6 years from 1939 to 1945. During this time, a lot of artists created some powerful pieces to capture some important and horrific events. Like we know, a time of struggle, sorrow, and misery, always creates some amazing artists. Art is being used by humans to express feelings and process the happenings and to capture important, as well as less important events for the future population. 

Today I have chosen some paintings and drawings from this time, about this time and let me warn you. It is not something for the emotional persons among us.

 

1. Alan Moore

 

Moore was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1914 and in 1942, he enlisted with the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), where his job was to draw airplane diagrams. He could not be in the actual crew, due to having some physical issues. In 1943, he was recommended by some fellow artists to be an official war artist. That was absolutely a great recommendation and during his travels through all parts of the world, he created some impressive and very emotional paintings and drawings.

Moore accompanied the British Army to the Concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen in Germany during the liberation of the camp.  He was recommended to take some pictures with a camera, because no one would ever believe the horror he will see. That was a true statement, and like you can see in this painting. It is not something for the faint-hearted and must have been an absolute horrific and unbelievable sight.

 

• Blind Man in Belsen
  

 

 

This painting is called "Blind man in Belsen" and was created in 1947 in Melbourne, Australia. It was two years after the liberation, when it was painted with photographs and sketches from his visit in 1945. 

You can see the corpses of the poor souls, which sadly never have made it out of this hell hole, the Concentration camp. Some starved to death, others died from illnesses but most died from both or through murder. You can see how skeleton like the bodies look like and it what horrible conditions everyone was, for which I just have no words. 

The blind Man in the middle of the painting has a bandaged head and arm and is walking with his cane through the "sea" of corpses. Right behind him, you can see another person, looking very malnutritioned and wrapped into a long coat. In the background can be seen some more people from the camp and some look like the British Solders working on freeing everyone. The clouds add a very depressing flair and the brown, beige, black and grey colors he used, accentuate the overall feeling and the horrible situation.

In my teenager years, I have been at this camp with my high school class and even if most buildings have been demolished, the pain and sorrow still can be felt for some reason. It is a constant sad and depressing feeling while wandering between the main quarters and past the gas champers. The feeling is indescribable.

 

 

• SS troops, unloading the death wagon
  

 

 

 

Another painting from him, shows this image of SS troops, unloading the death wagon in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Germany on the day of its liberation. This is one of his sketches from his field studies, drawn with pencil and watercolor, and black ink on paper. 

It shows the SS guards removing corpses from the back of a truck for burial in a mass grave. In the background can be seen armed British guards and other internees watching them from behind the wired fence of the camp. 

The colors are again dark and depressing with its brown, beige and black tones and a lot of shading. Which again, brings out the horror of the situation even more.  

Even if the subject of the paintings is very dark and depressing, I really love the style of Moore's art and I think he had a lot of talent. 

 

2. Anthony Gross

 

Gross was born in 1905, in Dulwich, London and was another war artist, traveling with the British Army through the world and capturing many important moments of the World War 2 era. 

He accompanied the D-Day invasion of Northern France, where he sketched the beachhead landings. Gross recorded a lot of major events, like the devastation of Bayeux and Caen, and followed the Allies into Paris and Germany. 

 

• Jig Beach looking towards Le Hamel
  

 

 

One of his sketches is "Jig Beach looking towards Le Hamel" from the 7th of June 1944. It is the moment, when he landed at Gold Beach near Bayeux with the 50th Division, while he waited to get to land, he made this pencil sketch of the troops, disembarking on the beaches.

If I am honest, I do not like his sketches and can barely recognize anything on his art pieces. They are not incredibly detailed, which is understandable since he was right in the middle of the events. However, I preferred Moore's idea, to sketch and photograph the scenes and perfectionate the paintings later. 

• Final Stages of the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen

 

 

Another one of his drawings is called "Final Stages of the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen" from 1945.

The sketch shows the Krupp steelworks in Essen, Germany, a gunsmith’s shop, which was the largest industrial company in the German empire right before this time. Krupp was heavily involved in weapons manufacturing for the SS troops and Hitler allowed him to use an estimated 100,000 slave laborers from the concentration camps. The fabric was heavily bombarded during the war and at the end of the war, the Brits dismantled the rest of it and sold everything as war reparations. 

Krupp was spoken guilty for crimes against humanity and condemned to 12 years in prison. On the drawing can be seen the remains of the Krupp factory after it was destroyed and dismantled in 1945 and was done at the scene, in Essen. Gross uses the same style, colors, and technique with this work, but it is a little clearer and the story behind it is interesting.

3. LS Lowry (aka Laurence Stephen Lowry)

 

Lowry was an English artist and was born 1887 in Stretford. He was never a full-time artist, however, he took evening classes in painting and drawing at the Salford School of Art and Municipal College of Art, under the French Impressionist, Adolphe Valette. A lot of people thought that he was a self-taught artist, which was far from the truth. 

Lowry captured a lot of the modern life in an urban landscape and never adopted an Impressionist technique or color range. He claimed to use only five colors, vermilion, ivory black, Prussian blue, yellow ochre, and flake white. (christies.com) 

 

• After the Blitz 1942

   

 

"After the Blitz" is one of his paintings during the World War 2 area in 1942 and shows a street scene in Manchester, United Kingdom, after the bombing of some buildings. 

Lowry was working as a fire-watcher in Manchester during this time, so he was always one of the first one to be at the location. He painted the scenes while the buildings were still burning and smoking. 

The picture clearly shows the mentioned colors he has claimed to be using and it shows the destroyed buildings and the smoke in the background. The people are in action to look for survivors and to start the clean-up and a firefighter in the front is giving directions to the rest of the team.

 

•  Blitzed Site 1942

 

 

Another one of his painting was the "Blitzed Site", also from 1942.  What I find interesting is, that this is a picture above another picture. He painted over one of his art school studies and reused the canvas. That was discovered during an X-ray examination. I call this being sufficient.

One can clearly see the desperate residents in the middle, on the right side, leaning against the ruins and some in the back, who seem to go through the rubble to possibly find survivors and/or the remains of their belongings. They might also be the crew cleaning up the destroyed area. 

The man in front has a surprised look on his face, and a few flames can be still seen in the background, plus a lot of smoke. I like how he used the colors to highlight some of the items, which also makes it despite the desperate situation very pleasant to look at. 

I really love his style and paintings, especially the colors he used and the real subjects at the right time on the right place. 

I like all of the shown art pieces, however, i prefer Moore and Lowry over the work from Gross. No matter what, it was really important to capture those horrible times to make sure that it will never be forgotten.

Stay safe everyone and thank you for reading. 

Sylvia

 

 

Works cited: 

 

 “The Art of World War II - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/kgLCucQL-JTiLA.

Ellery, David. “War Artist's Powerful Images of Holocaust at War Memorial.” The Age, The Age, 15 Mar. 2013, www.theage.com.au/national/act/war-artists-powerful-images-of-holocaust-at-war-memorial-20130315-2g6ck.html.

“Exhibition Theme - Captivity.” Canadian War Museum: Canada's National Museum of Military History, www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/art27620_blind-man-in-belsen_e.html. 

“1905 - 1984 | Anthony Gross | War Artists | West End at War.” , Cassi Plate, 31 Oct. 2012, www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__167.aspx?path=0p4p.

Friedrich Krupp A.G., Borbeck Plant, Essen, Germany. Munitions Division. Dates of Survey: 25 April to 3 May 1945 .. 1947.  

“LS Lowry's Life: About LS Lowry.” The Lowry, thelowry.com/about-us/ls-lowry/lowrys-life/.

 

“Alan Moore.” Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au/collection/P65112. 

 

Person. “'My Ambition Was to Put the Industrial Scene on the Map' - A Guide to L.S. Lowry: Christie's.” 10 Things to Know about L.S. Lowry | Christie's, Christies, 11 Feb. 2021, www.christies.com/features/10-things-to-know-about-LS-Lowry-8657-1.aspx.

 

Tate. “'Final Stages of the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen', Anthony Gross, 1945.” Tate, 1 Jan. 1970, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gross-final-stages-of-the-german-war-krupps-works-at-essen-n05701.