Traditional Painting

A traditional painting called Gongbi. Painted by brush pen on rice paper.

Gongbi (simplified Chinese: 工笔; traditional Chinese: 工筆; pinyin: gōng bǐ; Wade–Giles: kung-pi) is a technique in Chinese painting. The name is from the Chinese Gong chin meaning tidy (meticulous brush technique). The technique uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimits details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation. It is often highly coloured and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. The term gongbi is also used to refer to paintings that are generally more descriptive than interpretive. Gongbi paintings are considered to be the opposite of more freely and quickly sketched paintings called Xieyi, or “sketching [one’s] thoughts.”

The Gongbi style had its beginnings approximately 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) when Han's political stability and its prosperity favored the advancement of the arts. Chinese Gongbi paintings peaked out between the Tang and Song Dynasties (618 AD - 1279 AD) where these paintings were endorsed and collected by the Royal families of China.The Gongbi artists to perfect this style must totally commit themselves to the Gongbi techniques. Only the wealthy could afford Gongbi artists. This style of art was accomplished in secret in royal palaces and private homes.

Gongbi requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, and then adds washes of ink and color layer by layer, so as to approach the perfection of exquisiteness and fine art.

Gongbi Painters in History

Yan Liben(c. 600-673)

Zhang Xuan(713-755)

Zhou Fang(c. 730-800)

Gu Hongzhong(937-975)

Song Huizong(1082-1135)

Tang Yin(1470-1524)

Chen Hongshou(1598 - 1652)