Hua Niao – The concept
Chinese painting of birds and flowers, known as Hua Niao, is a type of painting named after its subjects that cover flowers, birds, insects, and fish. Artists have the leeway to understand flowers as plants and include pets in their artwork.
The history
Hua Niao painting existed since early Chinese times. He adorned bronze vessels, pottery, and phoenix art on silk during the Warring States Period (7th-4th centuries BC). The depicted images corroborate that ancient Chinese flowers and birds were the favorite subjects of Hua Niao artists. Initially plain and simple, this style of Chinese painting eventually graduated into a mature and meaningful art form, with the help of well-established developed schools, techniques, and theoretical backgrounds. Hua Niao’s works became an absolute study of art through the Tang Dynasty (618-907), growing until the end of the Five Dynasty period (907-60).
The details
In the pre-Tang and Tang dynasties, the emotions, moods, feelings, and temperament of human figures were the identifying characteristics of bird and flower painting. The characters rarely looked at each other. The ‘flowers’ they held, the ‘trees’ they sat next to, or the ‘birds’ that flew around them, would symbolize the relationship between them. This symbolic representation of human feelings was a major turning point in the history of Chinese art. Soon, Hua Niao became an independent form of Fine Arts in the mid to late Tang Dynasty.
The Varieties
– Paint with ink and wash
– Fine brush painting
– Fine brush with ink and water paint
– Fine brush with intense color
– Fine brush with light color
– Fine brush with freehand style
– Freehand style
– Great freehand style
– Light freehand style
The artists, the artists
Many famous artists emerged during 618-960, with Huang Quan and Xu Xi representative names among them. Quan Huang was a court painter and his paintings focused on rare flowers and birds at court. His performances were lively and looked luxurious and full-blown beautiful. ‘Sketch of Rare Bird Scroll’, which portrays many types of birds, was Huang’s masterpiece.
The artist Xu Xi also belonged to the same dynasties and was not involved in any kind of politics. Xu used ink for his artwork. Thick strokes, wild subjects, and branches and leaves were some of the key features of his paintings. Xu would use a small number of colors to warn of any ink deterioration. ‘Snow Covers Bamboo’ was one of Xu Xi’s unique works.