2021Academic Year Short Course Review「The Constitution of Shanshui Landscape and Geomancy」

From 15 to 26 March, students from the China Centre of the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts completed a two-week course in Chinese traditional art, “The Constitution of Shanshui Landscape and Geomancy”. The course was taught by Prof. Ding Xiyuan, and Prof. Lin Haizhong of the China Academy of Art with the assistance of Prof. Zheng Yu.

The course was divided into two one-week modules.

In the first week

Prof. Ding Xiyuan analyzed the development of landscape painting, explained the concept of the five elements in landscape art, and introduced the concept of fengshui (geomancy) as reflected in landscape. This module also introduced famous Chinese landscape masterpieces of the past, analyzing the techniques and styles of the artists with a view to understanding the conceptual and technical evolution and transmission of landscape art through history.

In the second week 

Prof. Lin Haizhong and Prof. Zheng Yu focused on the technical aspects of creating landscape forms as a pathway to establishing a foundational understanding of landscape painting. Specifically, emphasis was first placed on brushwork, using The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting and The Collected Paintings of Dong Qichang as copy models for the correct painting of cloud and water, instructing students in the essential brush techniques of cloud and water painting, Prof. Lin focused on brushwork, including gouyun (cloud sketching) and ranyun (cloud staining). Students appled these techniques in copying from masterworks and in their own sketches