Page 364 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

no CHINESE ART.

the other, the objects or persons represented ; the dimensions of
the figures or objects become smaller and smaller in proportion as
they approach the upper border of the framework ; in a word,
what a western painter would put in the far distance of his picture,
the Chinese artist places at the top of his.
From the point of view of composition and proper arrangement
of subjects, some Chinese paintings reveal a just sentiment of the
general harmony which ought to overrule a work of art, in the com-
bination of the principal lines, the distribution of the figures and
the balance of mass. Symmetry appears to have been the first
principle adopted in the scheme of composition ; its symmetrical
disposition gives occasionally to the composition an air of hieratic
stiffness, of mystic solemnity, a grave and still character which
is not ill suited to the sacred themes which inspired the early
Buddhist religieiix.
In later times, when movement and life were introduced into
painting, the equipment of the general mise en scene was more per-
fectly presented. Amid the seeming disorder of the groups one
perceives a bond of union, as well as the intention of filling in gaps
between the groups with telling accessories. This last intention
is often even too pronounced, as we noticed in the primitive horror
vacui manifested in some of the early stone bas-reliefs figured in
Vol. I. Among the methods of composition attempted by the
Chinese may be noted that of representing simultaneously aU the
phases of an action—the process which was adopted by some
primitive painters of the Italian and German schools when they
figured on the same canvas the successive scenes of the Passion
or of the Adoration of the Magi.
One most serious criticism of modern Chinese artists in the
matter of composition is that they so very rarely resign themselves
to sacrifice details to unity of subject. Their secondaries are
treated with as much care as the principal part. This fault is
nowhere more pronounced than in their portrait painting, where