Guo, Jianyong (2016) 'Inside Painting', As Used for Chinese Snuff
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Guo, Jianyong (2016) `Inside Painting', as used for Chinese snuff bottles, suggested as a new model for contemporary glass art. Doctoral thesis, University of Sunderland. Downloaded from: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/id/eprint/10274/ Usage guidelines Please refer to the usage guidelines at http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. ‘Inside Painting’, as used for Chinese snuff bottles, suggested as a new model for contemporary glass art Jianyong Guo A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2016 1 ‘Inside Painting’,as used for Chinese snuff bottles,suggested as a new model for contemporary glass art Jianyong Guo (2016) University of Sunderland Abstract This research has been an art-based practice-led project focused on Chinese „inside painting‟ in glass art. It has attempted to create a „new model‟ for Chinese traditional inside painting through the creation of contemporary glass artworks. This is timely because Chinese academic glass teaching is emerging in universities, and cast glass techniques dominate the curriculum. The research offers an example of how traditional methods might be revitalized by one artist to extend the options for Chinese University glass teaching. Potential recipients are glass artists and students as well as curators and collectors. This research mainly used studio-based art practices, inspired by traditional inside painting of Chinese snuff bottles, traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, influenced by Taoism, together with Western glass painting, printing and calligraphy in order to reduce some of the existing limitations of traditional methods. The methods of glass making for this research covered blowing, casting, flame work, fusing, slumping, incorporating „outside‟ painting combined with „inside‟ painting, and printing combined with inside painting. Traditional inside painting techniques have developed over more than 200 years into a popular form of Chinese folk art, often based on glass snuff bottles with painted decoration on the inside. The craftsmen who make these pieces usually pay more attention to inside painting skills and overlook their own artistic expression. The designs used tend to be repetitive and copies of existing designs from other media such as ink painting or photographs. In this research, a body of inside painted glass works was produced to show how the glass form and painted content were combined. This work also helped to establish possible ways to reduce the limitations of traditional inside painting of Chinese snuff bottles. Contextual aspects were supported by study visits to key collections and conferences, and interviews with other makers and collectors. It is hoped that this research will promote the development of traditional inside painting and lead to inside glass painting developing as a strand of the contemporary Chinese glass arts. 2 Contents I List of practical works submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sunderland………………...........................................................6 II List of Figures…………………………………………………….........................8 III List of Tables………………………………………………................................15 IV List of Appendices…………………………………………...............................16 V Author Declaration…………………………………………..............................17 Ⅵ Acknowledgements……………………………………………..........................18 Chapter 1 – Introduction………………………………………………….....................19 1.1 Personal background to this research........................……………................19 1.2 Historical background…………………………………………………..............20 1.2.1 The snuff bottle, inside painting, traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy and Taoism...................................................................................................20 1.2.2 Contemporary Chinese university glass teaching..........................................23 1.2.3 Contemporary Western glass paintings, glass printings, and Western calligraphy................................................................................24 1.3 Research rationale……………………………………….....…………...............30 1.3.1 The advantages and limitations of the traditional inside painting of Chinese snuff bottles.....................................................................................31 1.3.2 The limitations of contemporary Chinese university glass teaching..............33 1.3.3 The inspiration from contemporary western glass painting, glass printing, and calligraphy.......................................................................34 1.3.4 Personal motivation.......................................................................................35 1.4 Research questions and subsequent aims............................…......………....35 1.5 Methodology…………………………………………........................................36 1.5.1 Contextual research……………………………………………….....................37 1.5.2 Practice-led research………………………………………………....................42 1.6 Objectives of this research…………………………………………...................44 1.7 Summary of thesis………………………………………………….....................44 Chapter 2 - Contextual review………………………………………..….......…..........46 2.1 Traditional inside painting of Chinese snuff bottles........................................46 2.1.1 Case study: Early 19th inside painters of Chinese snuff bottles......................47 2.1.2 Case study: New (later 20th-21th century) inside painting of Chinese snuff bottles.....................................................................................51 2.1.3 The international influence of Chinese traditional inside painting..................54 2.2 Contemporary Western glass art methods in comparison to traditional 3 Chinese techniques.......................................................................................57 2.2.1 Case study: Contemporary Western glass painting.......................................58 2.2.2 Cases study: Western studio-based glass printing........................................67 2.2.3 Case study: The Western calligraphy............................................................72 2.2.4 Western glass printing compared to Chinese traditional inside painting........74 2.3 Traditional Chinese paintings, calligraphy and Taoism..................................75 2.3.1 Traditional Chinese paintings........................................................................76 2.3.2 Chinese calligraphy.......................................................................................78 2.3.3 Thoughts of Taoism.......................................................................................82 2.4 Personal art practice using inside painting on glass……...............................85 2.5 Summary of Chapter 2...................................................................................87 Chapter 3 –Limitations of traditional inside painting on glass............................89 3.1 The limitation of art form of the traditional inside painted Chinese snuff bottle……………………………………....................................89 3.1.1 The glass form in early beginning of inside painted Chinese snuff bottles.....................................................................................90 3.1.2 The glass forms of inside painted Chinese snuff bottles in the late of 19th century………………………………………...........................91 3.1.3 The glass forms of inside painted Chinese snuff bottles in the middle of 20th century…………..............................................................93 3.1.4 The glass forms of inside painted Chinese snuff bottles in late 20th century and early 21th century……………......................................94 3.2 The limitations of inside painting subject matter and content…….….............96 3.2.1 The lost of individuality in traditional inside painting .....................................96 3.2.2 Economic issues impacted on the development of inside painting...............97 3.3 The limitations in the process of developing of inside painting.......................98 3.3.1 The teaching style that led the traditional inside painters to be craftsmen......................................................................................................98 3.3.2 The imitative focus of traditional inside painters..........................................100 3.3.3 The public Awareness of inside painting.....................................................104 3.3.4 The innovation and social status of inside painting......................................104 3.4 Summary of Chapter 3……………………………………………....................105 Chapter 4 –The current situation of contemporary Chinese university glass teaching………................................................106 4.1 Case studies: some of the main teachers involved in current Chinese university glass teaching……………………......….............106 4.2 Contemporary academic Chinese glass exhibitions in China……...............112 4.3 Questionnaires given to the four main glass studios in Chinese Universities................................................................................119 4.4 Summery of Chapter 4.................................................................................120 4 Chapter 5 –Development and Demonstration of the creative use of inside paintings for contemporary glass sculptures……...................121 5.1 The development different glass forms of Chinese snuff