Festival and Visual Art in Ancient China: A Historical Review
Abstract
Festival visual art in ancient China, before 1912 (the end year of the last feudal dynasty), conveys rich culture connotations and aethetics attitude of the ancients. However, few historical reviews on this theme are conducted currently. Based on the qualitative analysis from extensive literature, this paper provides a through understanding of it from three parts. The first part analyzes the origins of the festival art, which is summarized as natural rhythm, religion and myth, and ancestor worship. The second part discusses appropriate viewing times for festival art, in which artworks of twelve-a-set and festival patches in the late feudal dynasty are focused. In the third part, visual arts of four festivals including the New Year, the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Qixi Festival are selected as representatives to catch a glimpse of the general characteristics of Chinese festival visual art. Overall, this paper provides a systematic understanding and a new perspective of festival visual art in ancient China for further research.
Keywords: Visual Art, Festival, China, Art History
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