Oriental Goddess of Beauty

Text / Li Chao

Among the many characters composed in Lin Fengmian's works, the image of a beautiful lady is a unique one among his many manners of composition. Such artistic feminine portrayals are comparable to the Venus in Western art. Audiences passionate about his art have claimed it to be the "Oriental Goddess of Beauty" The formation of such a "Goddess of Beauty"has to do with the artist's unique experiences in judging beauty. As such, it has drawn our focus upon the compositions by Lin Fengmian portraying subjects of relevant figures. In this aspect, Lin Fengmian's later work, the "Young Southern Girls"in coloured ink can be regarded as one of the best representative.

Content in Lin Fengmian's compositions concerning subjects of human figures are mainly made up of either ladies or theatrical characters. Generally speaking, due to influences associated with representation and the spirit found in the art of free sketching, Lin Fengmian basically reduces the narrative elements and portraiture features while composing his depiction of the human subjects. Instead, he emphasizes the expression of the values and emotions within. To do this, the artist placed the focal point of his composition on the study and expression of forms and languages in painting.

Pertaining to Lin Fengmian's style of drawing ladies, the artist once recalled saying, they are "primarily from accepting the art of Chinese porcelain" "especially the influences from the clear transparent colors of Song dynasty's Guan Kiln and Longquan Kiln, employing in them a kind of inspirational technique that I derived from these things."he form and language associated with Lin Fengmian's portraits of ladies embodies a purity of figures, transparency of colors and elegance in style. Through a simple and elegant form, the characters in the portrait reveals an enchanting sentiment that stems right from the artist's inner calling to memories of youth and sublimation of feelings. As such, the feminine images of the Oriental Goddess of Beauty as seen in Lin Fengmian's compositions awaken the audiences?solemn and innocent beautiful inner feelings to become a unique symbol and image of feminine beauty in Chinese art. And it is through the "Young Southern Girls"that the powers of influence possessed in the art of the "Oriental Goddess of Beauty"are presented to us.

Lin Fengmian moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong in 1977 and his "Young Southern Girls"was completed during the artist's residency in Hong Kong. His works were managed on many occasions by Chung Kiu Handicrafts Ltd. and exhibitions were also held in its art gallery. While staying at Hong Kong Kowloon's Nathan Road, Lin composed many works mainly under the language of colored ink materials and these included works with the ladies'theme. As with the other works under related themes during this period, the artist paid tremendous attention to and stressed on achieving a "Balanced"look in the horizontal and vertical composition of his ladies'theme. In the painting, two ladies dressed in traditional costumes are seated in a dignified and composed manner, revealing the genteel, sincere and graceful charm of traditional woman. Regarding the portrayal of the characters'images, the artist chose mainly static forms whereby the description of facial features learnt from the overtones of traditional folk paper cutting. The headdress and black tresses flutters without any complicated affectation. The description of the eyes shows a willowy black external appearance that diminishes the treatment of other finer details such as the eyeball and lashes. Apparently, the focus on the ladies'images is on their overall postures and romantic charms. By varying the slender and graceful carriage of the figures, the elegant demeanor and beauty found only in oriental women is displayed by the artist.

On the colors and lines displayed in the image of the figure, the artist's choice of ink colors, a combination marrying planes made up of single color blocks, decorative planes and gentle flowing lines, demonstrates the special features of the artist's outstanding artistic style. Toning down on the sense of textures and volumes as well as specific descriptions of tones and colors, the artist instead employed the decorative flat color method to heighten the skin. An inspiration by the Dunhuang Frescoes, the swarthy color treatment of the character's facial features used middle color tones in the process of flat coloring to bring out the object's uneven shape. Facial profiles were sketched with colored lines, skirts were painted in deep bright colors, and the surreal environment were adorned with surrounding fruits, flowers, and shady greenery. Excessive finer details on the characters were spared; instead, the artist used thin fluent lines of light ink to sketch the enchanting and graceful contours of the body postures. These lines are the very means critical in forming the lingo molding the ladies. They are primarily made up of elegant, tasteful, even, fine, graceful, flowing, full and mellow curves that fully express the many lovely postures that women possess, enhancing the work's gentle and graceful sentimental tones.

As such, the images of the ladies under the workmanship of Lin Fengmian are the very visual symbols created out of the many styles arising from the artist's need to explore for a pure yet simple artistic form. On the note of purity as a basic tone, rich and varied effects of expression were sought. In the compositions, the technique of generalization is employed to express in the painting the scenes where characters are located. This enhances the simplistic tendencies in the image of the figures, and at the same time, forms a special effect of lightness and transparency with the expression of colors and lines in ink, thereby revealing two-dimensional inclinations of painting lingo. Just as Lin Fengmian's landscapes depict an extensive and profound mood, the artist in his portraits on the ladies conveyed the feminine and elegant charms of the "Oriental Goddess of Beauty"

The pure feminine beauty displayed in the "Young Southern Girls"forms a classic aesthetic experience of oriental culture. Such sense of beauty touches audiences from every walk of life. As incarnations of beauty, the young girls maintain a natural and sacred distance in the aesthetic conceptions between the audience and the work, dulling the joy of worldly passionate desires to sense the atmosphere which feels just like an angelica-like fragrance, bringing us to immerse in the yearnings within our souls for the magical creation of the Oriental Goddess of beauty.

The reason why Lin Fengmian became an acclaimed great master combining both the Eastern and Western styles in the 20th century is due precisely to the excellent explorations and extraordinary achievements he had accomplished in the language of painting. We can relate from its midst new aesthetic experiences. The so-called honor of "Oriental Goddess of Beauty"is just one of many such vivid analogies. Through an appreciation of Lin Fengmian's "Young Southern Girls" we get to understand such a lively process of aesthetic judgment. Such an experience in appreciating beauty, just as what Shiy De-jinn once evaluated, Lin Fengmian "e xpressing his tender feelings and graceful beauty in the drawings of ladies' stems from the artist's deep and profound understanding towards both Eastern and Western cultures, which in turn, stems from the artist's sensitive observations in the changing of times, which in turn also stems from the artist's innate and valuable intuitive judgment.

(Li Chiao: the author of "A History of Oil Painting in Shanghai"and "A History of Early Period Oil Painting in China" curently teaches at the College of Fine Arts of Shanghai