Tang dynasty art

ÈTang Dynasty art (唐朝) refers to the art in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is best known for the development of many forms - painting, pottery, sculpture, calligraphy, music, dance and literature.

Background

The Tang dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an, the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization - equal, or even superior, to the Han period. The Tang period was the golden age of literature and art.

Stimulated by contact with India and the Middle East, the empire saw a flowering of creativity in many fields. Buddhism, originating in India around the time of Confucius, continued to flourish during the Tang period and was adopted by the imperial family, becoming thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. Block printing made the written word available to vastly greater audiences.

Painting

Beginning in the Tang dynasty, the primary subject matter of Chinese painting was the landscape, known as shanshui (mountain-water) painting. In these landscapes, usually monochromatic and sparse, the purpose was not to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature but rather to grasp an emotion or atmosphere so as to catch the "rhythm" of nature.

Music

The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the qin during the Tang Dynasty, though the qin is known to have been played since before the Han Dynasty.

Opera

Chinese opera is generally dated back to the Tang dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong (712-755), who founded the "Pear Garden" (梨园), the first known opera troupe in China. The troupe mostly performed for the emperors' personal pleasure.

Poetry

During the Tang Dynasty, the shi, the classical form of poetry which had developed in the late Han dynasty, reached its zenith.

Tang Dynasty artists include

Bai Juyi (772-846), poet
Cui Hao, poet
Du Fu (712-770), poet
Li Po (701-762), poet
Meng Haoran (689 or 691-740), poet
Wang Wei (698-759), poet, musician, painter
Wu Tao-Tzu (680-740), famous for the myth of entering an art work
Zhang Jiuling (678-740), poet