These two paintings are originally located on the ceilings in Mogao Grottos. One is called “Three-Rabbit Fei Tian”, the other one is called “Lotus Fei Tian”. The paintings themselves have the size of 1.5 m × 1.5 m. The design is very clever, for both of them look like they are spinning. It has been well known that the western style oil painting usually express still objects, such as the still matters, portraits, scenery…. In these two paintings, the Chinese traditional painting skill is well used to demonstrate a dynamic picture. Both of these murals were made in mid-Tang Dynasty. The richness of the color and the delicate of the lines fully reflect the prosper economy, technique and art in that time. Once again, the Fei Tian features in both pictures are shown as black or at least brownish. As we have mentioned earlier, the change of the skin color was due to somewhat oxidation reaction of the original color. Moreover, they harmonically fit with the backgrounds.

admin :: Nov.23.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) has been commonly recognized as the most economically and politically prosperous time in Chinese history. However, when you look at the Fei Tian features painted in Tang Dynasty, you will surprisingly find out that they are most over-weighted. In the paintings, this over-weighted character was described as double or triple chins, some layers on tummy, and fatty but lovely hands and toes. You would not believe that people in Tang Dynasty thought an over-weighted female body was actually very beautiful. That was a remarkable aesthetic point of view. To think how many ladies were freed from the worry about their body shapes. Looking at the Fei Tian features in Tang Dynasty, you can tell there is content from inside on their faces. Over-weighted, yet beautifully, these Fei Tian features declared that it was more important to have a kind heart and peaceful mind, nothing else mattered. Who needed Feminism under that kind of social environment; who needed to be jealous of a skinny body; who needed to worry about their physical appearance at all?

admin :: Nov.06.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

So far you have seen several Fei Tian paintings made by Xingru Fan, a very influential artist who is pursuing the Chinese traditional painting. His specialty is to classify, copy with adorning, polish, and organize Fei Tian and Buddhists feature in Dunhuang murals. Xingru loved Buddhism art when he was a little boy. Back to then, he was taken by grandma to the Buddhist temple and was deeply attracted by the amazing murals there. In the late 1940s, as a teenager, he started his first practice in painting. Not being able to afford the paints, he found out some red soil to make his red paint. He also made poppet with sticks and fabric, and even a Chinese 2-string fiddle with bamboo and horse tail. Somehow he was so blessed with this painting talent and it was well shown in his early life. He went to college and got professional training in Chinese traditional painting. In his career, Xingru has organized many exhibitions, and some other art shows. He has been painting some movie advertisements as well as some oil painting. He was required to paint Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai’s portrait during the Chinese revolution movement. But nothing seemed attract him more than the Dunhuang art. He has some advantages though by living ~ 200 miles away from Dunhuang Mogao grottoes. Started from the beginning of 1980s when tradition and abundant Chinese history were recognized by not only by Chinese people but also by people in the outside world, Xingru frequently went to visit Mogao Grottos. He appreciated all those pictures in Dunhuang Murals, meanwhile, he thought it would be so nice if he could organize and document them according to the historical time. Two reasons motivated Xingru to start painting Fei Tian and Buddhist features. First, not all the paintings in Dunhuang Murals are well painted (some were painted by nonprofessional people for just the purpose of worship. Second, after so many years, some murals were damaged by the moisture and oxidation. Many paintings in Dunhuang Murals are suffering physical decaying, even though a great deal of work has been done to protect them from falling off.

Xingru is a quiet person. His wife is a hot tempered lady. However, their marriage survives after experiencing a lot of severe storms. He had two children and he often took them flying kite and told them stories when they were little. It was very unfortunate that he lost his 25 year old son in a traffic accident in 1997. His daughter now is working at USA as a college teacher. In spite of all those rough times in his life, Xingru remains as an idealism. He loves life and he maintains his passion on art even though he has been going through some hardest time beyond anybody’s imagination. His Fei Tian and Buddhist paintings are the portrayal of his peaceful, gentle, loving and forgiving soul. From those paintings, you can see Xingru’s passion and pursuing of the freedom and the harmonic ideal world.

For the past 30 years, Xingru has painted hundreds of Fei Tians and Buddhists portraits. Some of them are painted on the rice paper, others are on the silk. Most of his painting is in a relatively big size. He has had three albums so far. One is “Dunhuang Fei Tian”, one is “Dunhuang Buddhists”, and the other one is in press. He has had a number of personal exhibitions. They have been deeply loved and appreciated by all different kinds of audience. During all these years, Xingru has formed his own special style in this specific area of Chinese traditional painting. He does maintain through his paintings the precious Chinese Buddhism culture, as well as the clothing style, aesthetics, moral characters corresponding to the time when they were made on Dunhuang Murals. His albums not only provide authentic teaching materials for the young people who are pursuing the Chinese traditional painting, but also bring the traditional oriental beauty to regular people who enjoy and appreciate wonderful art work.

admin :: Oct.31.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Among Western Wei Feitian features, there is a special kind, the nude Feitian. These features appeared in Dunhuang murals for a short period of time, ~70 years and then disappeared. It was said that the nude Feitian in Dunhuang murals was under the influence of western culture. However, completely exposing of a female body was not well accepted by the moral and culture in that time as well as in the whole oriental societies. That might be why the nude Feitian features did not last long in Dunhuang murals. Just because they did not last long, it did not mean they are not beautiful. As many nude features appeared in western religion painting, nude Feitian features showed their divine beauty. The countenance of those nude Feitian looked solemn, revere. And more importantly, their smile looked rather purely loving than vulgar and lustful. The expression of a naked body with a special art technique is, on the other hand, a way to show the wondrous of creation. In addition, it is very interesting to compare the nude features painted with oil painting method and with Chinese traditional paining skill. The nude Feitian in Dunhuang murals exhibited with some simple lines. However, they never seemed to be short of anything. You can tell how smooth their skin was, how elegant the curvature of the body was. They looked full of life even drawn with just some lines.

admin :: Oct.25.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Feitians in Western Wei have their unique styles. They somehow carried the trace of Impressionism. The use of color seemed very critical, especially for the green, blue and grey. The overall tone of color tended to be cold. The bright red color was rarely used. In stead, orange, brick red, or maroon were generally employed. 3-D effect was achieved by the shades on the face, arms, breasts, and tummy. The color of those shades were originally reddish according to historic literatures, however, it turned to be blackish after many years. Chemists claimed some oxidation reactions occurred leading to this blackish color which is the common color for most metal oxides. However, this blackish color made those Feitian features in Western Wei more amazing, especially when they wore some golden color jewelry. The countenance of the Feitian in that time is solemn and tranquil bringing an atmosphere of meditation. Weatern Wei was several hundred years after the Buddhism was first spread to China. The Buddhism meditation was still very much emphasized in the individual cultivation. To my personal opinion, Western Wei Feitian are most impressive with their peace, reverence, and coolness

admin :: Oct.23.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

In the famous Dunhuang Murals, there are thousands of flying features which are called “Feitian“. These flying features are commonly accepted as oriental angels. They often showed up in the huge Buddhists’ ceremonies sending out flowers, fragments, playing music, or performing dance. They dressed up gorgeously and they looked delighted and peaceful. Feitian from different dynasties displayed the clothing style, aesthetics, moral, as well as the social politics and economy corresponding to their time. On the other hand, It is thought that Feitian is an expression of physical perfection, spiritual freedom, kindness and gentleness. The paintings of Feitian not only have the value of appreciation, they also provide an extreme inspiration to the designing work and a delicate yet very typical example of the Chinese traditional painting.

admin :: Oct.15.2007 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »