Art and the Ordered Universe:

Asian Views of Nature: China

A Southern Sung Scroll

In the Southern Sung scrolls there is a lot of blank space, and the artists really used blank space as part of their composition. The use of blank space can be often as important as the use of the space that is filled. The part that is filled is called positive space; the part that is blank is called negative space. Negative space can speak just as loudly sometimes. Not only do these scrolls have more blank space, but there are also more abstract qualities to them. These painters felt the viewer's eye could finish the painting; they didn't have to put in all the little details.

Let's look at a detail from the painting:. Look at the boat that is resting at the edge of the harbor. Notice how the artist did not connect every single line to the mass. There are gaps left, and it has a sketchy feeling almost like modern art. The artist means for the viewer's eye to finish the painting, and did not articulated every detail. Often, too, one sees letters on Chinese painting. These often begin the black parts of the scroll, and might be a poem that describes the scene or some kind of commentary, or the title of the painting; the red stamps are usually the stamps of collectors. Chinese people during this time were great art collectors and would do is stamp their art as they collected it. Sometimes some of these scrolls that have so many stamps on it that one can hardly see the painting any more; affixing a stamp was a kind of stewardship at the time, leaving a trail of who owned the piece of art.

copyright © Dr. Deborah Vess 1998-2001, Georgia College & State University and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. All rights reserved. Rights to chapters authored by contributing faculty members reserved to Georgia College & State University, to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at GC&SU, and to the individual faculty authors.