Landscape and Shadow: A Comparison of the View of Nature and Philosophy of Art in the Artworks of Fan Kuan and J. M. W. Turner

Jian Song

doi:10.54254/2753-7048/2025.ND19501

Research Article

Open access

Published on 3 January 2025

Download pdf

Song,J. (2025). Landscape and Shadow: A Comparison of the View of Nature and Philosophy of Art in the Artworks of Fan Kuan and J. M. W. Turner. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,72,50-55.

Export citation

Landscape and Shadow: A Comparison of the View of Nature and Philosophy of Art in the Artworks of Fan Kuan and J. M. W. Turner

Jian Song *^,1,

¹ University of Glasgow

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/2025.ND19501

Abstract

In Chinese and Western painting, respectively, there are apparent differences in the representation of the vision of nature and the philosophy of art, even though paintings carry nature as their theme in art history. The extent of these differences can be well understood by comparing works of different artists from diverse cultures. The case selected for analysis in this paper comprises the Chinese Northern Song period painter Fan Kuan and the British Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner. This paper compares and contrasts the two artists regarding their perceptions of nature and aesthetic systems. Various perspectives of nature can be explained by works like Fan Kuan's Travelers Among Mountains and Streams and William Turner's The Blizzard or Snowstorm. This paper uses a qualitative research approach to understand how the two painters depict their understanding of the topic through their creativity. Many of the works painted by Fan Kuan illustrate the Confucianistic notion of 'heaven-men unity', focusing on such aspects of nature as peacefulness and timelessness. On the other hand, Turner in his paintings responds to the relation of the age of romance to the force of light, the force of colours, Turner responds to this power of the age. The study findings reveal that though the two painters had a clear distinction based on their cultural origin, style, and thought on philosophical matters, both the painters had artistic interpretations of the natural world in their use of artistic forms.

Keywords

Fan Kuan, J. M. W. Turner, philosophy of art, landscape painting

View pdf

References

[1]. Gao, J. H., and S. L. Yang. (1997). The Meaning and Function of Chinese Landscape Painting. New Art(04),25-36+80.

[2]. Chen, Hongyu & Ren, Lanxin. (2024). The artistic value of Turner. Artistic View (01),4-6.

[3]. MOK Ka-liang. (2004). Authenticity-Style-Painting History-Fang Wen and the Study of Chinese Art History. Literary Studies (04),115-122+160.

[4]. Li, L. H.. (2021). A study on the dimensions of temporal and spatial variables under the difference of thinking modes between Chinese and Western aesthetic systems--taking Chinese landscape painting and Western landscape painting as examples. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Art and Design)(02),146-150.

[5]. Zhang Lei. (2021). A Comparative Study of Chinese Landscape Painting and English Landscape Painting. Daguan (Forum)(02),172-176.

[6]. Fang Wen,Lu Weimin. (1989). Discussion on the structure analysis of Chinese landscape painting. New Art(02),64-69.

[7]. Liu Ruihan. (2023). The Influence of the Spirit of Song and Ming Ethics on the Aesthetics of Traditional Landscape Paintings--Taking the Picture of Travelling in the Stream and Mountain as an Example. Da Guan (Forum) (08), 24-26.

[8]. Teng, W.H.. (2022). An Overview of Rao Zongyi's Paintings. Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (02), 90-95.

[9]. Shen Xinxin. (2024). Picturesque and Poetic: A Cross-cultural Comparative Study of British Romantic Landscape Painting and Chinese Song Dynasty Landscape Painting. Sichuan Theatre (01),135-138.

[10]. Zhang, Weifeng. (2006). Comparison of the Aesthetic Ideas of Chinese ‘Landscape Painting’ and Western ‘Landscape Painting’. Art 100(04),123-126.

Cite this article

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Psychology and Humanity Studies

Conference website: https://2025.icsphs.org/index.html

ISBN：978-1-83558-703-4(Print) / 978-1-83558-704-1(Online)

Conference date: 14 February 2025

Editor：Kurt Buhring

Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media

Volume number: Vol.72

ISSN：2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).