--An Introduction to Realistic Figure Oil Painting

Oil painting is the most popular and influential painting method in Western painting history. Among traditional Western painting works, oil painting has traditionally been the most popular and revered form of painting. Since many artists received large commissions from religious leaders, oil paintings were mainly created to glorify the magnificence of God and Heaven, high morality and exploits of sages as well as the beauty of natural landscapes and folkways. In particular, human and animal figures was the most important subjects of oil paintings, and reached high levels of excellence in the techniques of Western realistic oil painting.

Since the time that oil painting came into being, human realistic painting has waxed and waned: Its techniques have transformed from immaturity to maturity, with different styles at different stages. With the degeneration of society and moral values, realistic painting appeared to fade away as the most popular form of artistic expression. Eventually realism became abstracted from reality in the late 1800’s and continues to transform into our present time. Modern art heralded many inventive styles of painting and making artworks that offered different approaches to making art than realism. These artworks focus on the expression of the sliding values, atrocities and confusion of the modern world and are often concerned with personal ideas, revealing a wealth of disturbing feelings and concepts. Realism never faded entirely, it was temporarily, just less popular than before. However, we do believe that there must be some standards for arts, and that artworks must contain true compassion and gracefulness, so that they can endure through long periods of time, helping people elevate to higher dimensions. The classic works passed down to us from generation to generation, capture our forefather’s wisdom, intelligence and painstaking effort as well as the lasting value of truthfulness, compassion and beauty, which are treasured by human beings. As human beings have lost their aesthetic compass and seem to embrace a confusing set of values and an inability to make sound judgments, these valuable, visual legacies have become important references for humans to revive traditional artistic values.

In terms of artistic creation, learning from ancient people does not mean that we are fettered by old conventions. In the culturally prosperous periods in Chinese history, it was because of our forefathers’ deeply-rooted cultural heritage that people during those periods were able to prosper, enrich their culture and create new dimensions. Every artist has his or her own personality traits, thoughts and emotions, as well as, their own concepts of creation, and the impact of environment. Creative artists with these ideals firmly implanted within them would definitely know how to strike a balance in accordance with the meaning of our contemporary times to create their own styles. The objective of this NTDTV Chinese International Oil Figure Painting Competition is to help people retrieve traditional artistic value with true compassion and gracefulness. In the meantime, it will also provide artists with the opportunity to purify themselves and elevate their painting skills.

As a result, it is essential and meaningful to put emphasis on the heritage and value of our traditional oil painting all over again.

1. Realism^[1]is the characteristic of Western traditional arts and the standard for evaluation of arts

Western arts have put much emphasis on realistic imitation of natural objects to achieve a sense of visual reality since ancient times. As a result, "realism” has been a basic criterion for judging an artist’s achievements, and is a major characteristic of Western fine arts. The spirits of realism can be traced back to ancient times, such as the vivid Vintage statue of ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti as well as the artistic sculptures in Greece and Rome, which are the combination of realism and ideals. Examples of work that exhibits both realism and ideas. can be found everywhere.

Due to limitations on materials and techniques, paintings in ancient times were far from being realistic and vivid. It was not until breakthroughs in concepts, techniques and materials were made during the Renaissance that painting culminated in unprecedented magnificence.

The following were some of the major achievements about realistic painting during the Renaissance:
1) Application of perspective method, which has led to painting’s extension from a two-dimensional plane to a three-dimension form.
2) Techniques have been developed that enhance and dramatize the values or lightness and darkness of paintings, which has contributed to the enhancement of sense of three-dimension and sense of weight.
3) Further understanding of the natural proportion and scale of the human body, coupled with the advancement of anatomy, has brought about accuracy in painting human structure and multiple psostures in a variety of positions.
4) More vivid and realistic depiction of the human internal state and emotions.
5) Enhancement of quality in obtaining the precise feeling and detailed exquisiteness of objects.

These achievements in realistic painting during the Renaissance laid a solid foundation for genuine Western painting in the following several hundred years, and set up standards for evaluating realistic paintings. The success of realistic painting goes hand in hand with the improvements of materials, and among others, the invention of oil painting has played a decisive role.