Northern Song Dynasty: Representations Of Nature

Representations of Nature
In historical East Asian Cultures of China and Japan nature is thought to represent a sense of peace and tranquility. This peace of nature is exemplified through Chinese landscape paintings and rock gardens of Japan. These works of art give an idealized representation of the balance and tranquility found in nature. Through these representations of nature people were able to step back and find peace even in an imperfect world. Japanese rock gardens were carefully constructed to display the beauty of nature in which the viewer is meant to discover the landscapes meaning. Chinese landscape painters of the Northern Song Dynasty sought to capture the forever changing spirit, form and image of nature in their large landscapes.
Guo Xi created the work on a medium of a silk hanging scroll with ink wash brushstrokes of contrasting light and dark shades. Starting from the bottom of the work the viewer would see gnarled seemingly three-dimensional trees and the gentle flow of water leaking from the base of the large mountain in the middle. As the viewer works his or her way up the canvas he or she can see mist-filled ravines, contrasts of light and dark ink, detailed buildings and fisherman, gorges and layered faces of the mountain. The work was carefully constructed to capture both the changing perspective of mountain slopes as well as the ever-changing distances and views of the mountain. The mountain serves as a focal point of the painting and functions as a representation of the mountain’s sovereignty in nature. Through his careful construction of mountain aspects and flowing water, Guo Xi truly captures the subtle beauty and rebirth of spring in
“The Japanese garden is an interpretation of the ideal natural landscape as perceived by the Japanese in the cultural, social, and environmental mirror of their times. Although the types and combinations of plants within the garden reflect the surrounding indigenous vegetation, they, like society, change slightly from year to year.” (Nakane, p. 217) This quote signifies the Zen belief in that all things change and in the Japanese garden elements change slightly with the seasons. The Ryoanji garden stones give order and structure and bring out the changes that come year to year. Gardeners of these gardens provide the maintenance in order to bring out the best qualities found in nature. This maintenance may involve pruning of a shrub or a tree to shape it in a way that best brings out the spirit of nature. The importance of bringing about the best qualities in the constantly changing garden supports that the Ryoanji rock garden was designed to imitate the ideal beauty of