Written by Fengzikai
The Chinese and western culture have different origin. So they have different expression in art. The Chinese art put the subjective on the first, but western culture is on the opposite. The Chinese art like a poem and western art like a theatre. So they are different about the skill in drawing. Chinese art focuses on feeling, but western art focuses on shape. There are 5 places of different as follows.
(1) There are many lines in Chinese art works, but it is not obvious in western painting.
The lines do not exist in the real world. They are the expression of the artists. For example, in Chinese painting, the artists often express the people’s face with a art. But there is no this line in people’s face. This line is the boundary of the face and the background. Another example, artists draw a curve to express the nose of people. There is no this line in the nose either. This line is the boundary of the nose and face. In other cases, such as landscape and flower painting, there is no line in the real objects. But the artists like to use the line to express in the drawing. The skill of using the lines in landscape painting is called “Cun” skill (one of the Chinese painting skills, the way to express the texture of the stone or park of the tree). The using in figure painting is called “Yizhe”. They are all very hard work. But in western painting, it is different. Everything has its boundary. There is no line in boundary. So the western painting is more like the real object. But Chinese painting does not like real object, so you can know it is a painting for one glance. Maybe it is because Chinese painting has the same origin with calligraphy. When the artists draw, they express themselves in free style just like writing. In the end of 19 century, the westerners enjoyed the dancing line in Chinese painting and began to imitate. Then post-impressionism appeared. And the lines in the western painting are not clear before post-impressionism.
(2) Chinese painting doesn’t pay attention to the perspective.
Perspective is a kind of skill to express the solid object in flat surface. Western painters want the object in the painting looked like the real one. So they pay a great attention the use of perspective. The street, house, furniture and utensil in the painting are like the real ones. If the drawing is about the corridor, it can express the distance of several feet within a few inches in the drawing. If it is about the frontal railroad, it can express several miles in a few inches. Chinese painting is totally different with this. Chinese painters don’t like to draw the street, house, furniture or utensil. They like to draw cloud, mountain, tree and waterfall. Occasionally, they also draw house and utensil. But they don’t pay attention to the perspective and they just draw them random. For example, when they draw the scene of the courtyard, they express them in free style. They seemed like seen from the air, and not seen from the same time. They are all here and there, like seen in several times. For this reason, the Chinese landscape painting may last for several feet, just like the scene watched from the train. The vertical Chinese painting has the landscape layer and layer, just like seen from the plane. Because when the Chinese draw the painting, they feel like write a poem. The pen slides with the thought of the writer in freedom style. They are not limited by the perspective. So there are mistakes of perspective sometimes. But these mistakes are not serious. We cannot criticize the Chinese painting with the rule of western painting.
(3) Chinese painting has no relation with anatomy, but western painting pay attention to anatomy.
Anatomy is the study about the human’s muscle and skeleton. Before they draw the figure, they always study the anatomy. The anatomy is named anatomy for the art students too. It is different from the physiological anatomy, which studies the structure and the use of the parts of human. The art anatomy is focus on the shape and the expression. But the painter should remember the names and the all kinds of shape of the skeleton and the muscles. It is a hard work. And the western painters must master it, for they have to draw the body of the human like the real one in the western painting, which pay attention to paint realistically. But the Chinese artists never need this learning. The figure in the Chinese painting only aimed to express the posture of human. It is not limited by the rule of the proportion body. So in the Chinese painting, the men have weird face and body not obeying the proportion. And the women have delicate eyebrow, little lips, thin shoulder and slender waist. If we take off the dresses of the figure, they will be terrified. But it is not important to the Chinese painting. It is the advantage of the Chinese painting. In Chinese painting the artists want the effect of the impaction. So they exaggerate the character of the figure, increasing the strongness of men and the slimness and beauty of women, to express the character sufficiently. They use the way of symbolic instead of realistic. They want the similarity of the sprit instead of the appearance.
(4) The background is not taken seriously in Chinese painting, but it is on the contrast in the western painting.
For example, the plum blossom can be drawn lonely in the white paper just hanging in the air. The figure can be drawn hanging in the air like flout on the cloud. So it is very common in Chinese painting that there is large spare room in the painting. A long piece of paper, only drawn with a vegetable or a stone, is a vertical painting. The western painting is different. Everything has background. For example, the background of fruit is a table. The background of figure is indoor or outdoor. So the painting is full of color, without spare room in it. This different between Chinese painting and western painting is just from the different express way. Chinese painting is focus on the expression of the sprit, aiming to highlight the object and make it impressive, so it always ignores the trivial details, but the western painting is focus on the realistic so it must describe the background of the object.
(5) The topic of the Chinese painting is mainly about the nature, but the western painting’s topic is mainly about figure.
Before Han Dynasty, the topic of Chinese painting is also mainly about figure. But in Tang Dynasty, landscape painting is independence from others. Till now, the landscape painting is always usually formal form of Chinese painting. But in western painting, figure is always the formal form the Greece period. The religious paintings drawn in Middle Ages always took the common people as the material, Such as The Last Judgment, Death’s Victory and so on. There are many people in one painting. Until 19 BC, the individual landscape painting just appeared. After the appearance of the landscape painting, the figure painting is still popular. The nude is the main theme in the western painting until now.
The five points we discussed above are the differences between Chinese painting and western painting. From the discussion we can conclude that the Chinese painting has more interesting than the western painting. So in the study of artist, western painting is not profound as Chinese painting. But on the other hand, Chinese painting is not popular as western painting in the public. The western painting is easy for public to enjoy.
中国画与西洋画的比较区别
（丰子恺）
东西洋文化，根本不同。故艺术的表现亦异。大概东洋艺术重主观，西洋艺术重客观。东洋艺术为诗的，西洋艺术为剧的。故在绘画上，中国画重神韵，西洋画重形似。两者比较起来，有下列的五个异点：
（一）中国画盛用线条，西洋画线条都不显著。线条大都不是物象所原有的，是画家用以代表两物象 的境界的。例如中国画中，描一条蛋形线表示人的脸孔，其实人脸孔的周围并无此线，此线是脸与背景的界线。又如画一曲尺形线表示人的鼻头，其实鼻头上也并无 此线，此线是鼻与脸的界线。又如山水、花卉等，实物上都没有线，而画家盛用线条。山水中的线条特名为“皴法(皴<cūn>法：中国画技法之 一，用以表现山石和树皮的纹理。)”。 人物中的线条特名为“衣褶”。都是艰深的研究工夫。西洋画就不然，只有各物的界，界上并不描线。所以西洋画很像实物，而中国画不像实物，一望而知其为画。 盖中国书画同源，作画同写字一样，随意挥洒，披露胸怀。19世纪末，西洋人看见中国画中线条的飞舞，非常赞慕，便模仿起来，即成为“后期印象派”（详见本 书<本书：指作者《艺术修养基础》一书，1941年桂林版>中《西洋画简史》篇）。但后期印象派以前的西洋画，都是线条不显著的。
（二）中国画不注重透视法，西洋画极注重透视法。透视法，就是在平面上表现立体物。西洋画力求肖似真物，故非常讲究透视法。试看西洋画中的市街、房屋、家具、 器物等，形体都很正确，竟同真物一样。若是描走廊的光景，竟可在数寸的地方表出数丈的距离来。若是描正面的（站在铁路中央眺望的）铁路，竟可在数寸的地方 表出数里的距离来。中国画就不然，不欢喜画市街、房屋、家具、器物等立体相很显著的东西，而欢喜写云、山、树、瀑布等远望如天然平面物的东西。偶然描房屋 器物，亦不讲究透视法，而任意表现。例如画庭院深深的光景，则曲廊洞房，尽行表示，好似飞到半空中时所望见的；且又不是一时间所见，却是飞来飞去，飞上飞 下，几次所看见的。故中国画的手卷，山水连绵数丈，好像是火车中所见的。中国画的立幅，山水重重叠叠，好像是飞机中所看见的。因为中国人作画同作诗一样， 想到哪里，画到哪里，不能受透视法的拘束。所以中国画中有时透视法会弄错。但这弄错并无大碍。我们不可用西洋画的法则来批评中国画。
（三）中国画不讲解剖学，西洋人物画很重解剖学。解剖学，就是人体骨骼筋肉的表现形状的研究。西洋人作人物画，必先研究解剖学。这解剖学英名曰:anatomy for art students,即艺术解剖学。 其所以异于生理解剖学者，生理解剖学讲人体各部的构造与作用，艺术解剖学则专讲表现形状。但也须记诵骨骼筋肉的名称，及其形状的种种变态，是一种艰苦的学 问。但西洋画家必须学习。因为西洋画注重写实，必须描得同真的人体一样。但中国人物画家从来不需要这种学问。中国人画人物，目的只在表出人物的姿态的特 点，却不讲人物各部的尺寸与比例。故中国画中的男子，相貌奇古，身首不称。女子则蛾眉樱唇，削肩细腰。倘把这些人物的衣服脱掉，其形可怕。但这非但无妨， 却是中国画的好处。中国画欲求印象的强烈，故扩张人物的特点，使男子增雄伟，女子增纤丽，而充分表现其性格。故不用写实法而用象征法。不求形似，而求神 似。
（四）中国画不重背景，西洋画很重背景。中国画不重背景，例如写梅花， 一支悬挂空中，四周都是白纸。写人物，一个人悬挂空中，好像驾云一般。故中国画的画纸，留出空白余地甚多。很长的一条纸，下方描一株菜或一块石头，就成为 一张立幅。西洋画就不然，凡物必有背景，例如果物，其背景为桌子。人物，其背景为室内或野外。故画面全部填涂，不留空白。中国画与西洋画这点差别，也是由 于写实与传神的不同而生。西洋画重写实，故必描背景。中国画重传神，故必删除琐碎而特写其主题，以求印象的强明。
（五）东洋画题材以自然为主，西洋画题材以人物为主。中国画在汉代以前，也以人物为主要题材。但到了唐代，山水画即独立。一直到今日，山水常为中国画的正格。西洋自希腊时代起，一直以人物为主要题材。中世纪的宗教画，大都以群众为题材。例如《最后的审判》《死之胜利》等，一幅画中人物不计其数。直到19世纪，方始有独立的风景画。风景画独立之后，人物画也并不让位，裸体画在今日仍为西洋画的主要题材。
上述五条，是中国画与西洋画的异点。由此可知中国画趣味高远，西洋画趣味平易。故为艺术研究，西洋画不及中国画的精深。为民众欣赏，中国画不及西洋画的普通。
