Posted ByChina7day
The art of grottoes originated from ancient India. There are many art of grottoes and temples around the world. Among so many relics, Longmen Grottoes has its unique and irreplaceable position. The beehive like grottoes of Longmen Grottoes are distributed on both sides of Yichuan River and on the cliffs of the East and West Mountains, with a length of one kilometer from north to south. Today, there are more than 2300 caves and niches, more than 100000 statues, more than 60 stone pagodas and more than 2800 inscriptions. Longmen Grottoes, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes are the three major art treasures of Chinese stone carving art. However, they are among the top Grottoes in the country in terms of their excellent stone quality, cave niches, statues and inscriptions, as well as their exquisite sculptures. The artistic level they embody naturally becomes a model of stone carving art. It can be said that Longmen Grottoes have its own special historical position in the art of Grottoes in China.
Longmen Grottoes are the statues operated by the royal family in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. They are the most glorious and magnificent chapters in the world Grottoes from the end of the 5th century to the middle of the 8th century (the 17th year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty to the 15th year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty). It is the most concentrated place for the royal nobles to make vows and statues. It is the expression of the Royal will and behavior. It has a strong national religious color. Since the Northern Wei Dynasty, it has experienced 1500 years of vicissitudes, not only witnessed the evolution of the Chinese dynasty, but also witnessed the development of Chinese Buddhist culture and art. For thousands of years, Longmen Grottoes, with its unique way, recorded the footprints of Chinese civilization and art, and it attracted the attention of the world with its grand scale and unique artistic characteristics. The author believes that the reason why the people care about Longmen Grottoes is inseparable from its unique artistic style and expression techniques. Longmen Grottoes have been built intermittently for more than 400 years. Through painstaking construction, craftsmen of different periods have created immortal works of art in Longmen Grottoes. Therefore, Longmen Grottoes are known as China’s stone carving art museum in the world.
After the introduction of grotto art from India to the Central Plains, the early grotto art in Xinjiang and other remote areas, as well as the Yungang Grottoes, mostly retained the factors of Gandhara art and modura art style in India. The Longmen Buddhist art is formed by the combination of the Indian grottoes, the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, and the advanced and profound history and culture of the Han nationality in the Wei, Jin, Luoyang and Southern Dynasties. The artistic style of Longmen Grottoes in carving art not only follows the classics, but also breaks the religious etiquette system, portrays different characters, shapes different characters, portrays carefully, realistically, exaggerates and uses moderately, which gives the audience a strong artistic appeal. At the same time, we also explore the political, religious activities, culture and art of various dynasties For important and comparative historical information.
Looking at the whole history of Chinese grottoes, though the Longmen Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty is only one part of the whole chain, it has become a peak that later generations look up to because of its unique and different styles, On the one hand, the beauty of the statues of the emperor and Empress of Binyang cave has attracted the attention of the world. On the other hand, the calligraphy art is unique in the past and the present (the inscription of the statues represented by the twenty Longmen Masterpieces). The performance space of the grottoes art has been greatly expanded, thus strengthening the infection ability of the Chinese Grottoes art to shake people’s soul. On the other hand, Longmen Grottoes art of the Northern Wei Dynasty is also the creation of the integration of different cultures, including two major characteristics: first, the gradual integration of the orthodox Han culture of the Central Plains and the culture of the Xianbei ethnic minorities; second, the organic integration of foreign Buddhist Art (and other Ethnic Traditional Arts) and the traditional art of the Chinese nation, because these two outstanding points have unique charm, It radiated a very powerful artistic sense of power, which had an extraordinary impact and effect at that time. Because whether it is from the excavation of grottoes or the creation of various kinds of statues, Longmen Grottoes not only have a direct and profound impact on the surrounding Grottoes temple in Gongxian County, but also play a guiding role in the Dunhuang Grottoes in the western region, fully showing the greater interference and left-right radiation ability in the governance Center Culture and political governance. As Gong Dazhong said: “in the art of Chinese Grottoes temple, Longmen Grottoes occupy an extraordinary historical position. It is far from India’s Ajanta grottoes. Recently, after Yungang Stone, it surveyed the whole history of China’s Grottoes art. Although Longmen Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty is only one part of the whole chain, this part has become a peak that later generations look up to because of its unique style, On the one hand, the beauty of the statues of the emperor and Empress of Binyang cave has attracted the attention of the world. On the other hand, the calligraphy art is unique in the past and the present (the inscription of the statues represented by the twenty Longmen Masterpieces). The performance space of the grottoes art has been greatly expanded, thus strengthening the infection ability of the Chinese Grottoes art to shake people’s soul. On the other hand, Longmen Grottoes art of the Northern Wei Dynasty is also the creation of the integration of different cultures, including two major characteristics: first, the gradual integration of the orthodox Han culture of the Central Plains and the culture of the Xianbei ethnic minorities; second, the organic integration of foreign Buddhist Art (and other Ethnic Traditional Arts) and the traditional art of the Chinese nation, because these two outstanding points have unique charm, It radiated a very powerful artistic sense of power, which had an extraordinary impact and effect at that time. Because whether it is from the excavation of grottoes or the creation of various kinds of statues, Longmen Grottoes not only have a direct and profound impact on the surrounding Grottoes temple in Gongxian County, but also play a guiding role in the Dunhuang Grottoes in the western region, fully showing the greater interference and left-right radiation ability in the governance Center Culture and political governance. As Gong Dazhong said: “in the art of Chinese grottoes, Longmen Grottoes occupy an extraordinary historical position.
In a word, the art of Longmen Grottoes has a special status and is a masterpiece of Chinese grottoes. Before it, the grottoes absorbed more styles and factors of foreign sculpture skills, but the Longmen Grottoes were different. It is cultivated and influenced by the traditional culture and art of the Central Plains, absorbed and integrated with each other, gradually integrating foreign art and traditional art, religious art and non religious art. Therefore, the statue art of Longmen Grottoes has been integrated into the understanding of the aesthetic thought of Chinese traditional culture and the perception and pursuit of the form from the very beginning. It is a Buddhist stone with Chinese characteristics Grotto art can be said to be a “milestone” to show the transformation of Chinese Grotto Art. As a model of Royal Stone carving art, in terms of carving art alone, Longmen Grottoes, in a sense, perfectly embody the unique charm, the important position of stone carving art in the cultural development of Asia, and the concentrated expression of the whole system of ancient Chinese national sculpture art. It integrates carving art language and reveals all the creation rules of carving art And principles. Today, it is the direction of the development of national sculpture art to revive the fine tradition of national sculpture art, critically inherit the precious heritage of traditional sculpture art, innovate from the old, make the past serve the present, and establish a complete system of contemporary national sculpture art. In this sense, Longmen Grottoes is the best classroom for learning heritage and inheriting tradition. Hundreds of thousands of Sculpture Statues are The most intuitive textbook.