Xie He (, fl. 6th century) was a Chinese

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...

, painter, and writer of the

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

and

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succe ...

dynasties who wrote the "

Six principles of Chinese painting The Six principles of Chinese painting were established by Xie He in "Six points to consider when judging a painting" (繪畫六法, Pinyin:Huìhuà Liùfǎ) from the preface to his book ''The Record of the Classification of Old Painters'' (古� ...

" (繪畫六法, Huìhuà Liùfǎ) in the preface to his book ''The Record of the Classification of Old Painters'' (古畫品錄, Gǔhuà Pǐnlù).

Six principles of Chinese Painting

According to Xie He, the six elements that define a painting are: # "Spirit Resonance" (' 气韵) or vitality (' 生动), and seems to translate to the nervous energy transmitted from the artist into the work. The overall energy of a work of art. Xie He said that without Spirit Resonance, there was no need to look further. # "Bone Method" (' 骨法) or the way of using the brush (' 用笔). This refers not only to texture and brush stroke, but also to the close link between handwriting and personality. In his day, the art of calligraphy was inseparable from painting. # "Correspondence to the Object" (' 应物) or the depicting of form (' 象形), which would include shape and line. # "Suitability to Type" (' 随类) or the application of color (' 赋彩), including layers, value and tone. # "Division and Planning" (' 经营) or placing and arrangement (' 位置), corresponding to composition, space and depth. # "Transmission by Copying" (' 传移) or the copying of models (' 模写), not only from life but also the works of antiquity.

References

5th-century Chinese historians Chinese art critics Chinese art historians Southern Qi historians Southern Qi painters Liu Song historians Liu Song painters Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{art-historian-stub