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Essay about The Classic of Filial Piety Analysis

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The Classic of Filial Piety is a highly influencial piece of art from acient China that many use, along other acient Chinese arts, to portray how art in China was effected by the beliefs and events surrounding the artist. However, not many mention on how it was a major factor in influencing China to accept painters and paintings as arts that could be used for artists to express themselves, thus being both affected by the current events and being the event that affected other arts. The Classic of Filial Piety was painted by Li Gonglin and is different than modern art, mixing both pictures and text. The art was painted in the Northern Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1279. China was in the later half of the Dynasty, as the painting …show more content…

Paintings had little meaning compared to other arts such as sculpting and music. Artists turned to those arts to express themselves, and paintings rarely had meaning in them. China did not consider them very important compared to other civilizations. After Li painting was put in a more favorable light. They soon became reconized as a legitimate form of art. Painters soon took to painting to express themselves and observers began to appreciate meaning and symbolism in paintings. This helped different forms of storytelling to blossom and for painters to become more reconized. Li's painting influenced an art to become loved by the public, and many believe it's due to the meaning Li put into the painting.

The painting has deep meaning in it, and the lesson expressed is the focal point of the painting instead of background symbolism. Filial Piety means to respect one's parents and ancestors. The painting is based off a piece of Confucian classic written in approxiametly 400 BC. The exact author is unknown, but it's claimed to be a conversation between Confucius and Zengi. The book, like the painting, describes how to behave towards one's superiours. Filial Piety is the main focus of the painting. In the painting, several different scenes are showed. One scene shows Filial Piety relationships in a “levels of a contemporary society”(Maxwell, 40). It shows a son saying goodybe to his parents. Another

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