Early murals, such as Cave 268, Cave 272 and Cave 275, mostly contained proverbs, Buddhist stories and pictures of Buddhist stories. The background color of the picture is earth red, and the bright warm colors are composed of cyan, green, vermilion, ochre and white. The figure's facial contour and eye socket are all circled with cinnabar, and the eyes and bridge of the nose are coated with white powder to show the three-dimensional effect. This is the so-called "Tianzhu Legacy Law". In terms of technique, the manuscript is drafted with earthy red lines, colored and then shaped with deep ink lines. During this period, the figures were slender and the clothing lines were dense. With this fine iron line drawing, the texture of gauze can be painted through the whole body.
The murals in the Tang Dynasty are mainly magnificent and huge paintings. The Tang Dynasty believed in Pure Land Sect, so the murals included Pure Land Sect of the West and Pure Land Sect of the Oriental Pharmacist, as well as Guan Wu Shou Jing Bian in Cave l72, Fire Eye Jin Jing Bian in Cave 2 17, Maitreya Jing Bian in Cave 445 and Vimalakīrti Jing Bian in Cave 103. These decorative paintings first broke the old pattern of "more people than mountains" and "water can't be flooded" in composition, and decorated each cave with paintings and winds from a bird's eye or scattered perspective.
The proportion of characters is moderate and the posture is vigorous. Bodhisattva sells the crown of treasure at a high price, which is plain Yan Ruyu, graceful or graceful (three bends). The mighty and exaggerated spherical muscles of Tianwang and Lux, though not based on physiology and anatomy, make people feel like superman.
The color of murals has reached the peak of prosperity and brilliance, especially the development of overlapping dyeing and blooming technology; Make the color twins more abundant. Using the method of overlapping halo, you can use the same color on a lotus petal or orb from shallow to deep, and stack four or five layers to stack the colors of cyan, green, vermilion and white together to form a colorful effect. At the same time, the use of the new blooming method makes the characters' faces not only colorful, but also have a rounded three-dimensional effect. On the line drawing technique, drafting, coloring and refreshing all pay great attention to the relationship between the main and auxiliary, density, reality and shade, as well as the rhythm and rhythm of writing, so vivid and smooth orchid paintings appear.
After the Five Dynasties, the colors of murals gradually lost their brilliant brilliance and tended to be simple and elegant. However, in the treatment of the sense of space in the picture, it is gradually reasonable, and the painting style has another kind of "easy brushwork" interest.
Xixia inherited the paintings of the Song Dynasty, and the facial expressions of the characters all showed bitter smiles. If you compose a composition, the color is green, monotonous and lifeless. On the line drawing, there is a sharp, straight and solid method of folding reed, which is in the same strain as the line drawing methods of Liang Kai and Li in the Central Plains.
Due to the popularity of Tibetan esotericism in Yuan Dynasty, a kind of Tibetan esoteric mural appeared. The tortoise's face with heavy eyebrows and graceful posture, green or green skin color, or red or green, is in stark contrast and creepy. Various techniques are used in line drawing: the face and limbs of Bodhisattva are drawn with delicate and round iron wires, the heavy clothing lines are drawn with folded reed painting, and the muscular muscles of Lux are drawn with pointed nails and tails.
Tianlong Mountain and Bingling Temple Grottoes
Statues in the Tang Dynasty were widely circulated, especially in Tianlongshan, Taiyuan. As far as sculpture art is concerned, the works of Tianlongshan in the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties are the inheritance of Longmen, and there are few new breakthroughs. However, the sculptures in the Tang Dynasty created a typical example of human beauty. Tang sculptures in Tianlong Mountain are mostly naked, symmetrical and broken, showing the feeling of soft and elastic muscles, giving people a very gorgeous impression. One of the remains of a bodhisattva carved in white marble is about 1.5 meters high, with a waist-long skirt and a thin figure. With the rotation of the body, the folds of the dress present regular, smooth and natural lines, showing the unique texture beauty of the veil. Although it lost its head and arms, it did not detract from its elegant posture. Reminiscent of the famous broken sculptures in ancient Greece.
The carving style of the Tang grottoes in Bingling Temple in Gansu Province is similar to that of Tianlong Mountain, both of which emphasize the beauty of being strong and full, but they also have their own characteristics: long face, thick lips, dynamic exaggeration, obvious turning of neck, waist and buttocks, rough and vigorous knife cutting, unlike the caves in Tianlong Mountain and Longmen, which are round and delicate. The Buddha statues and Bodhisattva statues in Caves 46 and 50 are representative. In particular, it is a rare example that three statues, one Buddha and two bodhisattvas were robbed in the 5l Cave. It can be seen that the secularization of the Tang Dynasty remains of Bingling Temple has surpassed that of other grottoes. Although these three statues are incomplete, the beauty of facial modeling and the fit of the body also belong to a high level.
Longmen Grottos
There are Guyang Cave, Binyang Cave, Lotus Cave, Huoshao Cave and Cave Temple, which represent the style of Longmen Northern Wei Dynasty. Binyang Cave is the oldest, most labored and most magnificent cave in this period. In front of the cave is a five-body stone statue with Sakyamuni as the center. The Buddha sat on the pedestal at his waist. There are two stone lions in front of the pedestal, with two disciples and two bodhisattvas standing on both sides, and two Buddha statues and two bodhisattvas carved on each side. At the top of the whole vault, it looks like a treasure cover. In the center is a double-petal lotus, which surrounds the lotus and carves the eight-body geisha into the sky. The front wall of the cave is a picturesque relief. On the third floor, there are two famous large-scale historical scroll reliefs "The Empress Dowager's Buddha", which are absolutely exquisite. Unfortunately, these two masterpieces in China's art history were stolen in 1930s, and now they are collected in Boston Museum and new york Art Museum respectively.