Chinese traditional painting has a long history and also a profundity for its variety. In ancient times there were designs on potteries and cliffs, and then drawings on stones and bricks appear, followed by murals in caves and tombs, drawings on cloth and paper and so on. Also, their colors vary in different historical periods. “Most Chinese ancient paintings abound in colors, and vermilion (“Dan” in Chinese pronunciation) and cyan (“Qing” in Chinese pronunciation) are most frequently used. That is why the paintings are also called “Danqing”. After Tang and Song Dynasties, water and ink gradually prevail, and black becomes the main color of paintings.” (extracted from Pan Tianshou’s “Essays on Paintings in Tingtian Pavilion”) Guided by the prevalence of water and ink, Chinese literati paintings, a type of Chinese water and ink painting, attain an unprecedented development. Undoubtedly, traditional literati painting uses the simplest lines and ink as the basic means and the purest black and white as the basic colors to describe spectacular images in nature and create a colorful inner world. It is a representation of high consciousness of painting language in the history of art, appearing hundreds of years earlier than the western painting language innovation in the end of 19th century. A Chinese classic “The Book of Songs” says, “…beautiful without accessories”, and “The Rites of Zhou” says, “a white ground is the first, and then comes painting.” Inspired by them and the Taoist thought of comprehending the essence of nature, black-and-white water and ink painting adopts calligraphic lines as its basic element, pursuing a philosophic implication of quietness, naturalness, simplicity and imagination. It is Chinese people’s unique cognition of nature and specific understanding of art, which has permanent culture and art value. Literati’s painting leaves us with a rich historical heritage, but its glory seems lost with the change from an agricultural to an industrial society. Water and ink painting which is drawn on rice paper and mainly in black and white can keep its vitality only when nowadays artists dare to make perseverant exploration with inspiration from daily life and courage of innovation. This is an effective way for the modernization of Chinese paintings. Nevertheless, it is absolutely not the only way.

　　Since the 20th century, some pioneers devoted to art innovation have been thinking how to develop Chinese paintings with literati paintings as the mainstay, and they have been expecting to find a new way of development with new tools, materials and models. They have contributed some valuable academic insights and opinions and put them into experiment. Of course, due to the limitation of their times, their thoughts and practice can hardly be comprehensive. For example, there is a lack in the understanding of the meaning and modern value of literati paintings; the importance of keeping the characteristics of literati paintings is neglected when the necessity of absorbing foreign advantages is highlighted; and there is not enough emphasis on the possibility of innovating on the basis of traditions so as to meet new aesthetic requirements. Nevertheless, their artistic insights and practice have significantly contributed to the innovation of Chinese paintings. Some pioneers represented by Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe, Ye Qianyu, Huang Zhou and Fang Zengxian have learnt fromwestern sketching and made great effort to combine it with traditional painting techniques in order to reinforce models and present features. Some pioneers represented by Li Keran and his school have adopted “sketching-production” with models, light and shadow borrowed from western paintings. Other pioneers represented by Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong have used colors and composition technique in their innovation.

　　Just like figures and structures, colors in a painting can induce direct visual and mental reflections and produce artistic appeal. Under the influence of Taoist viewpoints of color, in Chinese traditional paintings black and white greatly prevail over other rich colors. On the basis of the physical analysis of black ink, it is emphasized in traditional water and ink paintings that black consists of five shades. To match black with white make people feel bright. That is why the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Zi once said, “to stick to obscurity, even if one knows that light is something valuable”. However, the prevalence of water and ink paintings has restrained the development of other Chinese paintings which use rich colors. This is indeed an unfortunate loss in the inheritance of tradition, and what is more unfortunate is that up to now there hasn’t been enough understanding of such a loss. When people talk about Chinese paintings, they often consider that they are the same thing as literati water and ink paintings. Under the wide influence of the prevalence of water and ink, some people even take the impressionistic style of Chinese paintings as the peculiar feature of water and ink paintings, and think that the use of rich colors will impair the impressionistic spirit. As a result, the popular viewpoint in Chinese painting circle hasn’t emphasized or encouraged the use of rich colors; what is more, some people even think that using rich colors in water and ink paintings is unorthodox. Nevertheless, owing to the increase in aesthetic requirements in modern society, the artists’ comprehensive study of traditional paintings and the influence of international art environment, some artists emerge to devote themselves to color innovation, of whom Yang Ermin is one member.

　　Yang Ermin was born of a craftsman family in Quyang county, Hebei province. Bred in folk art, he has developed a deep liking for Chinese paintings ever since childhood. He once copied The Painting Book of Jiezi Garden and studied ancient classic paintings as well as modern masterpieces. It is his expectation to use tools and materials of Chinese paintings to express his feelings in the real world. The artistic practice has revealed to him the loss of rich colors in the traditional water and ink paintings, and his sensitivity to such materials as colors has led him to focus on the combination of rich colors with water and ink paintings. “In such a colorful world, why cannot rich colors be used in water and ink paintings?” As his artistic vision keeps being enlarged, his thought goes deeper and his practice develops. Speaking of the enlargement of his artistic vision, after graduating from university and finishing a teaching job, Yang assumed the leader researcher in Nagoya Research Center of Water and Ink Paintings in the Institute for Art Studies in Asia, Japan. During that period, he not only studied the development of Japanese paintings but also investigated the western modern art. He successfully held several painting exhibitions in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Paris. Through the varied artistic activities it is perceived by him that the unique value of all types of art should be cherished and preserved; meanwhile the same attention should be put to art innovation so as to accelerate the emergence of new types and values. While water and ink paintings are shining as one of the most famous art in the world and a gem of Chinese traditional culture, a new type of Chinese painting which combines water and ink with rich colors should be admitted and encouraged as one of the most important ways in Chinese painting innovation.

　　Yang once said, “It’s fortunate that I live in a world which endows us with more challenges, opportunities, achievements and responsibilities than ever.” His words show that he is carrying on the color innovation of Chinese paintings with a sense of mission and adequate preparation. Besides necessary knowledge of color use, using rich colors in water and ink paintings with impressionistic style also requires deep understanding of ink use in traditional paintings. And the most important thing is to combine the two into one whole to manifest the aesthetic spirit of Chinese culture. How to understand the “aesthetic spirit of Chinese culture” in water and ink paintings with impressionistic style is a critical subject to Yang. Needless to say, he can get enlightenments from the following three aspects. The first is Chinese ancient murals such as murals in Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province and Chinese folk art heritage, the second is achievements of eastern and western color paintings, and the third is accomplishments of senior artists in the 20th century. Following Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong’s exploration, Yang has produced a new type of water and ink paintings with impressionistic style which integrates features of the East and the West. Due to the experiences in Japan, he is more or less influenced by Japanese painting language such as the use of color. Therefore, he absorbs its advantages and makes them work for him. It is his acute awareness that the key to success in absorbing and adopting foreign color techniques is “the real expression of situations and life in modern China” and the maintenance of impressionistic spirit based on lines and harmonic aesthetic value in Chinese paintings. In my opinion, the free application of traditional techniques such as outlining and rendering is one of his characteristics distinguishing from Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong who most adopt western lines and models. Meanwhile, pregnant with a good knowledge of color use, he adopts much more compound colors than contrasting colors. And by using these gentle colors, he brings oriental artistic verve out of his paintings.

　　Yang’s exploration started from the early 1990th. “White Chrysanthemums” produced in 1992 is a representative piece of his early works. In this painting, outlining and rendering are used on rice paper to create a grayish background, in which the leaves and branches of white chrysanthemums are silhouetted. The success of this painting has brought him great encouragement and firmed his determination to further the exploration. In the recent two decades, he has bathed himself into exploration and produced a large number of Chinese paintings with impressionistic style which are both elegant and colorful due to the combination of ink and color. The achievements have entitled him to be a preeminent artist in Chinese paintings.

　　Yang once compared artistic creation to “farming in a lab”. According to him, every artist has his/her experimental plots, and his is rice paper. “I’m making efforts to find more possibilities here and lead traditional paintings to go out of traditional modes.” Rice paper and ink are basic materials of Chinese paintings. Maybe it is because they are so ordinary that we used to take them for granted. Or maybe it is because masters of the past have achieved outstanding accomplishments that we are afraid to leave the beaten track. However, it is a fact that just like any other innovations, art innovation originates in the most ordinary and unnoticeable place. “I know my paintings actually use the most ordinary models and the most common colors, and my discovery is not at all new”, Yang said. Truly, his paintings are one of the ordinary types in a colorful artistic world. But let us never forget that while keeping the impressionistic style of water and ink paintings, he daringly applies different colors to his paintings. That is his outstanding contribution to the innovation in Chinese tradition paintings. His success has great inspiration for our inheriting and carrying forward traditions of Chinese paintings. It is also the value of his innovative paintings.

　　Yang still has a lot of efforts to be made in his artistic practice. I believe that he will keep improving himself and contribute more brilliant productions to the society.

Translated by Jiang Yuxue

作者：Shao,Dazhen