The Blue Hour in Chinese Painting

(11.4.2022) Another clip that could become a favourite: Valerie Hansen walks you, walks us through the so-called Qingming-scroll. A leading expert on one of the most iconic works of Chinese painting. And above all: as we hear what Valerie Hansen has to say, we also see what she sees. And how she handles a scroll, this particular scroll, and all this makes a most remarkable walk.
A layman, a freshman student, standing behind the expert, might shyly ask: ›but do we see here, as we look at this panorama, as we scroll it from right to left, do we look at a frozen moment, or is there passing time, time that passes, in some sense, with us?‹
You’ll find the answer, listening to Valerie Hansen:
We start on the right, right. Not knowing if we pass time with the scroll, with its – inherently or implied – passing of time, or with its showing of a frozen moment. But suddenly – with the expert walking us through – we pass a clue that says: it might be early morning here and now. And later we pass a clue that says: it might now be noon.
There seems to be passing of time. Which means: as we go back, right to the beginning of the scroll, to the end on the right, we may suppose that it is very early morning, about the time of dawn. For which there is no sign in terms of colour. But colour is less prominent here, as we might expect, being used rather to European painting and its use of colour. Less prominent might also mean: a neutral colour is used here, hues that do include, encompass all possible situations of light and colour. Which are not shown, but rather alluded to and implied. And this we might only notice as we scroll forward, to reach informing clues – and as we scroll back, after having noticed them.
Actual reading, a famout novelist has said, is always, or only, re-reading. Actual reading starts after a preliminary first passing-through, as you go back to the start, more informed. As soon as we know that we are not scrolling the panorama of one frozen moment, we know that we are, as we start to look at the scroll, embarking on a journey. And this journey, as the scroll implies, is starting very early in the morning. We don’t see a blue hour here, but it is, in terms of notions the 11th century had for such phenomena, implied. And noting this we might have learned something fundamental about painting and how it works.

(Picture: Baidu Tieba)

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