The Yin/Yang of Painting: A Contemporary Master Reveals the Secrets of Painting Found in Ancient Chinese Philosophy
Several books have recently been published applying ancient Eastern philosophy to painting, including Jeanne Carbonetti's The Tao of Watercolor (Watson-Guptill, 1998), which was very successful. The Chinese philosophy of yin and yang comprises a natural framework for creating art. With yin and yang, the world and in this case the world within a painting is seen in terms of the balance of opposites. Positive forces require negative forces, and energy is released by their balance. In this book, traditional elements of painting are related to yin/yang pairs, e.g., value relates to dark/light, composition to up/down, left/right, front/back, and big/little, color intensity to soft/strong, and so forth. Using a variety of styles and subject matter, the two painter/authors make a very convincing case for using yin and yang as a guiding principal and as a way of inspiring balanced yet highly energetic work.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.