Tang Painting. The great international successes of the Tang empire (618-907) provided Chinese artists with an excellent working environment and exposure to other cultures, leading to a wide range of artistic innovations. The rich myth of a supernatural universe gave way to a rational view of a mundane world. Depicting a tangible reality, Tang painting is vigorous, colorful, and optimistic. Various styles, techniques, and theories of painting all thrived. Generally speaking, Chinese painting uses dark outlines, a limited color palette, flat images, and a blank background. It is also known for its shifting (but not foreshortened) perspective. That is, while the Western painter generally locates the viewer in one spot and paints everything in the picture as it would appear from that viewpoint, the traditional Chinese painter employs multiple points of view in a single work. Figure painting reached a new height during...