第七章 五代与两宋艺术

如果中国画家坚持追求自然形态的真理的话，那么他们为什么会如此漠视西方人所理解的最基本的透视法则呢？答案是，正如刻意回避使用阴影一样，他们刻意回避了透视法则。科学透视法包含了一个特定的地点的视角和从这个固定的地点所能看到的情景。这种方法符合西方人的逻辑思维，但对中国画家却远远不够。他们会提出这样的问题：为什么我们要如此限制自己呢？如果我们已经有了描绘我们所知道的所有事物的方法，为什么还要拘泥于只描绘从一个视角所见到的场景呢？
 How was it then, one might ask, that the Chinese painter, who insisted on truth to natural appearance, should have been so ignorant of even the elementary laws of perspective as the West understands it? The answer is that he deliberately avoided it, for the same reason that he avoided the use of shadows. Scientific perspective involves a view from a determined position and includes only what can be seen from the single point. While this satisfies the logical Western mind, it is not enough for the Chinese painter. Why, he asks, should we so restrict ourselves? Why, if we have the means to depict what we know to be there, paint only what we can see from one view point?
不要局限自己：既然我们有那么多个视角看世界，那就不妨上下左右都看看。