As the sole material available, graphical evidence from archaeological exploration has played a vital role in the research of music history. It was not until recent centuries that visual materials played second fiddle to both written materials and musical instruments that were preserved on unparalleled levels.
Evidenced by the large amount of musical images in the painting works of the Tang Dynasty（618 AD - 907 AD）, Ancient Chinese Art has developed a close relationship with the art of music featuring interdependence and common development, thus unfolding a unique aesthetical prospect with Chinese characteristics.
Among all the works with music for a theme, mural art in coffin chambers of the Tang Dynasty remain the most representative.
For instance, the “Wu Yue Tu” (the traditional Chinese painting of beautiful women to dance and play instruments), excavated from the tomb of Zhang Lichen, portrays two dancers and four instrumentalists. It was renowned as a masterpiece for its delicately modeled features, fluent lines, flamboyant colors and brushwork subtlety.
The “Gong Yue Tu” (the traditional Chinese painting of beautiful women playing instruments in the royal palace) depicted ten plump and gorgeous maids, sitting around a long table, reveling, gossiping, sipping, and looking around aimlessly. With the technique of tiexianmiao, the painting chalked up an accurate description of the different postures of different figures while implying the relationship between the principal and the subordinates.This amazing piece of work also reflects the everyday life of the noblewomen in the late Tang Dynasty and embodies the artistic merits of the style that developed around painting beautiful women during this period.
The “Fan Tan Pi Pa Tu” (the traditional Chinese painting of a beautiful woman playing the lute with her backhand) captured the fleeting moment when a lady made a sudden move to play the lute with her backhand while dancing to the string music. The painting typifies the nationalization of the Buddhist painting artistry with its true-life style and lively drawing lines, thus attracting nationwide attention as a masterpiece of the Dunhuang frescoes.
As a visual artistry and an aural artistry respectively, art interlinks with music in a broad spectrum of areas such as rhythm, tempo, emotion and the artistic conception. Therefore, artists often draw inspiration from the music while music frequently adopts art as its main theme.
For ages, artists have made unremitting efforts to explore the effects of music on both the color and shape on their way to create works of art and now art history has witnessed the perfect union of music and painting. Against the backdrop of the alliance between music and paintings, a new branch of learning emerged— Music Graphics.
By Hu Zhicheng