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In this study, we compareWestern oil paintings and Chinese ink paintings on their composition, by extracting and computing 28 composition features of the paintings, including visual balance and relationships between different regions (segments). Among the extracted segments, we compute average distance and rule-based features based on three layout rules, rule of thirds, golden mean and golden triangle.Atotal of 2253 paintings including 1138 oil paintings and 1115 Chinese ink paintings are collected. By comparing the results of the features on these paintings, our study investigates the difference and similarity between the two types of paintings on composition. Their composition designs are similar in visual balance and their tendency of composing along two diagonal lines, but are fairly different on many other aspects. For example, oil paintings are inclined to place objects on the bottom horizontal dividing lines of rule of thirds and golden mean. Having discovered the most important features that can differentiate the two types of paintings, we analyze the differences in the features and discuss their possible relationships to the culture and artists’ backgrounds.

This article reports on a recent study that examines the effect of white space on perception of Chinese paintings. The authors investigate whether white space in Chinese paintings is not simply a blank background space but rather meaningful for aesthetic perception. Applying a computational saliency model to analyze the influence of white space on viewers’ visual information processing, the authors conducted an eye-tracking experiment. As a case study, they analyzed paintings by a well-known artist, Wu Guanzhong, and collected users’ subjective aesthetic ratings. Their results show that white space is not just a silent background: It is intentionally designed to convey certain information and has a significant effect on viewers’ aesthetic experience.

In this paper, we report a study examining the effect of white space on perceiving Chinese paintings. Our goal is to investigate whether white space in Chinese paintings is not simply a blank background space but actually meaningful for aesthetic perception. We applied a computational saliency model to analyze the influence of white space on viewers' visual information processing and conducted an eye movement study to confirm significance of white space. Specifically, we analyzed paintings of a well-known artist Wu Guanzhong, and we also collected users' subjective aesthetic rating. Our study results showed that white space is not just a silent background: it is intentionally designed to convey certain information and has a significant effect on viewers' aesthetic experience.