Chinese Dynasties ca.  2100  –  1600  BC  Xia  Dynasty:  (ink  made;  bronze  cas>ng)  ca.  1600  –  1050  BC  Shang  Dynasty  Ca.  1046  –  256  BCE  Zhou  Dynasty  (Scythian  influence!)  Ca.  221  –  206  BCE  Qin  Dynasty  (TerracoLa  Army;  Great  Wall)  206  BCE  –  220  AD  Han  Dynasty  (jewelry,  figure  pain>ng,  celadon)  220  –  589  AD      Six  Dynas>es  Period  (landscape  pain>ng)  581  –  618  AD    Sui  Dynasty  618  –  906  AD    Tang  Dynasty  (porcelain,  pain>ng,  woodcut)  907  –  960  AD    Five  Dynas>es  Period  960  –  1279  AD    Song  Dynasty  (porcelain,  movable  type  1041)  1279  –  1368  AD  Yuan  Dynasty  1368  –  1644  AD  Ming  Dynasty  (blue-­‐white  porcelain,  enamel)  1644  –  1912  AD  Qing  Dynasty  1912  –  1949  AD  Republic  Period  1949  –  present  People’s  Republic  of  China  (Ai  Wei  Wei)    

Mi Fu, Song Dynasty

Chinese Calligraphy  

•  Ini>ally  characters  –  pictograms  –  were  incised  into  bone  or  clay  that  was  later  cast  in  bronze.  

•  As  characters  developed  and  became  more  regular,  around  300  BC  the  brush  was  invented  and  used  on  silk.  Shortly  thereafer,  paper  was  invented  (for  toilet  paper!!!)  and  became  the  primary  support  for  wriLen  expression.  

•  The  brush  has  certain  quali>es  that  make  wri>ng  look  dis>nct  from  carving  or  incising.  

Materials: “The Four Treasures”

•  Wri>ng  brush  –  invented  ca.  300  BCE  •  Inks>ck  –  Chinese  ink  comes  in  solid  form,  made  of  soot  (tradi>onally  from  an  oil  lamp,  later  from  pine  soot,  mixed  with  animal  glue  (tradi>onally  deer)  

•  Paper  –  made  from  inner  bark  of  mulberry  tree,  hemp  or  bamboo;  invented  ca.  300  BCE  

•  Inkstone  –  used  to  both  grind  the  solid  ink  into  liquid  and  as  wet  ink  container  

•  Right,  inkstone  and  holder,  early  18th  century,  Qing  dynasty  

•  Lef,  brush  holder,  early  17th  century,  Ming  dynasty  

The tools of the trade

•  An>que  ink  s>cks  •  An>que  brush  •  An>que  ink  set  

Oracle Bone Style

•  Chinese  wriLen  language  began  to  develop  ca.  1000  BCE  

•  Earliest  form:  pictographs,  scored  into  surfaces  of  jades  and  oracle  bones.  

•  Shang  dynasty  oracle  bones  

Seal Script •  Ofen  used  for  official  inscrip>ons  on  stone  monuments  and  seals  

•  Thin,  even  lines  executed  with  balanced  movements.  

•  Developed  during  Shang  and  Zhou  dynas>es.  

•  “Direct  parent”  of  modern  Chinese    

       script  

Lishu or clerical script

•  Developed  ca.  500  BCE,  common  in  Qin  and  Han  dynas>es.  Used  for  official  records,  monuments  and  private  correspondence.  

•  First  script  widely  created  with  brushwork  –  more  flowing  style  

•  Shape  of  Lishu  characters  iden>cal  to  modern  Chinese  characters.  

•  Heng  Fang  Stele,  Han  Dynasty  

Seal and Clerical scripts

Kaishu or “standard” script •  Appeared  ca.  220  AD  during  Han  dynasty  •  Essen>ally  the  tradi>onal  script  used  today  •  Similar  to  Lishu  but  more  cursive,  containing  serif-­‐type  elements  at  the  

end  of  strokes  

“Thousand  Character    Classic”  in  Standard  and    Cursive  Scripts    Zhiyong,  7th  genera>on  Descendant  of  famed    Calligrapher  Wang  Xizhi.  Ca.  510  –  610  AD,    Sui  Dynasty    

Xingshu or “running” script

•  “semi-­‐cursive”  script  allows  for  characters  to  be  aLached  to  each  other.  Natural  progression  of  using  a  supple  tool.  

•  Considered  more  abstract,  beau>ful  and  expressive  than  Lishu,  but  s>ll  highly  prac>cal  for  wri>ng.    

•  Wang  Xizhi,  “Preface  to  the  Orchid  Pavilion”  353  AD  

Emperor Song Huizong, The Five-Colored Parakeet, Song Dynasty

•  Calligraphic  style  known  as  “slender  gold”  

Cao shu or “grass script”

•  Without  training,  this  script  cannot  be  read  •  En>re  characters  may  be  wriLen  without  lifing  the  brush  from  paper  at  all.  

•  Strokes  are  modified  or  eliminated  to  facilitate  smooth  wri>ng    

•  Characters  are  rounded  and  sof  in  appearance,  lacking  angular  lines.    

•  Aesthe>c  and  expressive  concerns  dominate  over  communica>on.  

“Autobiography of Huai Sui”, Tang Dynasty, ca. 737 - 777

•  Example  of  kuangcao  or  “wild  cursive”  script  •  Younger  buddy  of  Zhang  Xu,  who  were  together  known  as  “Crazy  Zhang  and  Drunk  Su”  –  famed  in  their  day  for  being  equally  brilliant  and  disorderly  

Zhang Xu, 8th century

•  Gushi  Si>e,  Tang  Dynasty  •  Zhang  Xu  always  finished  

work  in  a  single  siong  •  Unpredictable  yet  bold  

and  beau>ful  •  It  was  said  that  he  and  the  

younger  Huai  Su  would  get  drunk  together  and  work  un>l  they  passed  out.  

•  Presumably  he  some>mes  used  his  own  hair  as  a  brush!  

•  Nonetheless,  Zhang  Xu  also  mastered  regular  script  and  was  revered  in  his  >me  for  his  brilliance.  

 

Zhao Zhiquian, 1867

Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru, by Huang Tingjian, ca.

1095

•  Appx.  13  “  x  60  feet,  inspired  by  Huai  Su’s  autobiography  

•  Prime  example  of  cursive  script!  

•  Similari>es  and  differences?  

•  What  type  of  script  do  you  think  each  represents?  

Li  Zhan’gang,  2009  

Wen  Peng,  1498  -­‐  1573  

Nushu •  “Women’s  Wri>ng”  

Yang Huanyi – last proficient writer of

Nushu, d. 2004 at age 98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRRiTo8sUwk

Chinese  Pain>ng  •  Closely  linked  to  calligraphy  •  One  of  “The  Three  Perfec>ons”  along  with  poetry  and  calligraphy  

•  For  Chinese  ar>sts,  the  point  is  to  depict  the  ESSENCE  of  the  subject,  rather  than  just  the  LIKENESS.    

•  Main  techniques:  Gong-­‐bi  “me>culous”  –  detailed,  usually  colored  and  figural  subjects  

•  Shui-­‐mo  (Japanese:  sumi-­‐e)  “water-­‐ink”  pain>ng,  da>ng  to  Tang  dynasty.  

•  Wen-­‐jen-­‐hua  “litera>”  pain>ng  –  self-­‐expression  and  crea>vity,  introduced  during  Song  dynasty  

•  Animalis>c  guardian  spirits  of  midnight  and  morning  

•  Han  dynasty  (202  BC  –  220  AD)  

Mi Fu: poet, calligrapher, painter 1052 – 1107 (Song Dynasty)

•  First  to  use  calligraphic  techniques  in  pain>ng  •  Valued  historic  styles,  collec>ng  historic  examples  of  

calligraphy,  which  he  copied  and  mastered.  •  While  fas>dious  (probably  OCD),  he  was  also  eccentric,  

preferring  clothes  of  ancient  dynas>es  and  obsessively  collec>ng  stones.  

•  Above  all,  ar>s>cally  he  value  spontaneity  and  self-­‐expression.  

•  His  handling  of  the  brush  was  described  as  “like  a  sharp  sword  handled  skillfully  in  fight,  or  a  bow  which  could  shoot  an  arrow  …  piercing  anything  that  might  be  in  its  way.”  U>lized  Xingshu  (running  script)  and  Caoshu  (cursive)  

•  With  other  intellectuals,  rediscovered  key  Tang  painters  and  formulated  the  theory  and  prac>ceof  crea>ve  self-­‐expression,  known  as  wen-­‐jua-­‐hen.  

Mi  Fu