Asian
Calligraphy
书法
While calligraphy is present in many different cultures, calligraphy is widely practiced and revered throughout China. Historians and archaeologists have traced the first Chinese characters and calligraphy back thousands of years, but it wasn't until the Han dynasty that calligraphy truly became a highly esteemed part of Chinese culture. Calligraphy is not simply writing Chinese-- as an art form used for self expression and cultivation, how you write is more important than what you write, and the importance and beauty lies in the energy and motion behind each stroke.
Chinese is the world's oldest continuous written languages. Naturally the characters have undergone change over time. Chinese characters are logograms, with many having started as pictograms as shown on the left. Not only did the characters change, but the way they were written evolved as well. Today there are several main categories of calligraphy script. The more ancient forms look closely related to pictograms while modern scripts are widely accepted, used, and understood.
Five Calligraphy Script Styles
五个书法书样式
Seal Script (篆书) is the oldest style of calligraphy writing and was the formal script of the Qin dynasty period. The majority of people cannot read this ancient script, but it is still used for engravings, namely the stamps or "seals" that artists use to sign their work. This script can be seen below in the picture of my stone engraved seal stamps.
Clerical Script (隶属) evolved from the seal script at the start of the Han dynasty. It is a typeface used for decorative purposes such as advertisements.
Regular Script (楷书)i s one of the last major calligraphic styles to develop, reaching maturity in the Tang dynasty. This script, also called the standard script, is most easily and widely recognized style. Regular script characters are divided into two categories: traditional and simplified, with the simplified characters having appeared in the 1950s to encourage literacy.
Semi-Cursive Script (行书), sometimes called running script, mimics the natural writing movement of the hand. The characters are rounder and more attached than in the regular script, but still far more legible than the full cursive script style. Someone well versed in Chinese language should be able to read this style with relative ease.
Cursive Script (草书) is a drastic simplification of characters, requiring specialized knowledge to read and write. It is faster to write than other styles, noticeably rounder and more abstract, and is only used as a work of art.
The Four Treasures of the Study
文房四宝
Called the Four Treasures of the Study, the ink brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are essential implements of Chinese calligraphy. Brushes are often made of bamboo or other wood, with bristles made of various kinds of animal hair. Many types of paper can be used for calligraphy, but the most popular and traditional choice is Xuan paper. Xuan paper has a smooth surface, pure texture, and is resistant to elements of wear such as creasing and mold. Today ink may be purchased pre-mixed and bottled, but the highest quality ink comes from inksticks made of soot and a binding agent.
from left to right: rolled up mat and pad, small water pot, inkstone, inkstick, brushes
Inksticks themselves became a piece of art, with ancient calligraphers making their own intricate molds. Called the Four Treasures of the Study, the ink brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are essential implements of Chinese calligraphy. Brushes are often made of bamboo or other wood, with bristles made of various kinds of animal hair. Many types of paper can be used for calligraphy, but the most popular and traditional choice is Xuan paper. Xuan paper has a smooth surface, pure texture, and is resistant to elements of wear such as creasing and mold. Today ink may be purchased pre-mixed and bottled, but the highest quality ink comes from inksticks made of soot and a binding agent. To make liquid ink, calligraphers will fill their inkstone with a small amount of water, and rub the ink stick in a circular motion along the stone to incorporate soot particles into the water. Rubbing ink is an essential part of the calligraphy process and takes practice to achieve the correct level of pigmentation. Inkstones are often from stone, ceramic, or clay, and can be intricately carved or decorated as highly prized art objects.
Other calligraphy tools that are not essential but aid in the process include desk pads and paper weights. Paper weights come in many shapes and sizes but are usually long and thin, to be placed at the top of the page. Calligraphy paper is thin and the ink often bleeds through, especially if mixed too thin. Desk pads are made of felt and help protect the rest of the page from stains spreading. Occasionally pads come with grids printed on them to aid budding calligraphers in character sizing and proportion. Lastly, experienced calligraphers will use a seal to stamp on their work. The seal is equivalent to an artist's signature, and is often hand carved by the calligrapher out of stone. The seal is dipped in seal paste, a vibrant red, tacky concoction of cinnabar and castor oil, and is then stamped onto the piece of art at the very end.
The Writing Process
写作过程
One of the first things children learn as they begin their education is how to hold and use a writing utensil. By the time they reach college, writing is a skill that often requires no thought or effort. Watching a master calligrapher at work, their motion seems so fluid and natural that it is foolishly simple to believe that the art of calligraphy is as easy as picking up a pen and writing. Anyone who picks up the ink and brush for the first time, however, quickly realizes the amount of planning, knowledge, feeling, and muscle memory that is required to produce an even passable attempt. Mastery can take a lifetime.
One must understand the characters and their direction of motion. There are 8 distinct types of calligraphy strokes, although some look similar. Balance is of the utmost importance. Strokes must be proportional in size, but the weight and thickness of every stroke is equally critical. The angle that the brush touches the paper, the viscosity of the ink, the miniscule bend in a seemingly straight stroke, the millimeter difference in the length of a hook-- all of this and more must occupy a calligrapher's mind. Every movement is precise and calculated, and one mistake renders the whole work useless. More often than not I found myself holding my breath until a page was finished.
Calligraphers will first lay down and smooth out the felt mat, placing their paper and paper weight on top. Then they rub the ink and apply ink to the brush. The entire brush is soaked to the base of the bristles. If only the tip contains ink, you will run out before finishing a stroke or character. Depending on the script style and brush size, a calligrapher's brush hold will vary. For must styles and larger brushes, the brush gripped between thumb and middle finger and held un-angled and upright above the page. All that is left for the artist to do is begin writing!
This video is one of the best I've found online. The artist has good control of the brush and a very fluid, steady rhythm to his writing. He is using a smaller than standard brush.
My Work
我的作品
These calligraphy works were produced through a calligraphy course that I took during my first year of Chinese study. Looking back, I sorely wish I had the opportunity to take this class later on in my language study as my characters would have been more meaningfully and beautifully crafted. At the start of the course, students used small chisels to carve their own seals out of stone. We then proceeded to study the varying forms of calligraphy, learning how to properly rub ink, clean brushes, etc. along the way. Below I have included a variety of my best works from the course. I have no doubt now that my calligraphy skills would be superior simply because of my increased familiarity with the language. This is particularly true for my final project for the course: a scroll that I made by hand. I am still pleased with the quality of the scroll and the paintings that I made using Chinese watercolors. I remember first-year me trying to pick Chinese characters that were embodied by each animal but the actual characters on each scroll panel seem nonsensical at times. I am pleased with the work as a whole, and look back fondly on this art as a testament to how far I have come in my study of Chinese language.
click on a picture to zoom in
点击图片放大
