Today we were able to learn about Chinese calligraphy and painting from an expert, self taught artist, Gonz Chua.
Dr. Chua gave us a very informal presentation on what he has learned over the years in terms of writing/drawing calligraphy as well as painting several copy works of other artists. He mainly discussed the evolution of hand written calligraphy.
This involved several dynasty’s listed below:
- The Shang dynasty conveyed the earliest time of writing. This was during 1600-1046BCE
- Dazhuan
- greater Seal script
- Xiaozhuan
- lesser seal script
- less pictographic
- symbols represent concepts not objects
- Linu
- clerical script
- 500BCE
- bamboo scrolls introduced
- Kaishu
- Standard script
- most easily and widely recognized
- Xingshu
- running script
- this was essentially cursive kaishu
- quick
- Cao Shu
- This is their version of cursive handwriting
- Han Dynasty
- Simple
- Widely Artistic
- Irregular and Sketch
We then began to turn to calligraphy and what this exactly is. This is essentially the art of writing characters. This is more of an art form that requires mental discipline. This calligraphy allows you to express emotion and allows you to make it beautiful. It requires 4 tools: inkstick, inkstone, brushes, xuan paper. Chua then mentioned Wang Xizhi as the most influential Chinese calligraphy. Finally we got to practice writing calligraphy with Chua’s brushes. He later surprised us with pieces he made himself. I really enjoyed this event.