In the third chapter of the Craig textbook, I was reading about the Song Dynasty, and one part that really stuck out to me was how calligraphy and painting were seen as related. The skill of an artist was judged on his or her brush work, because every stroke was final and could not be covered up. Therefore, there needed to be the qualities of line, balance, and strength in both calligraphy and painting.
The crowing achievement of the Song Dynasty art was landscape paintings. Landscape painting is my favorite kind, so I was eager to look up the works of the period. However, Song landscapes are very different from what I was accustomed. Western landscapes are brimming with color and light (see below), while the Song works seem devoid of light and perspective (see above). The book describes this technique as a diffusion of light, where there is “no single source of illumination.” Nevertheless, there can be no denying the beauty in the detail and texture of the strokes, and one can see the influence of calligraphy. It is almost as if each letter or phrase in the Chinese language is a form of landscape, elegant and serene. So it is natural that the landscapes would reflect the same philosophy.
