Chinese Calligraphy History: Artistic Values

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY HISTORY Name: Institution: Course: Date: Calligraphy The Chinese calligraphy is one that has holds some of the most significant artistic values in the field of art especially coming from the East. It is considered as one of the highest forms of art coming from the Far East and ironically has only come to be appreciated in the recent past. For the most part, the Chinese art requires that the audience understand what the writing mean, especially with reference to the calligraphy. However, on a deeper level of appreciation, it is important to note that, the audience are able to appreciate the quality and depth of the concepts by the artist simply from the abstract values that art conveys. For most of the calligraphy from the traditional Chinese artists, the refinement of their skills were largely associated with the inner psychological state of the artist which was conveyed by the individual brush strokes and also acted as a way of reflecting the degree of skill of the artist. Starting out in the Bronze Age, the Chinese calligraphy can be associated with eccentric essence of nature and the purity of skills of the artists. One such artist is Huang Tingjian, who lived between the year 1045 and 1105. He was predominantly known as a calligrapher but at the same time, he was known for his exceptional skills as pot and a painter artist. He is also known to have been one of the four calligraphers to have graced the song dynasty. Born to a family of poets and educated under the Confucius classics along with history and literature, he would come to be one of the most influential calligraphers in the Far East. He believed that calligraphy should be an expressive art form in a way to draw the picture of the mind of the artist. Ideally this is an element that depicts what calligraphy means to the artists and the audience; a way to express their inner self and more importantly their level of skill. The Chinese art is highlighted by their ability to present these same elements through their calligraphy that can be traced to the Bronze Age.[Stephen Little, "Chinese Calligraphy", The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 9 (1987).] ["Huang Tingjian - Chinese Calligrapher - The Art History Archive", Arthistoryarchive.Com, last modified 2018, accessed May 9, 2018, /arthistory/asian/Huang-Tingjian.html.] [Stephen Little, "Chinese Calligraphy", The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 9 (1987).] Huang Tingjin As mentioned above, Huang Tingjian is one of the renowned calligraphers who were masters during the Song Dynasty. One of the works that he left behind is the scroll in which he wrote about the biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru. Po was a distinguished general at the time while on the other hand Lin was a reowned strategist. The scroll which is created on paper using ink, takes the dimensions 13 1/4 in. × 60 ft. 4 1/2 in. (33.7 × 1840.2 cm). When it mounted it takes the dimensions 13 1/2 in. × 71 ft. 5 5/8 in. (34.3 × 2178.4 cm). The piece that is dated back in the year ca. 1095, contains an estimated twelve hundred characters, in which the artist describes the feud between the general and the strategist. What is interesting is the fact that, the scroll measures close to twelve feet long. It conta...