Chinese Calligarphy

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Calligraphy predates European abstract art by thousands of years. Although no supernatural effort is necessary to appreciate it is always worth knowing some basics.

About


Calligraphy (®Ñªk shu1 fa3 in Chinese) is one of the most sublime forms of Chinese art. Calligraphy, painting, playing the Chinese harp qin and Chinese chess qi were the four essential skills of any Chinese intellectual. In Imperial China, government officials in order to be promoted to a higher post had to pass a one of the main part of which was calligraphy. Excellence in handwriting was thus the prerequisite of a successful career.

The main difference of calligraphy from other visual arts is that there are no sketches, erasing or re-doing. In a way, it reminds a kind of sport where years of arduous training culminate in one record-breaking effort that lasts but only seconds. It requires both persistency and decisiveness for producing a masterpiece. Presence of the author's personality is generally obvious even to a someone who is not well versed in the intricacies of Chinese art.

Styles


There are several styles of writing:  Bone script, bronze engraving, seal, official, or semi-cursive, cursive, regular, and running.  The regular and running styles are the most popular, while the bone script and bronze engraving styles very close to pure pictograms were used in the earliest days of Chinese script.

Strokes


Depending on how you count there are are 7 or 8 standard strokes, though some claim there are as many as 35 variations. to right. The stroke order is very important. If the order is wrong, the character will come out looking wrong. Two basic rules are followed:

These rules conflict whenever one stroke is to the bottom and left of another. Several additional rules resolve many of these conflicts.

    Tools

Tools for writing characters are also called the Four Treasures: they are paper, brush, ink-stick, and inkstone.
 

Paper

Prior to invention paper in Chinese Eastern Han Kingdom, characters were written on bones, bamboo slips or silk. There are plenty of various sorts of paper. Paper for writing characters is never glossy but somewhat porous. The best paper for calligraphy nicknamed "the king of paper" was produced in Jing Prefecture of Anhui (Xuanzhou).
Brush
Normally brushes are made of animal fur: white goat's, black rabbit's or yellow squirrel's -- depending on the type of writing. The most delicate ones are produced of rabbit fur, and for old writing sheep's fur is used. Brushes are also classified into three groups depending on the properties of the tip: hard, medium and soft. Handles are made of bamboo, porcelain, wood and sometimes even of mother-of-pearl, ivory or jade.
 
Ink


It is solid, and usually comes in the shape of sticks.  Often, these sticks are decorated becoming objets d'art themselves. Black ink is made from the soot of pinewood or oil smoke, and a gum substance.
 

Inkstone


Inkstones are made of stone, porcelain, or bronze. They are flat and hard, and are sometimes shaped into beautiful objects The calligrapher puts water on the inkstone, then grinds the stick of ink against it. This makes ink that can be brushed on paper. This seemingly simple operation requires experience and sense of measure, since it is bad style to grind more or less ink than necessary to finish what you want to write.

Paraphernalia complementing the 4 main tools include brush rest, brush pot, ink box, paperweight, seal, and seal box.
 

Calligraphy outside China


Calligraphy originates in Ancient China, but through Chinese cultural influence it has gained firm ground in Korea and Japan. In the West, the 19th century witnessed a serious impact of what was called chinoiserie on European art. Most famously, Picasso and Matisse openly declared the influence by Chinese calligraphy on their works. Picasso said that if he were to start art with the knowledge of Chinese calligraphy, he would have been a calligraphy artist rather than a painter. Traces of calligraphy strokes are well recognized in the paintings of Henri Matisse.

Nowadays, the art of calligraphy is more alive than ever. It has overflowed its natural geographic boundaries and while still being widely practised and respected in its homeland, it is learnt by many foreigners interested in Chinese. It also has inspired some modern designers for creating fonts and logos.
Rae-Arthur Mitski
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