SPIRIT OF THE BRUSH

Along with music, painting, and an adeptness at the board game of checkers, calligraphy is often depicted in Chinese painting as one of the “four gentlemanly pursuits.” With the invention of Chinese characters over 3,000 years ago, calligraphy – the art of writing – quickly became an integral part of Chinese culture and the practice of calligraphy central to the life of the scholar-gentleman. Using idealized mandarin or poems to represent peaceful and scenic parts of the empire, continue philosophical discourse, and portray an abiding appreciation of nature, calligraphy played a role in the most official ceremonies and became much more than a form of written language.

Curated by Chang Qing, Ackland’s curatorial fellow for Asian Art, Spirit of the Brush divides a selection of works from the Ackland Collection (produced between 1669 and 1983) into three sections. First, visitors see an overview of the styles and tools of Chinese calligraphy, including traditional implements of the craft such as paper, paperweights, inkstick, inkstone, brush, brush pot, brush stand, brush washer, seal, and red paste. A selection of fine examples of calligraphy then leads into the final section of inscriptions written within Chinese paintings. The exhibition presents illustrations to help visitors recognize the many styles of Chinese script, including oracle bone, clerical, semi-cursive, regular, and cursive. Chinese bronze and ceramic objects, made from ca. 1100 BCE to the eighteenth century, hint at the multiple circumstances in which scholars apply this noble art.

BambooZheng Banquiao, Chinese: Bamboo (detail); hanging scroll, ink on paper painting. Gift of Professor and Mrs. Irving Yucheng Lo.