Chinese Calligraphy

✍ Scribed by Tseng Yu-ho Ecke.

• Leaves: 230
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

3rd printing — David R. Godine in association with Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1971 — Unpaginated (appr. 230 pages) — ISBN 0-87923-161-0

Few forms of expression in the long history ofthe visual arts require the depth of visual sophistication needed to understand Chinese calligraphy. It is an ancient art with subtle traditions. At its best, calligraphy is an art in which the form of the expression must be in absolute harmony with the concept being presented; in its execution, the brilliance of the artist may have full expression.

With today's new curiosity about China and its culture, America has probably never been so ready for an exhibition presenting the evolution of this great art form. More important, the steadily growing concern nurtured by the succession of each day's frantic pressures that leads greater numbers of people to seek respite in mystical outlooks, creates greater receptivity to the intricacies of calligraphic art. Most important, however, the development of American art in the years since the Second World War has created a much broader acceptance of an art that is essentially abstract in its manner and its
meaning.

Thus the Philadelphia Museum of Art has decided to gather these works together to present a history of Chinese calligraphy and, through the catalogue, to create a more general awareness of its aesthetic attitudes. The Museum's Curator of Far Eastern Art, Miss Jean Gordon Lee, has carried the responsibility for the creation of this exhibition. Working closely with Mrs. Tseng Yu-ho Ecke, she has studied the great body of material that is to be found in the United States, assessing its quality, and choosing some one hundred examples to suggest the brilliance of this great tradition.

The exhibition owes a great deal to Mrs. Ecke. Her scholarship in the field of calligraphy— clearly evident in this catalogue— is beyond doubt supported by her own brilliance as a painter. Indeed, she wrote the calligraphy that adorns the cover of this catalogue.

✦ Subjects

Языки и языкознание;Китайский язык;Иероглифика и каллиграфия