A Garden of Words Part One
Exhibition Catalog: A Garden of Words Part One
Qianshen Bai, professor and dean of the School of Art and Archaeology at Zhejiang University, wrote the calligraphy on the title placard for the Chinese Garden’s new art gallery, Studio for Lodging the Mind. Bai spoke about the art of Chinese calligraphy on Sept. 9
Lecture by Qianshen Bai (link below) explores some foundational questions concerning Chinese calligraphy: How did writing become a fine art in China? Where is the boundary between functional writing and visual art?
Some Thoughts on the Art of Chinese Calligraphy
Professor Bai noted that Pablo Picasso famously said, “If I were born Chinese, I would not be a painter but a writer. I’d write my pictures.”
Corridor of Refreshing Sound by Wang Mansheng 王满晟 Running Script
His pictures in brick adorn the studio on either side of door and his calligraphy inscribed on rock in blue below.
Garden of the Arts 藝苑 (Yì Yuàn)
Wang Mansheng 王滿晟 (born 1962, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China; active United States)
Garden Name Calligraphy by Wan-go H. C. Weng, one of the most respected collectors and connoisseurs of Chinese painting in the world, and the great-great-grandson of the preeminent scholar Weng Tonghe (1830–1904).
Heavy forms that seem to take flight, catalog mentions the notable use of "flying white" (see top image)
Yao Guojin Medicinal Garden/Seal Script
"At first glance, the eccentric forms of Yao Guojin's characters appear like extraterrestrial pictographs..." catalog
Lo Ch’ing 羅青 [Lo Ch’ing-che 羅青哲] (born 1948, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China; active Taiwan). Corridor of Water and Clouds 水雲廊, 2007. Handscroll, ink on paper; calligraphy written in seal script. Image: 16 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (42.5 x 92 cm); Mount: 16 x 52 in. (40.6 x 133 cm); Roller: 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Lo Ch'ing Listening to the Pines