ON THE RELATION BETWEEN CHINESE PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY

Author(s): Ling Su Hua

Source: East and West, Vol. 4, No. 4 (JANUARY 1954), pp. 269-277
Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)
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 ON THE RELATION BETWEEN

CHINESE PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY

/ am
delighted to hare been asked to talk Except the Arabs and Japanese, the Chinese
to yon on a favourite Chinese to are the in the world who make
subject, only people
which very few Europeans have paid much calligraphy a national art. It is the most j)o
attention yet. I hope you will give me your pular art in China. Chinese children about
sympathy and patience if you find that 1 am six or seven often can tell you which character
talking of something which is not familiar to writing is good or which is bad, and in the
you. remote inland district, if you go to visit a
Since
modern European painters, especially Chinese family, the artistic decoration you
the Impressionists, showed Oriental influence find in their living room is alivays a jmir of
in their work, some Westem scholars and art scrolls written in fine Chinese
calligraphy.
critics have
begun to think it worthwhile to calligraphy iswidely used in daily life. If you
ever attend a Chinese
study Chinese painting. Although the study ivedding party, you will
of Chinese see scrolls of red and
painting has been made from gold silk or paper written
different angles, yet very few have approached in beautiful characters, and for a burial
to what the Chinese call "The heart of the the scrolls are in white or blue or yellow also
matter", that is through calligraphy, which written in fine calligraphy; of course those
is so intrinsically related to it. characters have not the same meanings! Chi

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 or strokes or brush work are without strength
or spirit, or they are weak and lacking in the
strength of the brush. The same terms and
same words they use to describe character writ?
are to paintings. To a Chinese art
ing applied
critic, painting and calligraphy are not ordy
twin sisters, but also they are great friends;
they help each other all the time. In this
regard, Chinese painting bears for itself a dis?
tinct character It also ex?
in the world of art.
in order a Chinese
to appreciate
plains why,
one has sometimes to on* \s
painting, readjust
art?
point of view to a totally strange field of
istic creation.
I think I shall first try to explain how the
has developed and secondly to say
relationship
something on the characteristics of Chinese
as a result of the help of calligraphy.
painting

As you ivill see, Chinese artists use the same

tool for painting and writing, that is the
brush. Brushes are made of different kinds

of animal hair, the hair of goats, foxes,

wolves, deers, weasels and rabbits, sometimes
even of the whiskers of rats or mice. These
are selected and arranged with a
carefully fine
point. From different kinds of hair soft and
are made, and of course are
stiff brushes they
of large and small sizes to suit different occa?
sions. But no matter what kind and size of
Yu-ho: ? (Chinese ?.
Tseng landscape
brush the artist chooses, he always writes
and paints with the same tools. Moreover,
the technique in holding the brush and in
nese birthday parties, ancestor or mo?
worship
or noble rendering sensitive lines and powerful strokes
numents of famous men deeds, all
is always the same whether in writing or in
used calligraphy as a most important element.
an art, has become a painting.
Being itself calligraphy
sort of sister art to Chinese Besides the brush, the same Chinese ink
painting. While
no we made of pine soot is used for both purposes.
calligraphy plays part in Western art,
Later developements even made ink painting
Chinese make a basic training for
calligraphy
a painter. a painter must learn cab preferred to colour painting. Then the ma?
In China
: a picture with bad character writing terial, the ground upon which one writes and
hgraphy
is considered When I was a little gill, paints, is also the same, either silk or paper
vulgar.
and studied painting, my father and his friends being used.

told me, dont Working with the same tool on the same
always "If you pratice your
won't be able to artistic material, I think it is only natural that
calligraphy every
day, you
become a great artist". What a pity the same technique should be required for
they
never knetv that Western artists have no need both, especially regarding the us<> of brush
to practice and pine soot ink and the rendering of lines
calligraphy.
Chinese and calligraphy have been and strokes.
painting
so closely related to each other that many Chi? It is difficult to find out when calligraphy
nese and Japanese scholars have gone so far as became a national art in China. In ancient
to say that calligraphy and painting have the bronzes and some other antiques we find cha?
same same origin, racters mixed with It is said
origin. When they say the figure designs.
mean that painting has been that under the Chou dynasty (about 8t/i cen?
they certainly
derived A Chinese art critic tury B. C). a recorder of the court of king
from calligraphy.
out a that the lines Hsiian Wang invented a new style called Ta
often points from picture

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Chuan (great seal). This new style had been
adopted and widely used until the Chin dy?
nasty (about the end of the 3rd century B.C.),
when the prime minister Li Szu decided to

unify the scripts of th? various states, and

created a new style called Hsiao Chuan (small
seal). This stylewas themodification of the
great seal style and was more suitable for use.
From Chin toHan (theHan dinasty lasted from
206 B.C. to 220 A.D.) calligraphy gradually
developed through many processes of change
and simplification. The Li Shu (forerunner of
Ch'iai Shu, the regular style) was invented for
use. After the Han as a consequence
dynasty,
of improvement in the writing tools, three
further styles were created, which quickly gain?
ed acceptance and have remained to this day
the most widely used of all; these are
ChUai Shu, Hsing Shu,
Shu, and Ts'ao
liter?
ally translated as
regular, running and grass
script. (The last should be translated "writing
in great haste"). These are quicker to write
and offer a wider range of strokes and cons?
truction.

Tseng Yu-ho: ? The Land ?.

Under the Han in the reign period Hridge
dynasty
Hsi-ping (172-177 A.D.), Tsai Yung wrote
down the official text of the Five Chinese
Classics and it was on a stone stand? as much as to get the correct
text. Fragments
engraved
ing in a famous temple in the capital. On the of the rubbling of those stones have been pre
its opening, people crowded in from served to the present day and are very highly
day of
all parts of the country to read the stone ins? prized in my art collection in China.

cription. It is said that they came to appre? As calligraphy became an art, it soon grew
ciate the beauty of Ts'ai Yung's calligraphy very popular. As early as the end of the Han

1 .
. ?<#-.
A recent >]?*
landscape by
?
Tseng Yu-ho, captur-
of Ha- ?-^
ing the charm ^^SBSSSSto^^ '. ..?
wa?'s hiiu.
L: :.?.;. .1 ,:r:^^L^.d^

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dynasty, a recordi was taken dow(n about a the famous who at the same titne
painters
famous calligraphist Szu I-kuan. He went were well known calligraphists.
into a bar without a farthing to pay for his
wine. While he was he wrote charac (1) Wang Hsi-chih (321-379 A. D.)
drinking, Hsien-tzu The
ters on a board. Wang younger Wang).
People thronged in to see

writing as if they were

attending a musical (2) Wang Wei (Tang dynasty).
recital. Thus he wentto the bar every day and
(3) Su Shih (Su Tung-p'o, 1036-1101 A.D.
each time he collected a little money for his
Sung dynasty).
wine. This was quite typical of the Chinese art
ists in the old days, who (4) Sung Hui-tsung, the talented En peror
preferred poverty and
wine. They would not sell their own art for of China (Sting dynasty).
money, they could not have wine without it.
(5) Mi Fei (Yuan dynasty).
A queer logic saved them, that is, they might Chao and Chao Vung (1254
Meng-fu
sell their art for wine. It is the same with a 1322 A. D.).
as with a calligraphist. There was a Ni.
painter Ylun-lin (Ni T san).
noted painter of the Liang dynasty (502-556
(6) Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (Ming dynasty 1556
A. D.), called Li Kui-cheng. This painter.
1636 A. D.).
who refused to answer questions when people
asked him what his attitude was toward life, Shih Tao (End of Ming tdynasty to

said, "My dress is thin and I lore wine. With Tsing (lynasty).
wine I fight against cold, and with my painting Ching Tung-hsin.
I pay for my wine. Ch'en
Beside that, I hare no P'ei-yancg.
Ch' n Lao-lien.
thing to say."
are very frequen Pa-ta-shan-ien.
Calligraphy and
painting
Hsieh Nan-san.
tly pursued by the same artist. In studying
Wu Ch'ang-shih and Ch'n Shih-tsong.
the history of Chinese painting, we cannot help

realizing that most of the eminent Chinese the Chinese made an art, it
If calligraphy
painters are also
calligraphists. This is not a is by no means an art achieved without much
mere coincidence, but a conscious effort hard work. Not only is the training for calli
brought about this parallel as that for painting,
development. graphy as hard buit also,
Herewith I give a number of the names of as in painting, the subject choses his olfwn

Tseng Yu-ho:

2 Seascape

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 *IW

Tseng Yu-ho:
< ).
Seascape

masters. There are thousands and thousands Each of these translations contributes a par
among the Chinese who either through natural tial truth to the original but much
definition,
or because remains to be guessed. To me, it
ineptitude of inadequate training, simply means
failed pitifully to become calligraphists. As the strength in the lines, that is, the brush
with any real art, it takes thousands to learn should be used in such a way as to put bones
and and takes generations to produce into the lines.
practice, If the lines are weak, no mat
a real master.

THE INFLUENCE OF CALLIGRAPHY ON

PAINTING
With the knowledge of how calligraphy has
become an art in China, we shall now be able
to proceed to discuss the influence of calligra
phy on painting.
1. Now we are going to crack
the hardest
nut in regard to Chinese
painting. I mean
the "six canons of painting" laid down by
Hsieh Ho in the sixth century. They are often
quoted and
discussed by your art critics.
Among the six canons the first two are the
most important and the second one is more

often misinterpreted even among the Chi

nese. The original text isKu Fa Yu Pi. Some
translated it as "anatomical structure" (Giles
- to the History
Introduction of Chinese Pic
torial Art), some as skeleton-drawing with the
-
brush (Hirth Scraps from a Collector's Note
book). Mr. Lawrence Binyon translated it
in a more literary fashion as "the art of
rendering the bones or anatomical structure
by
means of the brush" (The Flight of the Dra
gon). Tseng Yu-ho: ((Rocks ).

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 side expression of the lines and strokes should
possess the gentleness and smoothness of the
polished surface of a piece of jade, but their
inside should have the strength of steel. A
bony line shows the lack of refinement, and
a line shows the weakness of a perso?
fleshy
nality.
What is true in calligraphy is also true in
painting, for Chinese painting is chiefly a
composition of flowing lines. Whether it be
a coloured or a black-ink the main
painting,
thing it is always
is that a linear structure.
The well-controlled brush is the basic
training
common for painting and for calligraphy.
It may sound strange to you that, when we
criticize a painting, we often point out that
here is a weak line or there is a lifeless stroke,
in much the same way as we criticize calligia
phy. We even say, "write a picture" or "read
a painting". This is not any misapplication
of terms. We actually think that a picture
ought to be written just as calligraphy is writ?
ten, and a painting ought to be read just as a
poem is read.

Yu-ho: ? Garden in Honolulu ?. 2. Nearly all the Chinese calligraphers are

Tseng
more or less scholars. They regard calligraphy
as a necessary accomplishment of the learned
ter how or how man. So, became a
delicately strongly you draw traditionally, calligraphy
can not ivithout necessary art of the learned. It is not unusual
your figures, they stand;
bones in the lines thefigure itselfwill collapse. for a Chinese to start painting only after he
this is meant it has more or less acquired the art of calli?
Although for figure-draiving,
holds true also in other structures, such as graphy. It is because of this process that
and trees. But the many of the Chinese painters are learned men.
birds, animals, buildings
question is how to express bones in lines with Because they are learned, they take painting
as an expression an idea rather than as a
the brush. Calligraphy will help us to un? of
derstand this point. means to imitate nature. This explains why
In calligraphy, the brush should be held in Chinese paintings are so unrealistic, for they
such a way that the strength of the ivhole body were never meant to copy nature exactly. The
can be directed to the point of the brush. In artists paint what they have in mind, rather
stroke of the brush reveals the than what they actually see in front of their
doing so, every
entire vitality of the writer. It is not the eyes, and the reason why they choose bamboo
the movement as and the Chinese orchid as their favourite sub?
strength and of the wrist,
believed, that make jects for painting, is because these plants bear
commonly good calligra?
a close resemblance to the lines of calligraphy.
phy. Quite on the contrary, the wrist should be
And these plants also have associations
kept steady and at a level such that the sweep? many
ing force of the body may be directly trans? in Chinese poetry.
mitted to the brush. It is said in China that, Now, you should not be surprised to hear
when one is practicing calligraphy, if a cup is that the famous painter Lu Tan-wei confess?
rested on top of the wrist, no water should ed that the characteristic brush-work in his

spill from the cup. This method not only calls paintings was
directly derived from the calli?

forth great exertion of strength of the body, graphic strokes of the great master calligrapher
the arm and the hand within the lines and the Wang Hsi-chih. Another well-known painter,
strokes. Moreover, this strength should not Ko Chu-szu (1290-1343 A. D., Yuan dyna?
be too obviously expressed in the strokes and sty), said that the secret in painting bamboo
the lines, but rather implied in them, much as lies in the application of various calligraphic
the bone is embedded in the flesh. The out styles in painting the different parts of the

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?
bamboo, such as the use of the strokes of cer? of an idea through a medium, it does not mat'
tain calligraphic styles in painting the leaves ter tvhether the medium is calligraphy or
the use or even in?
and of other styles in painting the painting, dancing. The following
stems. You see how we mixed painting with stance will serve as an illustration.

calligraphy. In the prosperous K'ai-yuan period (713

Since the Chinese painter puts so much
of 741 A. D.) of the T'ang dynasty, many artists
his personality into what he paints, Chinese gathered in Lo-yang when the Emperor Hsiian
painting becomes a real creative art. But, in tsung was living in that city. It teas then
order to create, one has to have ideas, perso? and there that the most famous painter, Wu
nality and
imagination. That
is why Chinese Tao-tzu, the best known
calligrapher, Chang
painting was never meant for the craftsman, Hsii, and General Wen,P'ei the greatest
however clever he may be. There is such a swordsman of his time, met each other. Gener?
high standard of accomplishment and so many al P'ei Wen sent Wu Tao-tzu a generous gift
painters acquire great skill that of course only and asked him to carry out a painting on the
a small are also great artists. ivall of a famous in order to honour
proportion temple
3. Chinese painting and calligraphy are both his parent, who had died recently. Refusing
regarded as creative arts, in the sense that they the gift without even taking a look at it, Wu
both attempt to create a perfect form and sent word to the General, "/ have
saying,
rhythm for the expression of ideas. So
long heard that you are wonderful at swordsman?
as the purpose of creative art is the expression ship. No gift to me can be better than seeing

The artist at work in her studio overlooking a forest of Norfolk pine trees. Tseng Yu-ho and her
husband, Dr. Ecke, chose the cool, misty uplands of the island of Oahu as the location for their
home because it reminded them of the China they left behind.

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 nature, a poetic representation of an idea
rather than a mere duplication of some small
feature of reality. With simplicity and sug?
gestion it achieves its breadth; and with
rhythmic vitality and swirling composition it

points its effect. it takes a poet to

Surely
grasp nature in this way and a calligrapher to
capture the idea with a sweeping brush. Here
we come to what the Chinese call the "three
unachievables" in one single person, that is,
one who achieves excellence in writing in
painting in poetry at the same time. The
and

surprising fact is that seldom did a great paint?

er not belong to this category. This would
need a great deal of explanation to clarify.
But aslong as we remember that a painter is
often a calligrapher at the same time, we can

easily
come to a logical conclusion. As the
calligrapher is often both a poet and a scholar,
it is clear that the meeting place of these three
qualities is calligraphy. When the calligraph?
er becomes a painter, he brings poetry into
painting. Here, painting and poetry join
hands through calligraphy. Therefore, it is
no exaggeration to say that it is calligraphy
that makes Chinese painting what it is, and
gives it the unique that sets it apart
quality
Yu-ho: ?Winter ?. from the painting of other countries.
Tseng
Ling Su Hua
your skill, for the spirit of it will help my
painting tremendously". As a result a display
of swordsmanship was arranged in the temple,
on the wall of which Wu Tao-tzu was going
to make his painting. Many artists and offi?
cialsrushed to the occasion, among them was
the calligrapher Chang Hsii. After the per?
formance of General P'ei Wen, Wu Tao-tzu
immediately seized his brush to paint on one
wall, and Chang Hsii seized his brush to write
on another. Both the painting and thewrit?
ing were done at a great speed, as if both art?
ists were possessed by some spirit. Indeed, it
was the flashing spirit in the swordsmanship
that inspired both the painting and the writ?
ing.
4. Next comes the question of poetry in
painting. The largeness and simplicity of Chi.
nese painting could be achieved only through
the poetic conception of nature. The artist
does not paint just a bridge, or a river, or the
view of a mountain-side, or a building, or a

village. Rather, he composes all these objects

into one piece of landscape, with a background
of infinitehorizon, and the view of mountain Mrs. Tseng Yu-ho Ecke, the distinguished artist
beyond mountain melting away into the re? whose works were on view at the IsMEO. (See
mote It is more a grasp of ? IsMEO Activities ?, p. 329).
sky. synthetic

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 ?*.

^^^^^

i^liiiHI^HHHHI

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yu-ho: ? above Kahalu-u ?.
Tseng Crags

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