Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY

and that of the ~ symbol lengthened (Fig. 130, D), the effect is more closely knit. E has three variants. Fig. 131, A, is the regular form, but it is obvious that the long hook swinging rightward in the left-hand part of the character will tend to ’ . ate collide with the right-hand part and 4 g, BR give a tight appearance. Both the “sy os alternative compositions, Fig. 131, (a) @) (0 _B and Cc, obviate this constraint. E Personally I prefer c, but there is

a danger in it of over-elongation. Not much licence is permissible with the CAieh-Huan principle. We prefer a character to be written well in a normal form to one in which a new or eccentric composition is chosen in order to make the balance easier. (11) Tséng-Chien (38 t&), Increasing and Decreasing. A simple and effective way of improving the appearance of some

(goose) FIG. 131

s & = a eee oe

(a) (B) (c) (D) Hsin Ts‘ao (acrid) (partly)

FIG. 132

characters is to suppress or add one stroke. Thus, in Hsin (Fig. 132, A), if the lower element has only two horizontal strokes the effect is top-heavy ; with three it is: stable (Fig. 132, B). Contrariwise, Ts‘ao (Fig. 132, C) is better written with one of the vertical strokes in the upper part subtracted and the other broken (Fig. 132, D). [ 182 ]