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

THE STYLES

It has usurped the old position of K‘az-Shu as the most popular style for daily use, besides achieving recognition as one of the most artistic styles. K‘at-Shu now occupies a subordinate place in the training of calligraphers.

The Lan-Ting-Hsii (i = *) of Wang Hsi-Chih is considered to be the best work ever done in Hsimg-Shu. Unfortunately most of the rubbings of it found in China nowadays are taken from copies made in the T‘ang period which have probably lost the quality of the original.

The strokes and patterns of Hsimg-Shu are designed and executed every bit as carefully as those of K‘az-Shu, only they are written in a quicker way. The strokes and dots which in K‘ai-Shu are separate are usually joined in Hsing-Shu, and, in the piece, Hsing-Shu has a fluency not possessed by the more formal style. Though closely related to K‘ai-Shu, Hsing-Shu can also manifest the influence of Li-Shu and Pa-Fen.

In the following examples the reader will be able to make his own comparisons between the various modes of the style. Most of the pieces are by artists famous for their painting as well as for their calligraphy, and should therefore, incidentally, serve the purpose of collectors wishing to identify paintings by one or other artist. It is worth while also to compare them with the K‘ai-Shu examples on pages 69 to 79, especially those by the same calligraphers (e.g. Figs. 43 and 52 by Ho ShaoChi). It is even more worth while to compare them with the examples of Ts‘ao-Shu later on (pages 94 to I04).

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