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

FOREWORD By LIN SEN

President of the Chinese National Government

INCE the International Exhibition held in London last winter, our art has had an increasing significance for Western people. Research and discussion were initiated, and a number of books published. Bronzes, jades, porcelain, and all kinds of carving and sculpture are comparatively easy to appreciate and criticize, for they have tangible forms. But the beauty of calligraphy and painting, which have an infinite variety of changeable forms, are, for those who are not widely read in history and learning, much less easy to appreciate. And calligraphy is even harder to approach than painting.

Mr. Chiang Yee is a widely read scholar of my country, an able calligrapher and a good painter. At the time of the Exhibition he condensed some of his knowledge into a book on Chinese painting for the general public, ‘ The Chinese Eye’. Now, after further study, he has written a second book, “Chinese Calligraphy : An Introduction to its Aesthetic and Technique’. It is well arranged, and offers many individual views regarding the source of the beauty in the different styles of Chinese penmanship. Even those readers who are

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