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

TRAINING

lineal qualities are required in a high degree, and I have not set out to scale these heights.

Some idea of the difficulty of attaining a high standard in the art, even after undergoing a thorough training, is conveyed in this second quotation from Sun Ta-Yi:

As regards the common faults, there is not so much a great variety of these as a wide prevalence of two or three. Some writers indulge in a running hand because they do not know how to linger ; others favour a lingering one because they cannot trust themselves to move at the right speed if they try one of the flowing styles. Ideally, speed is the flash of inspiration, slowness the prolonging of pleasure. To hurry only over intervals is the secret of perfection ; but to be slow on every occasion is to renounce all possibility of achieving the extraordinary. To hasten when the occasion does not demand haste is tantamount to dawdling ; to linger merely out of sluggishness brings no enjoyment. Unless the mind is at ease and the hand alert and responsive, the two qualities of speed and leisureliness rarely favour one person. . . .

Thus, it is easier to excel in one way than in many ways. Aspirants who begin by following the same master will end by developing different styles : their own traits will ultimately emerge in place of those of the master. Straightforward, simple people will always write with austerity and vigour ; the style of obstinate ones is harsh and unattractive. Reserved persons exhibit a stiff and stilted manner. Undisciplined natures violate alike the rules which can and those which cannot be violated. Unrelieved gentleness ultimately proves effeminate ; untempered courage produces stridence. Then there are the cautious ones who perpetually hesitate to strike, and become stale; the dull ones, oppressed by their own clumsiness; and the trite and vulgar whose style reproduces their qualities.

I will close this chapter with a few stories about famous Chinese calligraphers. In China such stories have always been a favourite way of explaining the significance of artistic training and technique—analogous to the Biblical parables.

It is said that Chang Chih, a great master of the Grass

* From an essay ‘On the Fine Art of Chinese Calligraphy’ adapted from the translation by Sun Ta-Yii in the ‘ Tien Hsia Monthly ’, September, 1935.

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