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Calligraphy“Shufa” art of writing Chinese characters

Jimmy TuoheySeptember 3, 2012

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History• One of the highest forms of Chinese art• 2,000 years old- used as a hobby today• Qin Dynasty 221 BC • LiSi wanted unified form of writing• Chinese calligraphy serves the purpose of

conveying thought but also shows the 'abstract' beauty of the line.

• Rhythm, line, and structure are more perfectly embodied in calligraphy than in painting or sculpture.

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History Continued…

• Artistic Characters and rules:

• There are three basic forms for Chinese characters: the circle, the triangle, and the square.

• For each character there is a certain number of strokes and positions

• Characters do not have to be exact

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Four Treasures

• Writing Brush pen point is big and soft made from animal fur

• Ink Stick can be regarded as ink in solid state

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Four Treasures Cont.

• Paper invented by Cai Lun in Chinese Han Dynasty (206BC-220A)

• Ink Slab is a container used in Chinese calligraphy and painting for grinding dry ink and mixing it with water

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Calligraphy Styles

Kaishu - Formal/Regular Style came into use in China at the end of the Han Dynasty. It is still used in China today after more than 1.700 years. It is the main Chinese writing style

Lishu - Official/Clerical Style This form of Chinese script germinated in pre-Qin times. By the Qin Dynasty it came to be used by low-ranking officials in the Chinese government.

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Calligraphy Styles

• Xingshu The Semi-cursive Script approximates normal handwriting in which strokes and characters are allowed to run into one another.

• Caoshu, the Cursive Script

• Zhuanshu The Seal Script is the formal script of the Qín system of writing

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How ancient people invented the writing tools…

Some antique

writing

implements

can be worth

thousands of

dollars to

collectors in

the modern

era.

Ink made by burning pine in an ink furnace and catching the soot in a jar. The soot was mixed with glue from animal horns to make ink. Ink was sold as a solid stick, which was ground upon an ink stone and mixed with water to make liquid ink for the calligrapher to work with.

The bristles were made of animal hair , most often rabbit or horsehair.

Before they invented paper, Chinese writers often carved symbols into bones or other hard surfaces. The earliest known writing was "oracle bones." Writers would etch symbols into bones with a knife and then heat the bones until they cracked.