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

IX

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CALLIGRAPHY AND OTHER FORMS OF CHINESE ART

and the other graphic and plastic arts have been mentioned.

The reader has probably already perceived that in China these different genres of art are in less discrete compartments than they are in the West. The uniting element is line. We call it ‘ linear rhythm ’, because that phrase conveys more truly the beauty of line desired. ‘ Beauty,’ says Mr. Herbert Read,* ‘to use the good medieval definition, is 7d quod visum placet, that which being seen pleases. And in a very real sense, plastic form and linear rhythm resolve into the question of visual comfort. The rhythm of a composition may have other qualities ; it may be static and restful, or dynamic and exciting. But primarily form in plastic art is related to a pleasant sense of visual comfort.’ There you have in a nutshell the quality of the line in Chinese art—‘ a pleasant sense of visual comfort ’.

We commonly think of the visual arts as falling under three heads: painting, sculpture, and architecture. In the West, painting is subdivided according to the tool or pigment used —oils, water-colours, drawings, etchings, &c. In China we have only one important medium—ink: the medium of calligraphy.

1* Art Now’, page 79. [ 206 ]

上 the preceding chapters various links between calligraphy