Ceramic Culture and Calligraphy

The art of calligraphy caters to the power of expression of lines. Regarding its artistic characteristics, calligraphy and ceramics seem to have nothing to do with each other, though there are lots of similarities between them.

First, regarding its aesthetic characteristics, calligraphy is integrity of utility and inutility, representation and expression, modeling and expressing feelings. Without color, it has the colorfulness of painting. Without sound, it produces beautiful melodies. It originates from the objects in nature but is not confined to them. Calligraphers transform their spirit, feelings and aesthetic taste into lines-free or reserved, dry or moist, thick or thin, rigid or soft, through which the aesthetic experience of the calligraphers is reflected. "The artist's feelings change with touches of the brush, and the lines, dots and blocks are traces of the feelings." The ancient Chinese aesthetes thoroughly discussed this trait of calligraphy long ago. Yang Xiong from the Han period said in his "Fa Yan", "Discourse is the voice deeply from the bottom of my heart. Calligraphy is the painting also deeply from my heart." In "Bi Lun", Cai Yong said, "Calligraphy is freedom. Produce calligraphy after set your heart and feelings free." Sun Guoting from the Tang dynasty believed that the feelings of a calligrapher could be reflected through his work, that is, "(his calligraphy) expresses his feelings and embodies his moods", "in low spirit, (Wang) Xizhi did 'Yue Yi'; in marvelous feelings, he did 'Hua Zan'; in odd and void spirit, he did 'Huang Ting Sutra'; in the moods of rises and falls, he did 'The Words of Master Taishi'. And in transcendent moods, he wrote 'the Pavilion of Orchid'; in the moods of restriction and severity, he did the private commandments and oaths. This is called smiling together in pleasure and sighing alone in depression." Liu Xizai from the Qing dynasty hit the point, "writing characters is expressing ideas", "calligraphy accords with the calligrapher's talent and ideas."

In addition, the forms of art-painting, calligraphy and ceramics share a common feature-they are not fit for expressing episodic matters, but for expressing instantaneous movements. Hegel once said, painting "can only catch instantaneity", "focus on the state that is going to pass and come right away." Gotthold Ephraim Lessing stated it in a more detailed and explicit way as, "Painting can only express transience in its simultaneous composition, and thus it needs to choose the very moment of gestation so that its preceding and sequent motions are able to be told through this moment." Though referring to painting, it is the same with ceramic art, and especially with calligraphy. Calligraphy requires "every single character should be pictographic", "to be like sitting or walking, flying or moving, fro or forward, upset or happy, worms biting leaves, sharp swords or long daggers, strong bows or hard arrows, water or fire, clouds or fog, the sun or the moon", "to be like suspending needles or dropping dews, running thunders or dangerous stones, geese flying or beasts frightened, phoenixes dancing or snakes astounded, steep cliffs, or possessing the high at a critical moment; to be heavy as exploding clouds or light as the wings of cicadas; flowing as a brook or pausing as a mountain; to be soft and slender as the crescent or effulgent as numerous stars in the sky", however, it is after all a form of abstract, expressional and visional art.

Possibly through this comparison, the ceramic artists understand more deeply and completely the characteristics of ceramic art, so that through emphasized expressionism and lyricism, they are able to produce works of stronger aesthetic power and value.

Ceramic Culture and Painting
Ceramic Culture and Literature