Calligraphy
connoisseurs will be wise to take note of Wen Zhengming and Artworks of the
Ming Dynasty, a joint exhibition hosted concurrently by both the Tokyo
National Museum and the Taito City Calligraphy Museum. The exhibition examines the
work of multidisciplinary artist Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), while shining a
light on the vibrant milieu of fellow culturati who influenced his formative
years in Suzhou. Heralded as one of the Four Masters of Ming painting,
Zhengming was also a prolific calligrapher, active in the middle of the Ming dynasty,
the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644.
The rich world of Chinese calligraphy may seem daunting to the uninitiated. Fortunately, I was able to enlist the help of master Chinese calligrapher Yuhou. Fresh off an appearance on the NHK BS television program Miracle Lessons: Calligraphy Edition, Yuhou graciously agreed to take this layman journalist on a guided tour. In this installment, we take a peek behind the curtain at the exhibition being held at the Taito City Calligraphy Museum.
“What’s important is that you feel the hanzi characters. You don’t have to understand their meaning, as long as you appreciate the atmosphere they convey.”
No
sooner had we arrived at the Calligraphy Museum than Yuhou related a surprising
anecdote about the man whose work now filled the expansive gallery showcases.
“Wen
Zhengming was a peculiar individual. It’s claimed that he didn’t learn to speak
until he was eight years old. Although born into an elite household, he was a
poor penman in his youth, and repeatedly failed the Imperial civil service
exams. Yet, he persevered, ultimately earning acclaim with the Wu School, a
group of top echelon artists in Suzhou at the time.”
In Yuhou’s appraisal, Wen’s story is not so much one of savant-like virtuosity, but rather, a much more relatable bildungsroman, evincing the virtues of diligence and hard work. Admiring a scroll painted by Wen’s mentor, Shen Zhou, Yuhou nodded approvingly, and could be heard murmuring, “Exquisite.”
“Wen was cultivated by capable teachers, such as Shen Zhou. Back then, it wasn’t enough to be a calligrapher alone. All calligraphers also had to know their way around a painting. Wen lived to the venerable old age of 90. His greatness is in some part a product of his longevity. He benefited from the tutelage of masterful teachers, and assiduously refined his craft over the course of his long life, to join the pantheon of masters himself. Living to age 90 in those days would be like reaching age 160 in modern terms. He truly embodied the Chinese saying, ‘Great talents flower late.’”
Handscroll featuring a rooster and chrysanthemum motif, Shen Zhou (Ming dynasty, 1509) Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts Photo provided courtesy of the Taito City Calligraphy Museum
Detail from Shen Zhou’s The Seven Junipers handscroll. Brimming with vitality and nuance, it’s hard to believe this painting was achieved solely using black ink.“China’s Ming dynasty spanned 276 years. The middle years of the dynasty, in particular, saw a cultural flourishing. Rather than any one lone genius, the era bore witness to an entire group of wenren scholar-artists who worked in tandem with each other.”
According
to Yuhou, it’s not necessary to understand the meaning of a specific text in
order to appreciate the beauty of the written word.
“Chinese
calligraphy is, obviously, written entirely in Chinese hanzi characters.
But even if you don’t speak Chinese, don’t worry. What’s important is that you
feel the hanzi. You don’t have to understand their meaning, as long as you
appreciate the atmosphere they convey. What matters is how you feel,
recognizing the emotions that well up inside when you see the form of the
characters: the beauty, the stability and warmth, the sense of vitality.”
Upon
entering the exhibition space on the second floor, Yuhou pauses in front of The Thousand-Character Classic
in Cursive Script, a masterpiece created when Wen Zhengming was 66 years old.
“This is wonderful. You can see the strength and conviction of his penmanship. A prime example of rù mù sān fēn, as we say in Chinese.”
Denoting calligraphy written by a powerful hand brimming with energy, the phrase’s etymology can be traced back to Wang Xizhi, revered as arguably the greatest calligrapher in Chinese history. As the story goes, when an engraver went to cut a wooden tablet bearing Wang’s calligraphy, he pared down layer after layer to find Wang’s ink had penetrated a full centimeter down into the solid wood. The phrase has come to express a deep and incisive pursuit of one’s truth. Taking another look at the work with this in mind, I noticed how each character was clearly defined, despite being written in a cursive script. As if it were a window into Wen’s soul, I felt the calligraphy revealed the sincerity and studiousness of the artist.
Detail from The Thousand-Character Classic in Cursive Script, Wen Zhengming (Ming dynasty, 1535) Photo provided courtesy of the Taito City Calligraphy MuseumAs Yuhou explains, “Everything about this specimen is superb, from the ink to the paper, brush, and inkstone he used. It’s a testament to just how rich the culture was in that era.” Even the wormholes are a hallmark of quality. (Evidently, bookworms have a discerning palate for high-quality paper.)
The
exhibition also features work by Wen Zhengming’s son, Wen Peng. It turns out
Zhengming became the paterfamilias of a calligraphy dynasty of his own. The Wen
lineage would fan out to include successive generations of wenren
scholar-artists, extending down to his great-grandchildren.
“It’s
said that the son outstripped the father, that Wen Peng was more talented than
Wen Zhengming.”
Indeed,
I could see that Wen Peng’s calligraphy was incredibly balanced and beautiful.
“Wen
Peng’s work is undoubtedly beautiful, and the product of a very skilled hand.
However, his father’s calligraphy has a distinctive character. Wen Peng’s work
lacks that je ne sais quoi. Once that initial jolt of beauty subsides,
there’s not much else to take away from his work, emotionally.”
A demanding but magnanimous critic, Yuhou elaborates: “Calligraphy is about much more than technical proficiency and being merely ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”
Notes from the Special Exhibition Room: Labors of love and unexpected reunions
A discerning collector, Wen Zhengming amassed a treasure trove of calligraphic masterpieces spanning centuries, including work by Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing. He had their brushstrokes reproduced in stone, then created ink rubbings for compilation in copybooks. These books constitute a sort of “tribute album,” to borrow a modern, musical metaphor. Yuhou points to this trove, valuable as a calligraphic reference and training tool, as evidence of Wen Zhengming’s commitment as an educator. Wen Zhengming served as a sort of editorial director, assembling a roster of the finest engravers of the time to bring this passion project to fruition. The smooth, flowing script attests to the skill of the engravers—it’s hard to believe these elegant brushstrokes were rendered so meticulously in stone.
Detail from a reproduction of the autobiography of Tang dynasty calligrapher-monk Huaisu. Wen Zhengming modeled Huaisu’s calligraphy, which was then engraved by Zheng Wen, and printed for the copybook. “Huaisu was a free spirit. Perhaps the strait-laced Wen Zhengming secretly yearned for a certain degree of inhibition.”
The
Special Exhibition Room features a selection of other pieces that Wen Zhengming
held in high esteem. At one point, Yuhou froze in his tracks, seemingly unable
to tear himself away from one work in particular. Peering unblinkingly through
the glass case, he at last managed to ask:
“Incredible.
This is one piece I certainly did not expect to see today. Is it… real?”
As Calligraphy
Museum researcher Nobuhiro Nakamura assured us, “Yes, of course it’s the
original. Notice the seals, demonstrating the provenance back through the hands
of the great Ming dynasty collectors. The piece was acquired by Nakamura
Fusetsu, our museum’s founder.”
“Absolutely
incredible. I can hardly believe my eyes.”
Authored
by Yang Ningshi, a calligrapher active in the first half of the 10th
century, the work in question was Immortals’ Daily Practices, a poem
outlining how to lead an ascetic life.
“When I
first started out, I trained extensively using this specific work by Yang Ningshi.
I must have copied this text hundreds of times. To this day, I believe that
Yang Ningshi ranks second to only Wang Xizhi. Wen Zhengming undoubtedly modeled
his style after Yang Ningshi.”
Astonished
by this chance encounter, Yuhou lingered with his nose nearly pressed against
the protective glass, as if to whisper: “And to think, all this time, you were here
in Tokyo, too.”
Detail from Yang Ningshi’s Immortals’ Daily Practices A highlight of the exhibition, on display from January 4th through February 2nd, 2020.
Yuhou’s excitement was
well-founded. The work is a direct, handwritten link to a calligraphic forebear
who lived over a thousand years ago; the manuscript’s ink has faded and seeped
sporadically into the timeworn blue paper. The passage of time is a fitting
complement to Yang Ningshi’s aesthetic, as the curious patina heightens the
impression that the text was indeed written by an otherworldly,
mountain-dwelling ascetic.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the Wen Zhengming exhibition and an equally impressive assortment of material on display in the permanent exhibition, we were surprised to realize we had already spent two hours in the Calligraphy Museum. Time flew while I listened to Yuhou’s anecdotes, and his insights gave me a newfound appreciation for the craft. Now that I had begun to not only see, but also feel each Chinese character in a new light, it was with excitement that we set out to continue our tour at the Tokyo National Museum.
A view of the 2nd floor exhibition space at the Calligraphy Museum. The rear room featured examples of Japanese calligraphy inspired by Wen Zhengming and his compatriots.Calligraphy Museum researcher Nobuhiro Nakamura in conversation with Yuhou: “Wen Zhengming was evidently a man of unimpeachable character. Legend has it that he would graciously produce his masterful calligraphy for the poor, in exchange for a single rice cake. In all my years at the museum, I’ve never before felt so invested in an artist, or encountered such a pleasant headliner for an exhibition.”
Text: Maika Mori Photos: Kuniko Hirano
Yuhou Calligrapher. Representative Director of the Japan-China Calligraphy Association. Born 1965, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. Having begun his study of calligraphy at age three, upon graduation from middle school, Yuhou was selected to continue his training at the elite Children’s Palace, where he received specialized, extracurricular instruction. A longtime admirer of the work of calligrapher Yukei Teshima (1901-1987), Yuhou relocated to Japan in 1999. He entered the Nihon Shodo Senmon Gakko (Japanese Calligraphy Technical School), where he studied calligraphy in the Japanese kana syllabary. An avid lecturer, Yuhou has taught at several Chinese universities, including Nanchang University, Beijing Normal University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In addition to conducting calligraphy courses in Japan, Youhou has also exhibited prolifically as an artist himself, conducting numerous international solo exhibitions. In 2019, Yuhou appeared on the NHK BS program, Kiseki no Lesson Shodo-hen (Miracle Lessons: Calligraphy Edition), where his unique and straightforward approach to instruction was met with resounding acclaim.
Commemorating the 550th Anniversary of the Birth of Wen Zhengming and Artworks of the Ming Dynasty
Taito City Calligraphy Museum Dates: Saturday, January 4th through Sunday, March 1st, 2020 Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Last entry at 4:00 p.m.) Museum Closed: Mondays Museum website: www.taitocity.net/zaidan/shodou
Note: Information in this article current as of February 2020.
