East Asian Calligraphy

About

In China, Korea and Japan, writing with brush and ink has long ranked among the highest arts. A stroke cannot be corrected, so each character records the writer's timing, pressure and training. Scripts range from formal seal and clerical styles to fluent running and cursive hands.

Wang Xizhi, active in 4th-century China, became the model for later generations, though his works survive only in copies. Tang and Song masters such as Yan Zhenqing, Su Shi and Mi Fu gave the art distinct personalities, and late Ming writers including Dong Qichang, Zhang Ruitu and Huang Daozhou pushed rhythm and structure further. In 19th-century Korea, Kim Jeong-hui forged a bold style from ancient inscriptions. In Japan, Hon'ami Kōetsu brushed poems over gold and silver designs by Tawaraya Sōtatsu in the early 17th century, and after 1945 Shiryū Morita and Yu-ichi Inoue made calligraphy abstract and explosive.