The Relationship Between Chinese Calligraphy and Painting

The Relationship Between Chinese Calligraphy and Painting
by
Y. Chi
Chinese calligraphy is an art fundamental to traditional Chinese culture. Chinese calligraphy is closely related to Chinese painting in its development, and its history is as long as that of China itself. Chinese calligraphy expresses thoughts through the beauty of each stroke1 and conveys moral integrity, character, emotions, and esthetic feelings through its presentation and style.2 Calligraphy is not only a practical technique for writing Chinese characters but also a distinct form of Chinese art and a branch of learning.
Chinese calligraphy and painting are closely related. Chinese painting and calligraphy can be distinguished from other arts in that they emphasize motion.3 Chinese painting shares many of the same techniques as Chinese calligraphy, including the use of a brush dipped in black or colored ink. Its sophisticated techniques allow for intricate visuals on rice paper for typically black-and-white works expressing purity, self-reflection, and human nature, among others.4
Combining the art of calligraphy with that of painting produces calligraphy painting. When painting does not quite fully convey the artist’s thoughts or feelings, the artist may add a poem through calligraphy. On the other hand, a specific poem can be the main subject, with painting to fill it with a lyrical mood.5 This suggests that painting, poetry, and calligraphy are deeply related to one another in Chinese culture. And with the artist’s seal, the spirit of Chinese painting is presented in its complete form.6 These three arts combine to express the artist’s feelings more completely than one alone.
The paper discusses the history of Chinese calligraphy and that of Chinese painting, which can be divided into several periods, by focusing on how they are related to each other.