Detail View: National Palace English: Autobiography
|
Work ID:
|
M01G00029
|
|
Title:
|
Autobiography
|
|
Creation Date:
|
Tang Dynasty
|
|
Start Year Date:
|
A.D.618
|
|
End Year Date:
|
A.D.907
|
|
Dynasty:
|
36 Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618~907)
|
|
Creator:
|
Huai Su
|
|
Creation Place:
|
China
|
|
Measurements:
|
28.3 x 755 cm
|
|
Material:
|
Cursive script, ink on paper
|
|
Form:
|
Shou-juan (hand scroll)
|
|
Type:
|
Calligraphy
|
|
Repository:
|
The National Palace Museum, Taipei
|
|
Description:
|
Having become a Buddhist monk as a young man, Huaisu cultivated friendships among the Tang political elite base on his wonderful facility at crazy drafting script. Writing such visually dramatic calligraphy made for a marvelous display. Dazzled by his skill, calligraphers such as Yan Zhengqing and many other literary figures presented poems in praise of Huaisu's talents. Huaisu copied extracts from these poems, together with a preface by Yan Zhenqing, in crazy drafting script to compile his "Autobiography." Huaisu writes with a fine hard-tuffed brush which sweeps in an almost uninterrupted line. At the head of each column the tuft is steeped in ink, only to run dray toward the foot. This produces fascinating contrasts in ink texture. There is also huge variety in the size of individual characters. Such bold eccentricity must have come as a breath of fresh air after the classic solemnity of the early Tang period.
|
|
ImageV ID:
|
M01G00029AS018
|
|
Rights:
|
Lee & Lee Communications
|