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Franklin D. Murphy Lectures
Three Alternative Histories of Chinese Painting
Book by Cahill, James
112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 19, 1988
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February 26, 2025
More like 2.5. I don't think this is a fair rating of this book. It's interesting and detailed scholarly work. However, I had really hoped it would help me understand more about Chinese painting--especially the ideals of quickness and spontaneity. It did partly do that; the third lecture was helpful in clarifying the development of this ideal. But it was so scholarly that I found it hard to find this ideal interesting in the first place with the attention I had left post study.
Some small things to remember:
1. There are a couple examples of Chinese painters who seemed to pre-empt contemporary styles of painting. In particular, the mid-thirteenth-century monk-artist Mu-ch'i, whose Persimmons looks similar enough to some contemporary abstract art (pp. 83-84), and the painter Wang Mo, or "Ink Wang" whose method resembles action painting. Chu Ching-Hsuan gives a great description:
2. The threefold distinction Cahill makes between the concerns we might have with a painting. First, we might be concerned with the painting itself, where this includes its material existence, style, and subject. Second, we might be concerned with the painting's meaning in a broad sense--to figure this out we normally have to go beyond the painting itself. Third, we might be concerned with its function; the circumstances in which the painting was made and the part it played in socio-political life. These three concerns can interact in interesting ways. (p. 37-8)
3. Chang Hsu, a calligraphist, and his follower Huai-su were called, respectively, the "Madman of Calligraphy" and the "Mad Monk" (p. 76)
Some small things to remember:
1. There are a couple examples of Chinese painters who seemed to pre-empt contemporary styles of painting. In particular, the mid-thirteenth-century monk-artist Mu-ch'i, whose Persimmons looks similar enough to some contemporary abstract art (pp. 83-84), and the painter Wang Mo, or "Ink Wang" whose method resembles action painting. Chu Ching-Hsuan gives a great description:
Whenever he wanted to paint a picture, Wang Mo would first drink wine, and when he was sufficiently drunk, would splash the ink onto the painting surface. Then, laughing and singing all the while, he would stamp on it with his feet and smear it with his hands, besides swashing and sweeping it with the brush. The ink would be thin in some places, rich in others; he would follow the shapes which brush and ink had produced, making these into mountains, rocks, clouds and mists, wash in wind and rain, with the suddenness of Creation. It was exactly like the cunning of a deity; when one examined the painting after it was finished he could see no traces of the puddles of ink. (Quoted on p. 79)
2. The threefold distinction Cahill makes between the concerns we might have with a painting. First, we might be concerned with the painting itself, where this includes its material existence, style, and subject. Second, we might be concerned with the painting's meaning in a broad sense--to figure this out we normally have to go beyond the painting itself. Third, we might be concerned with its function; the circumstances in which the painting was made and the part it played in socio-political life. These three concerns can interact in interesting ways. (p. 37-8)
3. Chang Hsu, a calligraphist, and his follower Huai-su were called, respectively, the "Madman of Calligraphy" and the "Mad Monk" (p. 76)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review