"The Story of Calligraphy " Exhibition Launched at the Hunan Museum

On November 13, sponsored by Hunan Museum and Yuelu Academy and planned by well-known independent curators Feng Boyi and Lu Xin, "The Story of Calligraphy—Double Soho Exhibitions of Chen Songchang and Zhu Yongling's Calligraphy Art" was successfully opened at the Hunan Museum.

Representatives of the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Yuelu Academy and other relevant organiztions, and friends from the media were invited to attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Opening speeches were delivered by Duan Xiaoming, director of the Hunan Museum, Xiao Yongming, dean of Yuelu Academy, Wei huailiang, the first director of Hunan Art Museum, as well as artist Chen Songchang. Jiang Wenhui, deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage delivered a speech and declared the opening of the exhibition. The opening ceremony was presided over by Chen Xuliang, deputy director of the Hunan Museum.

 
Duan Xiaoming delivered the opening speech

 
Jiang Wenhui delivered a speech and declared the opening of the exhibition

At the opening ceremony, the two artists donated their most treasured works such as rubbing of preface and postscript of Ming inkstone and the seven-character couplet named “Mo Yan Zi You (Being Modest)”to the Hunan Museum. Chen Xuliang, deputy director of Hunan Museum, accepted the donation and issued the collection certificates of the Hunan Museum to the artists. Moreover, Liu Shaogang, Professor of Tsinghua University, Tang Yinfang, former editor in chief of Collector magazine, and Wu Gan, Professor of China Academy of Art had a dialogue and exchanged on the creative styles of the two artists.

 
Chen Xuliang issued the collection certificate to Chen Songchang

More than 100 pieces(sets) of personal works and collections of Chen Songchang and Zhu Yongling are displayed in this exhibition. They are divided into four parts: "Calligraphy Works in Study", "A Tribute to Classics", "Epigraphy and Letters" and "A Pen-and-ink Life", presenting the thoughts and temperaments of artists and the curators. The exhibits range from classical letters, hand scrolls and paintings on square paper to tasteful fans, vertical scrolls of painting or calligraphy and couplets, as well as inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets, Yixing clay teapots, ceramics and furniture that integrate calligraphy art, which is full of academic flavor and delight of life.

Calligraphy has completely different meanings to Chen and Zhu. For Chen Songchang, it is the extension of his academic work; while for Zhu Yongling, it plays an important role in cultivating his personalities and enriching his life. Mr. Chen Songchang is a scholar—as early as in the 1990s, he compiled a book named Art of Silk Manuscripts in Mawangdui and had drawn wide attentions in educational circles. Chen has been engaged in the research of silk manuscripts and bamboo slips for many years. Meanwhile, he practiced calligraphy and especially the cursive style of writing from time to time. That’s why he has insightful understanding in the study of silk manuscripts and bamboo slips calligraphy. On the other hand, Mr. Zhu Yongling is a professional calligrapher. He held an individual calligraphy exhibition in the National Art Museum of China way back in the 1990s. His unique calligraphy is based on books copied on silk and bamboo slips in Qin and Han dynasties and cliff inscriptions while combining with the expression methods of contemporary art. In particular, he integrates calligraphy art into daily life and reveals the characteristics of calligraphy creatively.

It is worth mentioning that the joint calligraphy art exhibition of the two artists is not only the cooperation between a scholar and a calligrapher, but also the integration of learning and calligraphy. This very exhibition is different from the conventional calligraphy exhibition. For instance, in the exhibition design, focusing on the connotation and form of the theme of "The Story of Calligraphy", there are not only the setting of study, but also the special design of halls. At the same time, the exhibition reflects the similarities between the two calligraphy artists in the same space. The exhibition takes Chen Songchang's calligraphy works such as letters, rubbings of preface and postscript, hand scrolls and fans as the internal area, and the external furnishings highlight Zhu Yongling's couplets, vertical scrolls of painting or calligraphy, folding fans, hand scrolls and other related artifacts, forming a relatively independent yet interconnected visual interval. With correlation in their calligraphy art, the visual field of the intertwined space leads to a change of images, which works in concert with their practice—always in the exploration of "boundless" and "wandering". The well-designed setting expands the room for the two artists’ self-expression and works to create different signs of their pure and accurate visual forms and styles.

A Brief Introduction to the Artists:
 
Chen Songchang, born in 1957 in Xinhua county, Loudi city, Hunan province, is the former deputy director of the Hunan Museum and vice dean of Yuelu Academy of Hunan University. He is a professor, doctoral supervisor, Yuelu scholar of Yuelu Academy of Hunan University, scholar granted a special allowance from the State Council, member of Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society, director of Silk Manuscripts and Bamboo Slips Research Center of Hunan University and Chinese Silk Manuscripts and Bamboo Slips Calligraphy Art Research Center of Hunan University, part-time professor of Rao Zongyi Academy of the University of Hong Kong. He also serves as the executive director of the China Academy of Qin and Han History, the director of the China Academy of Ancient Characters, and member of the editorial board of the academic journals including Study of Silk Manuscripts and Bamboo Slips, Books Copied on Silk and Bamboo Slips, Research on Bamboo Slips and Unearthed Documents. Chen has long been committed to the research of silk manuscripts and bamboo slips and has published more than 20 works, such as Art of Silk Manuscripts in Mawangdui, Collection of Bamboo Slips of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Compilation of Characters in Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts and Bamboo Slips, Ancient Seals of Hunan Province, Chronology and Research of Chinese Silk Manuscripts and Bamboo Slips Calligraphy Art. He is the chief editor of Yuelu Academy: Collection of Qin Bamboo Slips(Ⅰ-Ⅵ) and has published over 130 papers in various academic journals.

As a scholar of literature research and based on his in-depth study of Chinese silk manuscripts and bamboo slips, Chen Songchang cultivates his mind by gaining wisdom from the cognition and experience of Qin and Han study and pays attention to his spiritual meditation and continuous improvement of calligraphy art, which push for the integration of the traditional Qin and Han silk manuscripts and bamboo slips and contemporary calligraphy art. In this exhibition of "The Story of Calligraphy”, a total of 51 pieces of his calligraphy works were exhibited, including letters, rubbings, hand scrolls and fans. Being a master of academic research and calligraphy art, Chen Songchang enhances his calligraphy art practice and creates rich and varied calligraphy works after imitating the traditional ones. Thus, we can find the collision of conventional and modern styles. Particularly, it can be seen that Chen is full of warm, unworldly and plain feelings. He inherits the scholarly calligraphy tradition and moral character and seeks for a kind of spiritual purity in earthly life. 
 
Zhu Yongling was born in 1964 in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city under the administration of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1992. Zhu is a member of China Calligraphers Association and member of the 9th committee of All-China Youth Federation. His works have been collected by the National Art Museum of China, Hunan Museum, Shandong Museum, Nantong Museum, Puhua Art Gallery, South Korea’s Kyungpook National University Museum and other institutions. Mr. Zhu has published books called Calligraphy Art of Zhu Yongling and Tan Yiwen& Zhu Yongling: Collection of Calligraphy Works and Painting. He has participated in the First Youth Calligraphy Exhibition in Jiangsu Province, the Second China-South Korea Youth Calligraphy Exchanges Exhibition, the Four-people Modern Exhibition of Wuyue Ink Wash Painting, etc. What’s more, he has won the first prize of the Youth Art Exhibition for the 2500th Anniversary of the Founding of Suzhou, the second prize of the adult group of the Straits Cup Chinese Calligraphy Competition, and the excellence award of the Fourth National Youth Calligraphy and Seal Cutting Exhibition.

There is a total of 52 pieces of recent calligraphy works of Zhu Yongling on display, including couplets, vertical scrolls of painting or calligraphy, folding fans, hand scrolls, as well as Yixing clay teapots, ceramics, and other furniture that integrate his calligraphy art. Zhu’s calligraphy works emphasize the internal connection of traditional poetic quality and reality. Bearing this interdependent relationship between tradition and reality, the calligraphy of Zhu Yongling, especially his new works, has deliberately disrupted the strokes of Chinese characters in traditional calligraphy and revealed various visual tension in the fragmented images while using different skills between the reality and imagination with ease. This tension not only reflects his interpretation of traditional calligraphy, but also displays his continuous experiment and efforts to bring calligraphy to variegated kinds of multi-media, forming his multi-dimensional feelings on the attributes of real life. At the same time, Zhu discovers scenery that is related to calligraphy in his daily life, exploring an effective way for the integration of calligraphy art and everyday life; perhaps one can find traces of a detached psychological feature in his works, too.