Fritz van Briessen - The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan

INTRODUCTION

IN THE PRECEDING PART WE HAVE DEALT with the materials, elements, techniques, and principles of Chinese painting. In the process the reader will have gained some insight into the essence of this art, which can be deepened and made meaningful by careful and studious application of this newly acquired understanding to many examples of Chinese painting.

Now we shall turn our attention to a number of subsidiary observations concerning elements and methods, which might have disturbed the flow of the argument if introduced earlier. The main purpose of the notes that follow is to try to apply cautiouslyto individual aspects of Chinese painting and to individual worksthe knowledge heretofore gained. But it must be admitted frankly that this is but a first attempt to explore new facets of this amazing art, an attempt which is sure to be cursory and incomplete. If the reader will bear with me, perhaps we both can learn and profit by our mistakes as we move along. I propose to make only some suggestions as a guide to more thorough studies in the future, indicating the angles at which new investigations might be started, and pointing out the natural limits of such investigations. In most cases we shall have to confine ourselves to a few sentences, merely explaining where certain differences of style or technique appear and how certain principles and their resulting techniques manifest themselves.

Once again it should be emphasized that this book is not primarily nor even marginally concerned with a historical survey of Chinese painting. Consequently the periods involved are dealt with rather broadly and out of sequence. This demands the reader's close concentration on the argument if it is to be followed accurately. On the other hand, the contrasting of similar motifs from different periods, of similar techniques as executed in different times, will make it possible not only to perceive the continuity of Chinese art but also to understand the subtle distinctions that exist between dissimilar styles and techniques or between similar styles and techniques as executed by different artistic personalities.

In these notes there may appear to be no plan, and we may seem to jump haphazardly from one aspect to another, from this phenomenon or appearance to the next. However, to take it this way would be a misunderstanding of our purpose. Briefly, our aim is to throw some light upon Chinese painting as a whole, approaching it from its technical aspects, and to illustrate our findings by reference to the whole body of Chinese painting.

The following sections should be understood in this way. Their method of reasoning rather resembles the preliminary work of a surveyor in laying out a new road. He measures the land with his theodolite from all angles and finally decides on the best route. Once this is done, he can picture the future site even with his eyes closed, whereas we laymen have to follow the red-and-white markers with keen attention until we apprehend just how the road will go and where it will take us.

What has been done in the preceding chapters comprises the general layout on the existing map, the taking of certain measurements, the placing of the striped markers. So now let us take a stroll along the rough track and make a tentative assessment of it, hazardous and incomplete though it may be. From one marker we may not be able to see much farther than to the next one. But by the time we have reached its end, we may have gotten the feel of this road and its final destination.

WRITING AND PAINTING

WRITING AND PAINTING have a common origin in China, as they presumably have in other countries as well. In the matter of technique, their beginnings lie very close to each other, even though painting is perhaps the older art. We have already established that this close relationship is strongly emphasized in China as, for example, by the frequent use of the same word hsieh for both painting and writing. In spite of this basic fact, writing and painting drifted further and further apart as the pictorial element developed and as painting came to depend more and more on brush and ink effects which are either incidental to pure calligraphy or else quite foreign to it. Some of these brush and ink effects were first conceived in the rather restricted field of calligraphy, but they broke out of the limitations of this art, stepped over the line, and more or less pushed their way into painting, even while retaining their calligraphic nature.

The borderline between writing and painting is admittedly fluid, but it does exist. One might say that the more the upright brush is moved to a slanting position to produce special brush effects, the further it departs from calligraphy and the nearer it gets to painting. This is made graphically clear in Figs. 144-47. In 144 the brush is being used for actual writing and is held perpendicularly. In 145 the brush has moved only slightly from the perpendicular, for the method of executing the leaves is similar to writing. In 146, showing the splashed-ink technique, the brush has gone noticeably over to the slant, not only because of the width of the brush stroke but also because the movement of the brush aims at producing certain other effects, which need not concern us here. Fig. 147 illustrates the complete transition from writing to painting; here the brush is being used to begin a wash which will be completed by the water-filled brush held ready in the same hand.