This book explores Chinese calligraphy and painting from an aesthetic perspective, using modern visual theory to analyze the theoretical implications of the relationship between ancient Chinese literati painting and calligraphy, in contrast to Western aesthetic traditions.

It highlights the action-oriented nature of Chinese calligraphy and painting, demonstrating that these art forms should be viewed not as static images, but as dynamic traces of the artist's expressive movements.

This book is ideal for those interested in aesthetics, art historians, scholars of visual theory, and anyone fascinated by the dynamic essence of Chinese artistic traditions.

The first book to explore Chinese calligraphy and painting aesthetics through the lens of body movements Presents Chinese painting and calligraphy as traces of the artist's emotionally expressive actions Distinguishes between ancient Chinese and European concepts of painting with in-depth analysis

Autorentext

Gao Jianping, Ph.D. in Aesthetics of Uppsala University, Sweden, Research Fellow of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Professor of Shenzhen University. Currently, he is the President of Chinese Society for Aesthetics, and was served as the President of the International Association of Aesthetics (2013-2016). His representative books include Aesthetics and Art: Traditional and Contemporary China in a Comparative Perspective (English), and L'esprit Esth*étique Chinois* (French), as well as more than 20 books in Chinese.

Inhalt

Introduction Chinese Society and Literati Painting.- The Quality of a Line.- The Relationships Between Lines.- The Act of Painting Part One: Performance, Expression, and Strength.- The Act of Painting Part Two: Momentum, Rhythm, and Time.- Painter, Painting, and the Painted: Penetrating the Appearance of the World.- Painter, Painting, and the Painted: Demonstrating the Self through Action.- A Unity of Expressive Act.