Online Lecture: Wild Cursive Calligraphy, Poetry, and Buddhist Monks in the Eighth Century and Beyond

This talk, organised by the National Central Library (Taiwan), the Center for Chinese Studies (Taiwan), and the National Library of Latvia, will take the audience into the strange and enchanting world of the wild cursive calligraphy when it first appeared in China in the late seventh and early eighth century. It will also discuss its development in history as it went from being perceived as a magical act unattainable by human power to a specialized skill manageable by learning. Retaining great capacity for artistic expression, the wild cursive calligraphy transformed in time as personal identity, intention, and choice of historical models varied in the hands of individual calligraphers, making it one of the most important styles in Chinese calligraphy.

About the Speaker:

Hui-Wen LU 盧慧紋 is Professor and Director of the Graduate Institute of Art History at National Taiwan University. She received her PhD in Chinese art and archaeology from Princeton University. Her field of specialty is history of calligraphy and painting in pre-modern China. She is particularly interested in exploring how calligraphers worked and responded during times of political and cultural uncertainties, and the various ways in which the art of calligraphy correlates to other fields of study, such as literature, religion, material culture and print culture.

Online lecture:

https://tinyurl.com/xs2y5z5p
Meeting ID: 871 8539 8207
Passcode: 445161