The Art of the Medal by Mark Jones (review)

Books 329 sort one cannot treat aesthetics or philosophy in depth; and yet, for the author to return so often in his discussion to the writingsandcomments of Western critics and artists- from John Ruskin toJackson Pollockis hardly helpful towards the understanding of this unique art form. This criticism cannot be levelled at Michael Sullivan’s next book, ChineseLandscape Painting. Vol.II: The Sui and TangDynasties, which is a much more detailed study of the craft as it flourished in the lateVIth through early Xth centuries. While dealing with painting in its cultural and historical context, much in the same way as in the above work, the author has managed to get more to the heart of the Chinese landscape. At the very least, his inclusion of a good number of quotations from the Chinese literati of the period helps one to gain more of a grasp of the Taoist and Confucian, as well as Buddhist, ideas and ideals which are inseparable from the art. A chapter on T’ang Aesthetics is especially valuable in its analysis of important concepts such as that of ch’i-yun (spirit resonance) and shen ch’i (divine breath), as well as in its exposition of the intertwining of poetry and painting, and the inseparability of these from both morality and philosophy in general. From the author’s standpoint, the fundamental irony of this period must be that nothing remains of the work of the Tang masters themselves, even though it is these who ‘advanced the art so significantly’ and who laid the foundations for the greatness of the Northern Sung period. Thus, he is limited to basing his thesis largelyon a study of contemporary paintings discovered in shrines and caves, as well as later works- some in foreign collections- which can be seenas derivingfrom or sustaining the influenceof the T’ang masters. (Perhaps the most intriguing of all of the paintings dealt with are those which appear on a group of musical instruments now located in Japan.) Ultimately, however, it is through the writings of the poets andcritics of the period that Sullivan is able to weave the data into a coherent and quite readable whole. An interesting facet of the book is the inclusion of what the author calls a ‘grammar’ or ‘repertory’ of plant and tree forms, arranged broadly into categories such as ‘GardenPlants’and ‘Distant Trees’,and illustrated largely from the paintings in the caves of Tun Huang and elsewhere.These illustrations, along with the many which relate to the text proper, make of this a fairly comprehensive introduction to the painting of the period- and one which should be of interest toboth the scholar and the more casual reader. Shen Fu’s Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy, on the other hand, will probably appeal most to the student of calligraphy and painting, even though the eleganceand power of the illustrationswillbe apparent to the layman as well. Originally printed asthe catalogue of an exhibition held at both the Yale University Art Gallery and the University Art Museum in Berkeley,California, this second edition of the book treats in exhaustive detail the development of the five main kinds of Chinese calligraphy- examples of which form the bulk of the exhibition. Before launching his discussion of the latter, however, the author concentrates on some of the problems of scholarship in this area- for example, that of making the distinction between an original work and a forgery, or a forgery and a legitimate copy, as well as determining which of the five main ways of copying was used. As with landscape painting, here too a particularly inspiring work by a renowned master might generate hundreds of copies. The catalogue is as richly illustrated as the two preceding books, and includes many details of characters or passages for the purpose of comparison with forged or copied equivalents. There are also a number of reproductions of painted scrollswhich bear witnessonce again to the inseparable marriage of landscape painting, poetry and calligraphy in Chinese art. Supplemental to the essays themselves- one of which is devoted exclusively to a discussion of the work of Chu Yun-ming, perhaps the greatest of the MingcaUigraphers- isthe catalogueproper...