Brushes with power : modern politics and the Chinese art of calligraphy / Richard Curt Kraus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kraus, Richard Curt.

Series:

ACLS Fellows' Publications.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Calligraphy, Chinese--Political aspects.

Calligraphy, Chinese.

China--Cultural policy.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 208 p. ) ill. ;

Other Title:

Modern politics and the Chinese art of calligraphy

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Chinese calligraphy has traditionally been an emblem of the ruling class and its authority. After a century of mass revolution, what is the fate of this elite art? Richard Kraus explores the relationship beween politics and the art of writing in China today to explicate the complex relationship between tradition and modernity in Chinese culture. His study draws upon a wide range of sources, from political documents, memoirs, and interviews with Chinese intellectuals to art exhibitions and television melodramas.Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders gave calligraphy a revolutionary role, believing that their beloved art reflected the luster of authoritative words and deeds. Calligraphy was joined with new propagandistic mass media to become less a private art and more a public performance. It provided politically engaged citizens with subtle cues to changing power relationships in the People's Republic.Claiming neither that the Communists obliterated traditional culture nor that revolution failed to relieve the burden of China's past, this study subtly examines the changing uses of tradition in a modernizing society.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART ONE The Institution of Calligraphy in Imperial China

ONE Chinese Calligraphy as a System of Power

TWO Demystifying Chinese Characters

THREE The Legend of the Calligraphy Sage, Wang Xizhi

FOUR The Brush as an Instrument of Rule

FIVE Art Criticism as Political Commentary

PART TWO Calligraphy and Revolution

SIX The Cultural Dilemma of the Revolutionary Elite

SEVEN The Gentlemen Scholars of the Central and South Lakes

EIGHT The Failed Assault on Chinese Characters

NINE Leninist Calligraphy for Mass Politics

TEN Cultural Revolution Calligraphy: Big Characters and Leftist Lines

ELEVEN Evil Characters, Poison Pens

TWELVE The Unsuccessful Penmanship of Chairman Hua Guofeng

PART THREE Postrevolutionary Calligraphy

THIRTEEN Calligraphy's New C onventions

FOURTEEN A Personal Art in a Changing Society

FIFTEEN The Orchid Pavilion's Modern Legacy

NOTES

CREDITS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-197) and index.

ISBN:

9780520910898

0520910893

9780585043784

0585043787

OCLC:

1408682443

Publisher Number:

2027/heb33059 hdl