Tag: Chinese history

The Four Treasures: Paper, ii

The old expression “a picture is worth a thousand words” can be modified for modern times to “a video is worth 10,o00 words”!

In an earlier post, I embedded a video about the process of making paper by hand, as done by Japanese artisans.  This next video, while long, provides a very nice history of paper making in China.  From China, the process moved to other Asian countries.

The process of making paper developed in various areas throughout the world.  While technically not paper, papyrus, in Egypt, was the first plant-based writing surface widely produced and used in the west.  The pith of the plant was used, and long scrolls could be created.  The dry climate of Egypt prevented the growth of mold, which in more damp areas would attack and destroy the papyrus.

In Asia, paper making developed in China around 105 AD during the Han Dynasty.  A court official, Cai Lun, created paper using a variety of plant fibers, rags, and fishnets.  This paper was thinner and more transparent than western paper.  As time passed, the making of paper moved west, and in the Middle East, the world’s first paper mill began production in Baghdad, with a paper factory being developed there by 800 AD.

In the Americas, prior to Columbus, the Mayans by 500 AD had created a parchment called “amatl” from the inner bark of trees. Europe and Africa never developed an abundant plant-based material for writing.  Instead, vellum and parchment were used.  In 1221 AD, a decree from Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared all official documents written on paper to be invalid, but once the Gutenberg’s press came into use, paper was needed as it was cheaper to create, and more abundant than vellum or parchment.  In Europe, the first paper mill was built in Italy by Muslim engineers.  Even with this, paper continued to be an expensive commodity until its mechanization in the 19th century.

Today, paper is everywhere, at least in the world I know.  Paper towels, toilet paper, printer and copier paper, wrapping paper, paper bags, waxed paper, watercolor paper, newspaper, books and magazines.

I love paper!

The Weng Collection and Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library

I have a fairly decent knowledge of different time periods in western art history, and some familiarity with many forms in which it is produced.  I’ve worked with oils, acrylics, watercolors, done etching, stone lithography, and other forms of printmaking.  Being familiar with techniques gives an appreciation of the process the artist goes through to create a work.  I’ve also studied art history a bit, and know what occurred in what time and place, understand the evolution of styles, and can recognize a fair number of renown western artists.

Studying Chinese painting is very different because there is not the cultural context of brush and ink, nor a sense of the symbology of many of the subjects.  To the western eye,  it has been written, much of the painting and ink art of Asia is not understood.  I’m inclined to agree, because although I love the elegance and simplicity of sumi ink painting, my cultural background and training can make the art of Japan and China at times difficult to appreciate.

The Weng Collection – “Treasures Through Six Generations – at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, was eye-opening.  Spanning about 900 years in time, from the 1200s to present day, calligraphy and paintings, large (a 53′ scroll) and small, filled a couple of rooms.  There wasn’t so much that it was overwhelming, but enough to appreciate a sense of time and history in Chinese painting.   It was through this continuum of paintings that I got a sense of history and development, as well as an appreciation for the symbolism, the individuality expressed within traditional subject matter, and, I think, a sense of Chinese cultural time.  I was able to look at a painting and recognize how it was done – the movement of brush and ink, the addition of color.  Brushwork and style was recognizable, as both fine line and more spontaneous styles were shown.  The calligraphy was beautiful, ranging from “letters home” to loved ones, to a large, magnificant scroll of “hu” – tiger.

Newly completed in 2008, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance is nearby the exhibit.  After leaving the exhibit, we wandered down the hill, and into a grove of pine trees – so like the ones depicted in the scrolls in the exhibit, and so like the ones shown as samples in The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. From there, a setting of young black bamboo.

The grove leads to the ponds and streams which have numerous koi, trees (willows and native oak), pavilions, and bridges.  The eye is led here and there.  Details small and large wait to be noticed. Architecture, plants, and water create a living handscroll.

The Weng Collection, the Chinese garden, The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, and my monthly Chinese painting class have conjoined into a single experience.  Somehow, I understand the history of Chinese painting better – nearly a millenia of tradition has been seen (and who has touched these paintings?  who made them?  who unrolled them in lantern light to enjoy them?) – a garden of trees and flowers, an earthly aesthetic – a “how to” book that is about 500 years old, and still being printed – and finally, doing the brushwork myself, as generations have before.

The catalog which accompanies this exhibit is well worth the 25.00 price – I know I will continue to enjoy this exhibit long after it leaves the Huntington. It gives the history of the collection, and detailed information about the work displayed. These pictures will give a sense of the contents.

If you ever have the opportunity to see this exhibit, go! And if you are in the Los Angeles area, visit the Huntington Library. The grounds are incredible. The gardens are beautifully laid out, one leading to another. We went on a Friday, had a picnic on the lawn (you cannot bring food into the gardens), and wandered through galleries, gardens, and had a peaceful time. In four hours we could not see enough. We shall return!

Excursion: Treasures through Six Generations

Tomorrow I will be heading down to the Huntington Library with a friend.  This is a rather pleasant, serendipitous excursion because while in South Pasadena, at Gus’s, I saw a poster for this exhibit, Treasures through Six Generations:  Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Weng Collection. In the back of my mind I thought it would be worthwhile seeing, but not sure if I could organize my life enough to get to it.  The biggest intimidation factor is I just don’t like driving in L.A. traffic!  I’ll be meeting up with my excursion buddy in the valley, and as I am driving the first half, chauffering will be provided the rest of the way.

The Weng Collection has an interesting history behind it.   According to the press release of Feb.23, 2009 from Huntington:

The history of the Weng family and their art collection reads like an epic novel, mirroring the tumult of 19th- and 20th-century China and its ensuing diaspora. Assembled primarily in the second half of the 19th century, the collection is legendary not only for its superb selection—it contains masterpieces of brush and ink spanning 900 years—but also for the remarkable individuals who have been responsible for its formation and safe-keeping. The works of art have survived repeated dynastic changes, protracted warfare, and journeys across continents, remaining almost miraculously unscathed under the care of this family.

The Weng collection has been in the same family for six generations, beginning with Weng Xincun (1791–1862). Xincun’s son Weng Tonghe (1830–1904) and the collection’s current owner, Wan-go Weng (b. 1918), are particularly celebrated for their remarkable achievements.Weng Tonghe, the family patriarch who formed the nucleus of the collection,was a preeminent figure in late Qing China.He rose to prominence when he placed first in the 1856 metropolitan exams for the jinshi degree and became a zhuangyuan (“First Scholar of the Nation,” as Wan-go Weng likes to say). Weng went on to tutor two emperors, Tongzhi (r.1862–74) and Guangxu (r. 1875–1908). The latter studied with him for a total of 24 years and regarded him as his closest adviser. In addition, Weng also held some of the highest positions in the government. He is remembered in history as the leader of the pro-war faction during the Sino-Japanese war in 1894–1895 and, through his introduction of the radical reformer Kang Youwei (1858–1927) to Guangxu, for his early influence on the emperor’s Hundred Days’Reform in 1898.

Weng Tonghe’s collection was passed down to Wan-go Weng, who brought it to the United States in 1948. Wan-go Weng is himself a modern-day Renaissance man—filmmaker,poet, scholar and civic leader—whose English films and publications on Chinese history and art have been widely influential among both scholars and general readers. Under his leadership in the mid 1980s, the New York–based China Institute rebuilt its reputation as one of the leading centers for the promotion of Chinese culture in the United States . . . .

The gardens at the Huntington Library are renown.  There are themed gardens, such as a Chinese one which is a perfect parallel for the Weng exhibit, a Japanese garden, a desert garden, a Shakespeare garden, and more.  If you want to see what is in bloom, for instance, this month, you can click here.

I’ve lived in California most of my adult life, within close proximity of the Huntington – never more than 100 miles – but this is my first trip, and I’m as excited as a kid going to Disneyland!