Study On The Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Creation In Taiwan

The history and culture of Taiwan originate from the mainland of China. The fine arts of Taiwan including the art of calligraphy have become one of the key objectives studied by the Taiwanese scholars of fine arts history. By considering that the study of Chinese calligraphy involves multiple fields, this article focuses on the contemporary creation of calligraphy art in Taiwan only, attempting to do some relatively deeper researches.The word of "contemporary" does not mean an exact concept of time because the period cannot be defined unanimously. However, undoubtedly it is closest connected with the current time. In this article, "contemporary" means the period starting from the year 1945 when Taiwan was recovered from Japanese occupation and returned to the Chinese cultural system. And accordingly, the artistic style of the calligraphy stepped into a new historical era. So, this article focuses on researching the artistic styles and phenomenon of the calligraphy art creations in Taiwan since then. By integrating the achievements of the forerunners'study and the materials that have been published in the recent years and by observing the performances of the typical calligraphers at current time, the author aims at sketching out the transformation of the calligraphy styles in the recent half century in Taiwan. Due to the large quantity of the materials, omissions can hardly be avoided. Hopefully a rough picture could be shown.The section of preamble summarizes the origins of the artistic styles of the Taiwanese calligraphy art since the early period of the Qing Dynasty, the representative calligraphers and the characteristics of their artistic styles. By integrating the analysis of the forerunners and consulting the related documents, the author describes briefly the transformations of the artistic styles of the Taiwanese calligraphy art during the period from early stage to the Japanese occupationChapter one reviews the artistic styles of the native calligraphy art and its continuation in Taiwan during and after the Japanese occupation. It mainly describes the representative calligraphers who lived around the recovery of Taiwan and their creation practices. While, unfortunately many of these calligraphers seldom created calligraphy works for some reasons after the war and many materials were lost, so that it is hard to describe them completely in detail.Chapter two combs the artistic creations in the calligraphy field of Taiwan during the period from 1949 to 1987. With the emphasis on Yu Youren, Pu Xinshe, Tai Jingnong and Jiang Zhaoshen, it introduces some representative calligraphers that migrated to Taiwan from the mainland including military and political senior leaders, scholars and painters. The different cultural backgrounds and artistic characteristics of them as well as their influences upon the calligraphy circle of Taiwan were described.Chapter three describes the development trend of the pluralism in artistic creation of the Taiwanese calligraphy field since 1988. Along with the opening of the society and the afflux of western thoughts, many calligraphers have been actively pursuing various modes of their artistic expressions. They have been thinking about how to continue with the past and open up the future for the calligraphy art so as to form the so-called contemporary calligraphy. On the other hand, with the transformation of the social structure, more and more female calligraphers are coming into the stage, which reinforces the pluralism feature of the current calligraphy circle of Taiwan.Chapter four analyzes the calligraphy exhibitions held by the Taiwan authority and the calligraphy phenomenon characterized by teaching-sect leagues. After the recovery of Taiwan, the provincial exhibitions of fine arts began in 1946 and were stopped in 2006. Meanwhile, the section of calligraphy was not added into the provincial exhibitions until the year 1967. By collecting works publically and assessment the calligraphy works were ranked. Besides hard practising the writing skills, all the participants racked their wits with designing the layouts of their calligraphy works. The contests that had been held for forty times produced a special phenomenon of calligraphy trend. By analyzing the exhibited calligraphy works, this chapter tries to probe into the transformation of their patterns, artistic styles and the written contents. Otherwise, some typical calligraphy leagues characterized by teaching sects are discussed too.Conclusion:the evolution of the artistic styles of the Taiwanese calligraphy that has lasted for sixty years since 1945 produced a memorable history of Chinese calligraphy art. In the latest over twenty years, with the social transformation in Taiwan and the inburst of western artistic thoughts, lots of calligraphers have been considering innovations on the basis of continuing the traditions. Along with the rapid economical development in the mainland of China, the lives of the people have been improved to a higher level. Comparing with Taiwan, both the population of calligraphy work creators and the study of calligraphy theories in the mainland have been increased rapidly, the calligraphy fashion is more various and colorful, and the quantity of publications of studying the new and old materials is larger. With the more and more frequent calligraphy exchanges between both sides of the strait, the calligraphy atmosphere of Taiwan will present new sceneries.