Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
'Saturday, October 17, 1970;
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY 'Saturday, October 17, 1970
art
M
Of Chinese anti quity
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
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OPEN 12:45
Shows at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M.
Feature 20 min. later
By SEWALL OERTLING
The Chinese paintings from
the Earl Morse Collection, now
on display at the University Art
Museum on the second floor,
might not meet one's initial
expectations of Chinese paint-
ing; True, there are mountains
and streams in profusion. Se-
icluded buildings and diminutive
people dot the countryside.
However, one might complain
that these pictures lack the
misty atmosphere, the limitless
distance, and the empty spaces
that for many suggest the mys-
tery of The Chinese intuition
of nature.
Instead of this somewhat ro-
mantic impression of the inatu-
ral world, the paintings in the
exhibit, as one can gather from
the titles, seem more concerned
with a stylistic reinterpretation
of earlier artists. It is obvious
too that the technique of paint-
ing is . a repetitious series of
short ink strokes, and the de-
velopment of space is often al-
most childishly naive. According
to Wang Hui, (1632-1717) the
artist around whom the show
centers, all of these observa-
tions. would be correct defini-
tions of style.
Stop in front of "Landscape
in the Style of Wu Chen." In
Western terms the picture might
be described as pointillistic or
impressionistic, since form is
defined by a series of dots and
short strokes. However, where
our aesthetic would have one
admire the painting from a dis-
tance so that individual brush-
strokes blend into one another,
the Chinese connoisseur de-
mands a critical examination of
Doctor Ross
in benefit
Doctor Ross, one of the hits
of this past summer's Blues;
Festival and full time factory
worker .at General Motors, will
play a benefit concert at 8 p.m.
this evening in the Union Ball-
room.
Tickets, at the door, are two
dollars and proceeds will a i d
t h e Students to Support the
Auto Workers.
the individual stroke. The
amazing variety of ink value
and shapes of these dots, or
tien, give an exciting visual tex-
ture to the picture. The manipu-
lation and massing of these same
basic units, the single brush
mark, infuses the picture with a
rhythmic yet controlled order.
"Landscape in the Style of
Huang Kung-wang," would be
impressive from its size alone.
The scene encompasses a moun-
tain valley with hills rising to
either side, and to the rear a
massive central peak. The «,x-
ecution is similar to the paint-
ing described above, but nere
Wang Hui's abstract definition
of space is clear. Atmospheric
perspective is denied by the
massing of intense black strokes
on the mountain top, logically
the most distant point in the
painting. The high viewpoint al-
lows the artist to arrange the
mountains just as a modern
painter arranges abstract shapes
on his canvas. For Wang Hui, a
landscape is a symbolic paint-
ing which refers to real land-
scapes by analogy, not compar-
ison. He seeks excellence in
technique not in representation.
"Landscapes after Sung and
Yuan masters," i s an album
with individual leaves painted
in the styles of past masters.
As the inscription on the first
leaf of the album "Pursuit of
Antiquity" suggests, the stylistic
definition of these masters in
one of. Wang Hui's chief con-
cerns, and the accumulated tra-
ditions pf the thousand years
I
preceding the seventeenth cen-
century constitute the orthodox
concept of antiquity. The names
Wu Chen and Huang Kung-
wang which were encountered
in the two previous pictures are
a part of this tradition. For
Wang Hui, the act of painting
could only be conceived of in
the terms of a restatement of
the sacrosanct styles of earlier
masters.
These styles are partially de-
finable by subtle changes in the
single strokes which constitute
the picture. Thus you might im-
press a friend by approaching
number 16G (one of the leafs)
and announcing these are "Mi"
dots." "Mi for Mi Fei, the par-
ticular master in question here.
You will either astonish your
companion, or point to the
wrongtpicture. No matter, there
are dots in all of them.
Wang Hui realized, of course,
that here was more to painting
than mere imitation. He sought
to make the older styles a ve-
hicle for his personal expression,
and by understanding and ex-
tracting the artistry from each
antique painter, to move closer
to the heart of his craft.
Our artist might have held a
dialogue with his European con-
temporaries. The seventeenth
century complexes of Versailles
and St. Peter's were, in their
own way, transformations of a
classical tradition. However, the
orthodoxy which in the West
was expressed in architecture,
11
A movieaU
An u anasMoi
apple pie, Daddyb
Scotch-on-die
rocks and little
M ieb hang-ups.
I
wt
'Landscape in the style of Huang Kung-wang'
by Wang Hui
sculpture, and figure painting
took the form of the landscape
in China. As Prof. Richard Ed-
wards, Chairman of the History
of Art department has suggest-
ed, ". . . what the heirs of
Greece accomplished with the
human figure, China accom-
plished with the landscape."
These ideas are brought to-
gether in a long handscroll by
a contemporary of Wang Hui,
Wang Yuan-ch'i (1642-1715).
(The Wang Chu'uan Villa) Re-
peating a theme and composi-
tion inherited from the eighth
century, Yuan-ch'i personalizes
the antique through distinctive
brush strokes and colors. If
Wang Hui and his contempor-
aries engaged in the pursuit of
antiquity, they were just as in-
terested in its recreation.
F -
The
Overland Stage
" The Love Pickle
-premiere
" A Slight Ache
-Pinter
Friday, Oct. 16
Sat., Oct. 11
East Quad Aud.
8:00 P.M. $1.00
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TRANSCENDENTIAL
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As Taught By
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YOGI
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