Description: For 1,300 years, Chinese calligraphy was based on the elegant art of Wang Xizhi (A.D. 303-361). But the emergence in the 17th century of a style modeled on the rough, broken epigraphs of ancient artifacts led to the formation of the stele school. Eminent calligrapher and art theorist Fu Shan (1607-1685) was a dominant force in this school.
Brief description: Qianshen Bai is Assistant Professor of Chinese and Asian Art at Boston University.
Review Quotes: This is an ambitious and wide-ranging book. Qianshen Bai endeavors to construct the historical circumstances under which the scholar-artist Fu Shan (1607-1684) contributed to dramatic changes in the practice of calligraphy during the late seventeenth century... There is much to be learned in the densely argued pages of this book. By analyzing the craft of Fu's calligraphy, Bai generously shares his own expertise as a calligrapher, which doubtless aided his comprehension of Fu Shan's famously difficult writing.--Anne Burkus-Chasson "China Review International"