Have you ever wondered why Chinese paintings have writing in them? Did the painter do the writing or was it someone else? And if so, who? What does it say? Did the painter deliberately leave room for it? How did painting, poetry and calligraphy merge into this beautiful art form?

The Three perfections is the gathering of poets, calligraphers, and painters to create an artwork in ancient China. The resulting product would be a painting that would include the work of a calligrapher to write a poem.

Legend holds that the Tang Dynasty poets Du Fu and Li Bai (see Bob’s post below) were the first to introduce the combination of painting and poetry into one artwork. However, according to Pang, painting was not equated with poetry until the eleventh century, in the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). Scholars who were versed in poetry and calligraphy adopted painting as a vehicle of self-expression. (Pang)

The merging of poetry and painting became so valued that artists at the Northern Song Imperial Painting Academy included the integration of poetry and painting. Painters would be given old poems to paint. For instance, how would you paint:

Treading the flowers returning home,
Horse hooves are fragrant.

This practice of painting old poems as a method of learning this tradition was called painting "poetic ideas," shi’i.

According to Leni Rubinstein, great paintings were not just used to decorate walls and match the couch, they were meant to inspire and cultivate the personalities of the individuals participating. They would be shown at gatherings as a sort of "live painting con­cert," or perhaps hung on a wall for a short while for a special occasion, or sent as a "letter" to a good friend.

A poet would write a poem inspired by a painting, a painter paint a poem-or com­pose a poem, then paint-and maybe put the poem on the painting. In this way, there developed the beautiful and unique idea: "a painting within the poem, a poem within the painting.

As a result, a common expression emerged, the "soundless poem," to describe how one might experience a painting with sound, sight, smell, touch, and emotions. Painting was regarded as ‘silent poetry’, and poetry as ‘painting with sound’. And adding to the interplay between poetry and painting was the was the third perfection, calligraphy.

Here are some symbols seen in Chinese paintings. The development of the Chinese characters for “mountain”  (shan) [top] and “water” (shui) [bottom] is shown from left to right. The concepts of “stillness” and “movement” are conveyed through the forms of the characters themselves. (Calligraphy by Dr. Kenneth Chang) 

In Confucian philosophy, mountains are an image of calm stillness, and water, of movement and change-hence, of the complementary concepts of Being and Becoming. Thus, the skilled artist can use his works to address and portray the trans­formations and subtleties of the universe.

 

Here’s an essay and website if you'd like to read more.

The Great Art of China's 'Soundless Poems'.

Be prepared, Bob and I might just break out the brushes, ink, and paper and have you all create your own soundless poems!

Lee