pt at large
The Art of Japanese Calligraphy: 6 PM lecture at Harvard University’s Sackler Museum
February 11, 2005
The lecture coincided with an exhibit entitled “Marks of Enlightenment, Traces of Devotion: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection” on display until April, 2005.
I know next to nothing about Japanese calligraphy other than the fact that reminds me of abstract impressionism and is often associated with Zen Buddhism. Based on this lecture and the accompanying exhibition at the Sackler, I would say that by following the development of Japanese calligraphy, one could trace the development of religion, history, and culture in Japan.
The exhibit is from the collection of a remarkable pair of Harvard professors, Sylvan Barnet and William Burto, who began acquiring art in the 1960s, and spans the 8th through the 20th centuries. The show aims to offer “an introduction to the religious, literary, and calligraphic traditions of Japan” with “special emphasis on sumptuous, painstakingly rendered Buddhist scriptures and powerful examples of monochrome Zen calligraphy that dazzle viewers with their elegance, simplicity, and expressive force.” It works. 
The key to making this exhibit understandable for neophytes like me is the series of informative panel texts (see addendum below) that lead the viewer through the development of calligraphy as a communication and art form in Japan. Without those panels, The Adventurer would have been lost soul as he tried to make sense of early Buddhist scriptures from the 7th to 13th centuries, Japanese poetry which includes text and images, casual writings in the form of diaries and letters writings, portraits called “ink traces” by noted Zen priests, and modern works including a four panel folding screen titled ‘Dragon Knows Dragon’. And who knew that Japanese calligraphy descended from Chinese pictograms and characters of the 6th century?
That boldly brushed, saffron and black colored screen in the last room of the chronologically ordered exhibit stopped me in my tracks. It would be right at home with the abstract impressionist paintings in Harvard’s Fogg Museum right across the street or the Museum of Modern Art.
In a moment of enlightenment that might have pleased Buddha, I sensed the evolution of Japan’s calligraphic styles when I remembered trying to read the original handwriting on the Declaration of Independence, thinking how old fashioned it seemed. The styles of Japanese calligraphy, English and American handwriting, even my own penmanship have continually evolved over time. A perfect lesson for this grasshopper: accept impermanence, embrace change, grow.
Link: http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/sackler/marks_of_enlightenment.html
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