CALLIGRAPHY

TO THE TEACHER:

OBJECTIVES OF THIS UNIT:  To give students an introduction to calligraphy 's emergence as an art form during the Six Dynasties period, provide a background on  various script types and styles and the aesthetic criteria used to evaluate calligraphic works, and  to encourage students to investigate the bases of  traditional Chinese notions regarding the close relationship between style and individual personality. 

TEACHING STRATEGIES:  The material in this section can be linked to other aspects of elite culture, including the practice of other art forms (e.g., poetry, painting, and music), education and literacy, and Daoist and Confucian attitudes towards the individual and the cultivation of the educated person.  Links to social and political uses of art can be explored through a discussion of the collecting  practices of the imperial house and the scholar class.

TIMING:  In a chronologically-ordered course, the Calligraphy unit should accompany other materials dealing with the Six Dynasties and Tang periods.  As calligraphic skill in many regards serves as a basis for painting technique, and the rise of  calligraphy to "high art" status preceded that of painting by hundreds of years, the  Calligraphy unit should be used as a precursor to Painting if both units are taught.