Madame Wei, ancient calligrapher

2016-08-10 Source：theworldofchinese

In the Jin Dynasty (265-420 A.D.), during a time when the study of calligraphy was in full swing and at the forefront of intellectual fashion, there lived one who would come to be known as a great calligraphic master. The study of this art form, or indeed any studying at all, however, was only open to males and although entire schools of thought and theories of techniques were emerging with gathering momentum, contributions came only from one sex. A lack of education, perversely, was actually seen as a desirable female virtue. So perhaps when we introduce this ‘master’, the term ‘mistress’ is more applicable for the later renowned ‘Madame Wei‘ 卫夫人, ancient Chinese calligrapher.

Madame Wei was born in Hedong An city, 河東安, with the name Wei Shou 卫铄 into an eminent scholarly family who had set up the Northern School of painting and calligraphy, characterized by its bold strokes in contrast to the more formal, professional style of the Southern School.

Although her uncle was an outstanding calligrapher, when young Wei Shou developed a deep interest in calligraphy, he did not allow her to pursue her passion as it was not her place. She was instead given the role of something as a helper, grinding the inkslab or attending to the males of her family while they pursued the art un-forbidden to them. In secret, she would later recreate and practice the strokes she had seen in her own room. Eventually these works were discovered by her uncle, who begrudgingly admitted that her beautiful handwriting was too good to waste.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for women to have been prevented from being recognized in the literary and artistic sphere. Madame Wei was born into a privileged family and married a man the equivalent of a governor of a province—a man with a reputable career—and even still it is remarkable that her name today has been remembered and her work credited to her personally. In contrast, the lack of monumental works, both in terms of pieces of art and books of theories, attributed to women is probably in part due to the ones which were authored by females were claimed instead by their husbands or male relatives. Unfortunately, solid proof of authorship was generally needed to dispel the cloud of suspicion regarding to a woman claiming work as her own. Women, without recognition, ‘ghostwriting’ for their male counterparts would seem not to have been an uncommon situation. But sadly their names go unrecorded in history.

Madame Wei’s story can still be told, however. After studying the work of another master, the traditional method of learning calligraphy, she was not satisfied, and instead developed her own whole style. It was thinner and more elegant, and tried to capture real vigor. For example, it is said that she aimed to encapsulate the action of a stone falling from a cliff in just her ‘dot’ stroke “、”. Today she is generally accepted as the author of ‘Diagram of the Battle Formation of the Brush’ 笔阵图 (bi zhen tu) which documents her opinions on what makes good handwriting and is the first to break the components of Chinese characters into seven basic brush strokes. She was also the teacher of Wang Xizhi 王羲之, who himself has been recorded as one of history’s great calligraphic masters. His own free and running styles are thought to have been largely influenced by her teaching.

Madame Wei’s work is still widely sought after and admired today, so people can have a look and see if they agree with original comments which compare her handwriting to ‘a beautiful girl dancing’. Her main tip for beginners of calligraphy—today a well-grounded teaching method—is to start writing characters as big as possible, to focus most on the form and style first. Something to bear in mind when you get around to having a go！