> A fantastic book by Stephen Addiss that many of you will no doubt
appreciate:
>
> http://worldcat.org/oclc/65187376

>
> Jake Benson
>
..............................................

Thanks a lot, Jake san, for bringing this to our attention.
Googeling a bit more

77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568-1868

Location:Birmingham Museum of Art

This exhibition examines the remarkably creative flowering of the art of
writing during Japan's early modern period beginning in the mid-16th
century. During the three ensuing centuries, text ranging from thorny Zen
conundrums to gossamer haiku poems were written with verve, energy, and
creativity, displaying how deeply calligraphy had penetrated into the social
fabric of Japan.

Borrowing from private and public collections across the United States, the
exhibition features 77 works including a pair of six-panel screens, hanging
scrolls, handscrolls, framed fan paintings, albums, tanzaku (poem cards),
and ceramics. The exhibition is unique in that it visually expresses the
mind of historically important Japanese poets, scholars and monks.

http://www.800alabama.com/things-to-do/events/details.cfm?id=5612


.........................................................................

On view from October 12 to December 10, 2006, 77 Dances: Japanese
Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568-1868, presents seventy-seven
hanging scrolls, fan paintings, albums, poem cards, and ceramics, that
examine the flowering of the art of writing during Japan's early modern
period.

Each piece communicates the traditional belief that freedom of the brush is
a true revelation of one's personality and a means of individual expression
while allowing the viewer a glimpse into the culture that held calligraphy
in such high esteem. 77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks, and
Scholars, 1568-1868, presents to Western audiences, for the first time, a
full range of early modern Japanese calligraphy.

In East Asia, calligraphy has been considered the highest of all forms of
art for more than fifteen centuries. Represented in this exhibition is
artwork created during the Momoyama and Edo periods (1568-1868) when Japan
was ruled by powerful shoguns, the arts flourished, and the interest in
calligraphy was revitalized. During this early modern period, peace and
prosperity replaced civil warfare, thus artistic production and patronage
was greater than ever.

The appreciation of calligraphy is due, in part by the noble position held
by the scholar-artist and the expressive potential of more than fifty
thousand characters written in six different forms of scripts with an
infinite number of graphic variations. Calligraphy was practiced by
classical and Chinese-style poets, Confucian scholars, literati artists, Zen
monks, devotees of courtly waka poetry, and haiku. Although scripts and
styles may be viewed in historical and cultural contexts, the primary focus
of the exhibition revolves around an understanding of the works as
individual dances of line and form in space.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated
by Stephen Addiss, Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities-Art and
Professor of Art History at the University of Richmond. The exhibition and
publication are made possible in part with the generous support of The
Blakemore Foundation, The Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies,
with additional funding from the University of Richmond's Cultural Affairs
Committee and the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund. An illustrated exhibition
catalogue, published by Shambhala Publications, is available for purchase at
the University of Richmond Museums. 77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by
Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568-1868 will travel to the Birmingham Museum
of Art, Alabama; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York; and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, Delray
Beach, Florida.

with some photos
http://museums.richmond.edu/hmaexhibitions/77dances.html


......................................................................

The book begins with basic information on calligraphy, followed by six main
sections, each representing a major facet of the art, with an introductory
essay followed by detailed analyses of the seventy-seven featured works. The
essays include:

The revival of Japanese courtly aesthetics in writing out waka poems on
highly decorated paper
The use of Chinese writing styles and script forms
Scholars who took up the brush to compose poems in Chinese expressing their
Confucian ideals
Calligraphy by major literati poets and painters
The development of haiku as practiced by master poet-painters
The work of famous Zen masters such as Hakuin and Ryokan

...........................................................With more photos
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-0-8348-0571-2.cfm


Greetings from Japan
GABI


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