Wild Cursive Calligraphy, Poetry, and Buddhist Monks in the Eighth Century and Beyond

Huiwen Lu, professor of art history at National Taiwan University, takes the audience into the strange and enchanting world of wild cursive calligraphy when it first appeared in China in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Lu looks at the development of this script in history as it went from being perceived as a magical act unattainable by human power to a specialized skill manageable by learning. Retaining a great capacity for artistic expression, wild cursive calligraphy transformed over time as personal identity, intention, and choice of historical models varied in the hands of individual calligraphers.