Introduction
High Aspirations – Yu Youren and Gao Ershi Calligraphy Works Online Exhibition launched by China Cultural Centre in Sydney and the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) as part of NAMOC Activation of Classic Collections Series presents over 20 calligraphy works from Yu Youren and Gao Ershi. The two masters were highly acclaimed with their own unique styles. Although they had different backgrounds, experiences, mentors and perceptions, each of them diligently explored in their own path and attained great achievement.
Through the exhibition, the audience could not only appreciate the individual calligraphic artistic achievement of the two bosom friends, but also touch the charm of the Chinese calligraphic art and the academic and humanistic philosophy of the Chinese calligraphers in the 20th century.
Yu Youren
Yu Youren was a politician, educator and calligrapher. He input the essence of stone rubbing into his cursive writing, absorbed the strength from various schools of calligraphers and formed his own majestic, dashing and natural artistic style. He made great contributions to the development of the Chinese calligraphy and was acclaimed as Sanyuan Cursive Sage. He devoted himself not only to the standardisation and regularisation of cursive script, founding the Standard Cursive Script Society, but also to the systematic sorting out and summary of cursive script of previous generations, establishing the principles of “easy to recognize, easy to write, accuracy, grace” and setting standards for the writing of cursive script, which has been benefiting future generations.
Gao Ershi
Gao Ershi was a scholar, poet and calligrapher. He excelled in the Chinese classic studies and had a profound understanding of the Book of Changes (Zhou Yi). His poetry, academic achievement and calligraphy were well regarded as the “the top one under heaven”. His calligraphy integrated the ancient and modern styles, standing out among the prevailing trends of modern stele rubbing studies by focusing on the study of various schools of calligraphy. This approach was highly valued and reflected his straightforward and upright personality. His calligraphy, based on Zhang-style cursive, studied the calligraphy works from Wang Xizhi, Tang Emperor Taizhong, Sun Guiting, Zhang Xu, Yang Ningshi, Song Ke and others, integrated Dacao style and Jincao style and formed his own style, which featured vigorous brushwork and exceptional skills. He can be truly regarded as the master of the cursive script of his generation.
Yu Youren and his daughter
Gao Ershi and his wife, 1975
Yu Youren and Gao Ershi were old friends, and Yu was more than 20 years older than Gao, which can be called a friendship regardless of age. Gao once composed over 10 poems in response to Yu’s invitation during the Dragon Boat Festival and the Double Ninth Festival in 1947, which demonstrated their long-term friendship. To study them is to explore the essence of calligraphy and the nature of the impact of culture on humans and the role of art in imparting knowledge as well as the Chinese aesthetics through the relations between calligraphers and their works.
