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Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Chinese Philosophy Année : 2014

Tang Dynasty Aesthetic Criteria: Zhang Huaiguan's Shuduan

Résumé

The Shuduan《書斷》 (Judgments on Calligraphers) by Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang dynasty comprises classifications of calligraphy that Chinese theoreticians still refer to. This article aims at considering the functioning and efficacy of such evaluations through a study comparing this work to other treatises and, when relevant, to the European tradition. Its main objective is to examine how Chinese aesthetic theory responded to new evaluative needs that appeared during this crucial period in Chinese history. Thus, it seeks to clarify the nature of the criteria adopted by Zhang Huaiguan for his gradings: are they material, ideological, aesthetic, or of another nature? The treatise Shuduan《書斷》(Judgments on Calligraphers) composed during the Tang dynasty by Zhang Huaiguan 張懷瓘 (active ca. 724-760) comprises classifications (pin 品) of calligraphy that Chinese theoreticians still refer to. The theory concerning this art differs in many respects from that applied to Western arts. First, it concerns practices not, or rarely found in the West, such as the art of writing, commonly translated by ''calligraphy,'' or ink painting. When the Chi-nese tradition offers a theorization of an artistic activity that exists in the West, literature or poetry for instance, problems arise if one tries to translate or understand such theorization, which belongs to a specific register of Chinese literary art. It also reflects certain general characteristics of Chinese thought: classifications, lists, rankings are to be found everywhere in Chinese texts. Though they have excited the curiosity of writers such as Jorge Luis Borges or Michel Foucault, 2 they are not often studied as objects in themselves. 3 They seem to reflect a need for hierarchization, from a cosmogonic and political viewpoint. Zhang Huaiguan's theoretical work allows us to apprehend concretely the functioning of a ranking system for calligraphy, considered
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hal-02534394 , version 1 (23-04-2020)

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Yolaine Escande. Tang Dynasty Aesthetic Criteria: Zhang Huaiguan's Shuduan. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 2014, 41 (1-2), pp.148-169. ⟨10.1111/1540-6253.12093⟩. ⟨hal-02534394⟩
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