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M+, Hong Kong, © Tong Yang-Tze
Tong Yang-Tze 董陽孜
Like the eternal orbiting of the Heavens that fortify the man of principles, I shall fortify myself without cease 天行健君子自強不息
1990
Tong Yang-Tze’s bold and untrammelled calligraphy practice has infiltrated popular culture in Taiwan, redefining this traditional art form as contemporary and versatile. Steeped in traditional arts since childhood, Tong trained as an oil painter and later pursued her post-graduate studies in the United States during the 1960s. She returned to Taiwan in 1973, fiercely committed to advancing the status of calligraphy. Her training in Western media influenced her approach to spatial relations and heightened the potential for expressive power embedded in her lines.
The nine characters of the titular phrase are inscribed in this monumental calligraphic work and are meant to be read from right to left, the classical orientation of Chinese calligraphy. Tong began producing large-scale works in 1990, augmenting the size of her work and increasing the length of the classical phrases and idioms she selected. Somewhere between gestural abstraction and eccentric cursive calligraphy, the speed and gravity of her movements in this work reach a crescendo on the third panel from the right, with characters whose size and opacity intensify at ‘fortify myself’. The extraordinary size of the characters suggests both the depth of Tong’s conviction and the physical challenge of writing.
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