Three Perfections: Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting
July 26, 2012 – January 2013
Pavilion for Japanese Art, East Wing
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
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Since about the 11th century in China special esteem has been given to the arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Beginning in the imperial academy in China and spreading to the landed gentry, emphasis on poetry in the arts developed with the ultimate goal becoming unfettered expression of the soul of the artist through composition and brush play.
This literati ideal took hold across East Asia, and experienced a renaissance in Japan with scholar poet-painters in the late 17th to 19th centuries.
The value of calligraphy in the visual arts of Japan and all East Asia cannot be overstated; indeed, the art of painting, while employing similar brushes, is ranked below calligraphy in the aesthetic hierarchy of East Asian art.
Though understanding the content or meaning of a written phrase certainly adds enjoyment to viewing calligraphy; the writing itself can be appreciated purely on aesthetic grounds.
In this exhibition, the so-called “three perfections” of poetry, calligraphy and painting find their expression in both Chinese and Japanese poetry, in Zen aphorisms, and in ink-based paintings brushed to illustrate the sentiment of a poem or story.
This installation of hanging scrolls from LACMA’s permanent collection features calligraphed poems or Zen sayings, and paintings with inscriptions.
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Museum hours:
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 11am – 5pm
Friday, 11am – 8pm
Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 7pm
Closed Wednesdays
For further information about Japanese art exhibitions at LACMA, call (323) 857-6565