The History of Calligraphy in Europe and China

At the closing of The Way of Writing exhibition, two four-days retreats were organized in the Island of Murano. In the first, the Chinese calligrapher Wang Fei gave a one day workshop, followed by three days with Monica Dengo on abstract compositions. In the second retreat, Ewan Clayton and Monica Dengo shared their experiences on the link between the act of mark-making and the act of writing.

Ewan Clayton also gave a lecture on The History of Calligraphy in China and Europe
Ewan says: I'm approaching China and the topic of Chinese calligraphy much like Marco Polo— from the outside. I have a professional interest in this area, but I am a practicing calligrapher in the European tradition not the Chinese. The subject of this talk, as you know, is the history of Chinese and Western calligraphy, and that topic is vast. So I have set myself several goals. The first objective is to explain where the two different writing systems come from - their origins helps explain the different status both calligraphic systems enjoy in their cultures and the way they developed. At its most basic I would say the European system is essentially about recording something, the Chinese is about expressing something. Along the way I will notice certain similarities between both systems and I will also discuss some of the differences...