Calligraphy of Images: Artworks by Yukei Teshima

Abstract

Postwar Japanese calligraphy has been little studied in Western art history, and in particular, there is no analysis of the work of one of the most important calligraphers of postwar Japan,Yukei Teshima (1901–1987). The relevance of this research lies in the fact that the Calligraphy of Images (Japanese “Shosho”), created by the master, is an example of building a dialogue between fundamentally different traditions of Western and Eastern art, a dialogue that allows the calligrapher to see the uniqueness of Japanese calligraphy, including its spiritual and aesthetic content. The purpose of this study is to determine the specifics of Teshima’s work, using the example of his most famous artworks: “Hokai” (literally “Collapse”) (1957), containing the image of houses collapsing one after another from the explosions of aerial bombs at the end of World War II; and “Tsubame” (“Swallow”) (1960), giving rise to the feeling of flight through a “dancing” movement of a bird. The authors conclude that, although Tesima’s “calligraphic paintings” show a connection simultaneously with the Chinese roots of Japanese calligraphy and the avant-garde painting of the West, the calligrapher remains faithful to the Japanese artistic and aesthetic tradition. Unlike Chinese calligraphy, traditionally understood as a tool for “nurturing life”, or avant-garde painting generated by Western conceptuality, Teshima’s calligraphy expresses the Buddhist ideals of accepting one’s destiny (one’s path to enlightenment) and lack of attachment. The calligrapher uses the “hisshoku” (“rusty brush”) writing technique, which involves “overcoming” the brush and conveying the tactile sensation of a stroke (a symbol of overcoming the materiality of the world), and also forms the “boundless space” of the sheet, i. e. “aki”, which he calls “Space of [divine] love” and connects with the free soaring of the spirit.