Intoxicated Dancing (II)

No image available

醉舞下山去

1981

calligrapher

Wang Fangyu 王方宇

(American, born China, 1913–1997)

Culture

America, New Jersey

Medium

ink on paper

Measurements

Image: 66.7 x 49.8 cm (26 1/4 x 19 5/8 in.); Overall: 142.2 x 73.7 cm (56 x 29 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Wang Shaofang in memory of his father Wang Fangyu and Sum Wai 2024.157

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Wang Fangyu viewed calligraphy as the writing of pictures, returning to the character’s origins, which were pictographs.

Description

Characters inclined slightly to the left or right glide almost effortlessly through space and over the picture plane, suggesting the inebriated state of the homeward-bound subject.

While one Chinese tradition was to enjoy art while inebriated, the artist rarely imbibed and was never seen intoxicated. That said, he still appreciated the tradition. In this piece, note the oddly tilted characters and the ease with which the brush seemed to have flowed.