Chinese seal art - between the square inch, the imprint is endless

Chinese seal art originated from the pre-Qin Dynasty, flourished in the Qin and Han Dynasties, to the Tang and Song Dynasties. Ming and Qing dynasty sent the seal to promote to anotherlevel, 'an independent art form', thus engraving art into one Highlighting the development of seal.

On the afternoon of March 15, Wang Jian, a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and director of the Institute of Calligraphy, brought a wonderful lecture entitled Reading and Printing. More than 30 stutents in our school went to listen.

Professor Wang Jian is giving the lecture

Professor Wang Jian first talked about the origin of Chinese seal art, and pointed out the four stages of development of Chinese seal (篆刻) art: the origin and development of seal in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the Qin and Han Dynasty entered a stage of mature development, and formed a perfect seal system; From the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, due to the influence of social unrest, the seal art entered a period of recession; into the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the seal culture gradually evolved from a symbol of power to a social fashion; the Ming and Qing Dynasties and modern times were the peak period of seal development. People regard the seal as an art and express their emotions through it.Later, he successively led the scenes to observe the engraved works of famous literati of all dynasties, such as Zhao Meng’s prints of “round and feminine”. Wu Xi's prints of Faith Peacefulness, Qi Baishi's prints of big-bang, and Chen Julai's printing of Zhuyuan Yurun. On-site teachers and students are all immersed in the edification of exquisite seal art.

Lecture site

At the end of the lecture, Professor Wang Jian pointed out that we couldn’t simply oppose the ancient Chinese culture and modern culture and carry out destructive deconstruction. The correct approach should be to show the tolerance, emphasis and reconstruction of ancient culture. It is really meaningful retro.

This lecture gave our teachers and students a new understanding of the artistic spirit and culture of Chinese seals and engravings, and deeply felt the profound and profound Chinese traditional culture, which played a very good educational effect. 

(Photo / Lin Yiming ；copywriting / Lin Yiming Gao Huijun；interpreter Yvan)

Attachment: Professor Wang Jian's profile

Wang Jian, professor of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, graduate tutor, director of the Calligraphy and Sealing Research Office, and director of the Institute of Calligraphy. Forty years of research and development, calligraphy and painting,  he has held solo exhibitions and joint exhibitions in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Japan, France, Paris and other places since 1980. His works have been widely collected by Chinese and foreign art institutions and individuals. He has published personal works such as Wang Jian Calligraphy, Enlightenment, Carrying with the Encounter and Old Bottle of New Wine.