The fundamental principle in the art of calligraphy is to express with the brush the intrinsic beauty in the form of the written word.  The basis for calligraphy is the written word.  Without the written word, there is no calligraphy.  Each culture has its own form of written word, and each has developed its own form of calligraphy based on these writings.  However, the art of writing based on the Chinese written word is considered the highest expression in the calligraphic arts.  There are two basic attributes that enhance the artistic potential of Chinese calligraphy.  First, the infinite shapes and forms of the Chinese written word.  The numerous scripts and styles encourage calligraphers to expand and explore different ways of expression.  Secondly, the basic tools used in writing – the flexible Chinese brush, the rich ink, and the highly absorbent hsuan paper – offer results different from any other implements.  Wang Fangyu

            The horse is the seventh animal in the Chinese zodiac and a symbol of speed, endurance, strength, and loyalty.  Wang Fangyu’s Horse in the Seattle Art Museum is technically a cursive rendition of a pictographic ma 馬 (horse) character derived from ancient seal script.  At the same time, in five deft strokes, the artist captured the basic silhouette of a horse charging forward. He first brushed three blunt tilted-horizontal lines in heavy black ink followed by a left-falling stroke to create the head.  The fifth stroke consists of an elongated curving line that starts out heavy at top, grows thin as the brush twists and splits along the horse’s body, then turns back on itself to produce a blunt tail.  It is this modulated line that animates the character and suggests motion as the brush travels across the paper in a rhythmic dance.  One important aspect of Wang Fangyu’s innovative calligraphy style was his tendency to imbue a written character with the mannerisms of its subject.  [See also Wang Fangyu’s Goose in this collection.] 
            Finally, the artist completed his composition with the careful placement of a favorite seal,「Beiping Wang Fangyu yin 北平王方宇印」(square-shaped intaglio) or “Seal of Wang Fangyu from Beiping.”  Wang Fangyu was a connoisseur of fine seal carving and treasured this stone carved for him in 1968 by Zhao Heqin 趙鶴琴 (1895–1971). Here the seal is a perfect counter-balance to the horse’s blunt tail. 
            Wang Fangyu was an eminent Chinese scholar, a discerning collector, and an innovative artist.  Born in Beijing shortly after the collapse of the Qing dynasty, he immigrated to the United States in 1949 where he taught for 30 years at Yale University and Seton Hall.  In keeping with the traditions of China’s scholar-literati, his education began at the age of three with a tutor at home.  In addition to studying the Chinese classics, this training included writing or calligraphy.  Like many Chinese children, he learned how to hold the brush, how to make liquid ink by grinding an ink stick on an inkstone, how to straighten the brush by stroking the tip on an inkstone while using the fingers to turn the handle, and how to sit up and concentrate.  According to the artist, his early calligraphy training progressed through four stages:  writing directly over printed model characters; tracing on thin paper under which a model was placed; copying from a style sheet with characters printed in a grid pattern to learn correct spacing and proportions; and copying from a model without a grid pattern.  
            At the age of fourteen, Wang Fangyu enrolled in a private school specializing in calligraphy.  In addition to the basic techniques of the brush, he focused on the philosophy and history of Chinese calligraphy, and was exposed to a wide range of ancient models and calligraphy styles.  Contrary to the usual method in which contemporary standard script was studied at the beginning, he was taught to write ancient seal characters first and then progressed to the later forms––clerical, cursive, standard, and running––in chronological order.
            After many long years studying the fundamental techniques and theories of Chinese calligraphy, Wang Fangyu came to realize that there was a profound relationship between the “ways of nature” and Chinese calligraphy.  According to the artist,

I believe in the Dao 道, that is Tiandao 天道.  It is “the Way of Nature” or the way the universe works.  Therefore, I say, Shudao 書道(“the Way of the Brush”) is the same as Tiandao (“the Way of Nature”).  I try to develop my calligraphy based on my understanding of the Dao.  Also, I try to gain greater understanding of Tiandao through practicing calligraphy.  In Chinese this may be expressed as, “to pursue calligraphy through the Dao; to further the Dao through the practice of calligraphy.”

            In 1979 Wang Fangyu began to deliberately break away from traditional calligraphy––to follow his individual understanding of nature and create innovative forms.  Before long, he became a pioneer of a “new-style calligraphy” that was widely influential, extending to the “modern calligraphy movement” in China during the 1980s.  He likened his calligraphy to “dancing ink” (mowu 墨舞) and published two catalogues of his works by that title in 1980 and 1993.Wang Fangyu. Dancing Ink: Pictorial Calligraphy and Calligraphic Painting. Hamden, Connecticut: The Shoe String Press, 1980; Dancing Ink II: Pictorial Calligraphy and Calligraphic Painting. Hong Kong: Techpearl Printing Ltd., 1993.  In 1999, the China Institute in New York honored Wang Fangyu as an artist, scholar, and connoisseur with an exhibition of his calligraphy and a selection of works by Bada Shanren 八大山人 (1626–1704), Qi Baishi 齊白石 (1864–1957), and Zhang Daqian 張大千 (1899–1983) from his private collection. H. Christopher Luce. A Literati Life in the Twentieth Century: Wang Fangyu––Artist, Scholar, Connoisseur. New York: China Institute in America, Inc., 1999. In 2013, Wang Fangyu’s calligraphy was exhibited in China for the first time at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, Peking UniversityWang Shaofang, with Ingrid Larsen. Pictures of the Mind: The Art of Wang Fangyu. New Jersey: Lotus Investment Management, LLC, 2012.. Despite the artist’s contributions to modern calligraphy, Wang’s innovative forms consistently reveal elements of his classical training and the traditional scripts from which they are derived.  In 1996, the artist observed,

It seems clear to me that I belong to a very small group of Chinese artists, painters, and calligraphers of the second half of the twentieth century who have succeeded in revitalizing an art form without turning our backs on tradition.