Lyric in Ink Lines: Painting and Poetry in the Arts of China at Museum Rietberg
Lyric in Ink Lines
Painting and Poetry in the Arts of China
May 25, 2023 — September 10, 2023
The interplay of painting and poetry is a distinctive feature of Chinese landscape painting. Already in the eleventh century, artists spoke of poetry as painting without forms and of painting as poetry without words.
The poetic inscriptions extend the imagery. They enrich the visual experience with additional sensory references such as the sound of rushing water or the whispering of the wind, the chill of autumn or the tender light of the moon. The writings can also convey personal feelings or hidden political allusions.
Over time, lyrical inscriptions became an integral component of paintings. To combine painting, original poetry, and fine calligraphy in a single work was considered an aesthetic ideal of the literati artist.
