(Born 1942) Yangtze Tong - Biography
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Yangtze Tong

Yangtze Tong (Born 1942) is known for Painting and calligraphy.

Born in Shanghai in 1942, Tong Yang-tze begn to practice calligraphy at the age of eight in the styles of the fourth century Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303-361) and Tang dynasty governor Yan Zhenqing (709-785). She received her BFA from the National Taiwan Normal University, and later studied oil painting and ceramics at the University of Massachusetts, where she received an MA degree in 1970. Tong, who currently lives and works in Taiwan, has gradually developed her own visual language that benefits from her previous training in different mediums and art-forms. Inspired by philosophical works like the Dao De jing and texts from Confucius and Mencius, Tong creates powerful calligraphic works in cursive style (caoshu) that reach toward the extremes of abstraction. Characters are dramatically distorted but usually remain decipherable so that there is a sustained dialogue between content and style, meaning and autonomous gesture. Variations in the width and character of the l   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 2417 characters.]  Artist bio

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Similar artists

.  There are 22 similar (related) artists for Yangtze Tong available:    Li Yihong,  Gan Gu,  Ligang Wei,  Feng Qin,  Xubai Li,  Huaishuo Ho,  Peng Yu,  Wong Wucius,  Jinsong Wang,  Dan Liu,  Tiande Wang,  Xingjian Gao,  Lei Xu,  Chi-Kwan Chen,  Deshu Qiu,  Zhaoling Fang,  Jiecang Yang,  Kuosung Liu,  Jin Li,  Shoukun Lü,  Wenda Gu,  C C (Wang Chi-Chien) Wang



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Facts about Yangtze Tong

Biography from Bonhams Bond Street

Born in Shanghai in 1942, Tong Yang-tze begn to practice calligraphy at the age of eight in the styles of the fourth century Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303-361) and Tang dynasty governor Yan Zhenqing (709-785). She received her BFA from the National Taiwan Normal University, and later studied oil painting and ceramics at the University of Massachusetts, where she received an MA degree in 1970. Tong, who currently lives and works in Taiwan, has gradually developed her own visual language that benefits from her previous training in different mediums and art-forms. Inspired by philosophical works like the Dao De jing and texts from Confucius and Mencius, Tong creates powerful calligraphic works in cursive style (caoshu) that reach toward the extremes of abstraction. Characters are dramatically distorted but usually remain decipherable so that there is a sustained dialogue between content and style, meaning and autonomous gesture. Variations in the width and character of the lines/strokes serve to sustain the effect of movement generated in the execution of each character and contribute to dramatic overall visual effects. Moreover, Tong's works - titled with the phrase calligraphed - are not only visually beautiful but are also profound in content.


Biography from Sotheby's Hong Kong

Born in Shanghai, Tong Yangtze began practicing calligraphy at the age of eight.  She received her bachelor’s degree in art from the National Taiwan Normal University in 1966, and graduated with a master’s degree in oil painting and ceramics from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1970.  An advocate of classical Chinese philosophy, Tong draws inspiration from moral texts of Chinese history and animates the forms with her cursive style calligraphy. 

Tong Yangtze, also known as Grace Tong, is an internationally recognized calligrapher known for her bold, expressive and innovative forms.  With each calligraphic expression, she expresses words that she aims to manifest and live by such principles in her life and actions.  Going beyond traditional practices, she creates works of monumental sizes and collaborates with others in creating installation, performance, and design works, always emphasizing calligraphy as a multi-faceted art form.  In her own words, “I was educated in art.  I am not [just] a calligrapher.  If I were only a calligrapher, calligraphy would have died!”


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