Chinese Freehand Brushwork
Xieyi (寫意), often rendered as “writing the intention”, describes a freehand approach to Chinese painting. A subject is carried by the character and movement of the brush as much as by its outline. The examples here introduce that tradition and its continuing importance in Friedrich Zettl’s work.
Research and Practice
Friedrich Zettl completed his dissertation, Die Entwicklung der xieyi-Malerei (The Development of Xieyi Painting), at the University of Vienna in 1987. His studies in Sinology, Ethnology and Art History were complemented by work in painting, calligraphy and seal carving at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Xieyi remains a foundation of his painting. Read the biography.
Xieyi in Traditional Chinese Painting
For Zettl, a useful point of departure is qi yun sheng dong (氣韻生動), the first of Xie He’s six principles of painting.[1]
The phrase is often translated in terms of “spirit resonance” or vitality. Zettl’s dissertation approaches it through the interaction of yin and yang, drawing on his reading of historical dictionaries and painting theory.[2]
His interpretation is: “Bring yin and yang into harmony, and life is created.”
In painting, that reading directs attention to relationships: painted form and empty space, dry and wet ink, speed and hesitation. A brief stroke depends on the marks around it. Spontaneity is supported by long practice with the brush.
Xieyi in Zettl’s Painting
Zettl carries this concern with opposites into contemporary work: stillness and motion, dense forms and open intervals, restrained and turbulent gestures. His Zen Paintings and Wabi-Sabi Art offer two routes into that practice.
In When the Zen Master Meditates, broken black strokes gather around an open centre. Elsewhere, a few dark and blue marks stretch across a largely unpainted surface. These works develop the relationship between gesture and space in different ways, allowing the brushstroke to retain its own visible character.
Footnotes
[1] Xie He set out the six principles in the Guhua pinlu. The Smithsonian’s Chinese Arts of the Brush introduces the first principle and its importance for later painting.
[2] The yin-and-yang reading presented here is Zettl’s interpretation from his dissertation, Die Entwicklung der xieyi-Malerei, University of Vienna, 1987. It provides the approach to his practice discussed on this page.
Related articles: Daoist Talks | Principles of Dao in Painting | The Principle of Balance in Chinese Painting
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Original works are available on FriedrichZettl.com and Saatchi Art