Calligraphy and seal carving (篆刻) complement each other in an aesthetically functional fashion. The ancients proclaimed that: "calligraphy is derived from seal carving, and seal carving evolved from calligraphy." However, only very few artists have been able to attain proficiency in both. Hsueh Ping-nan (薛平南), formerly a National Collegiate Sports Tournament (大專運動會) champion decathlete, happens to be one of the few. He garnered an award from the National Culture and Arts Foundation (國家文藝獎) for his calligraphy; and more than that, he is a celebrated specialist seal carver, a man of both literary and athletic capacity.

Hsueh quit his teaching position at the National Taiwan College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) at 35 years of age in the hope of diverting his full energy to calligraphy and seal carving, an unconventional move at the time that raised a lot of eyebrows among his relatives, who fiercely opposed his decision. To steer himself away from slipping into indolence and indiscipline, Hsueh resolved to hold an individual exhibition every three to five years as a way to spur himself on.

After forty years of the vicissitudes of calligraphy writing and seal carving, Hsueh began creating a style of his own. In substance he gradually evolved his penmanship from foursquare to pliant, from the conventional model (copybook) calligraphy, to the dynamic tablet (stele) form; and from faithfully following a model, to progressively extricating himself from its confines. Hsueh's seal carving skills are in general deeply influenced by the Han style, the ancient Heirloom Seal carving methods, and the techniques extensively adopted by the Anhui and Zhejiang (Wan/Zhe) schools. Lastly, he "incorporated his calligraphy practice into seal carving" to advance his pursuit of fusing brushwork and knife into one. 

The inscriptions on the stones have to be the mirror image of the actual characters and are styled after ancient writings. In a lot of cases, amateurs often find themselves greatly baffled by the prints on antique chops. Hsueh explains that knowing the characters is a necessary requisite for anyone who wants to learn seal carving. Then one must pour in as much hard work as possible familiarizing oneself with various unusual scripts and their variations, he says. It takes much observation and memorization day in and day out – and this part of work is merely the foundation on which one may build a successful seal carving career. The same principle goes for the studying of the categories of Chinese-character calligraphy – semi-cursive, cursive, seal, and clerical scripts, and their basic form variations. Of course, one must be able to distinguish between these scripts. 

Hsueh, the incumbent director-general of Standard Cursive Script Society (標準草書協會理事長), also adds that the cursive script in particular takes an awful lot of work. The writing of cursive script is not as loose and sketchy as it is taken to be – certain rules exist for this type of writing, which demand stringent practice. Calligrapher-hopefuls have to immediately convert the texts into cursive writing when taking calligraphy qualification exams; dictionaries are not allowed. 

Cursive and clerical script proficiency is the benchmark by which calligraphy examining committees measure examinee aptitude. If the calligraphers manifest immediate comprehension when given a text, and they can set to work without consulting a dictionary, it indicates that their calligraphy appreciation and know-how is above par. 

At the same time Hsueh proves himself an experienced connoisseur of seal carvings and inkstones (印石). Hsueh explains that seal carvings are characterized by a colorful array of artistic attributes, including presentation, knife work, engraving art, seal material, and wrist and finger movements. A veteran knows what to look for when he holds and examines a seal; an embodiment of demonstrative elements in highly abstract forms, and adherence to a Chinese adage: "Small as the sparrow is, it possesses all its internal organs."
 
Two distinguishing characteristics mark Hsueh's approach to the art of seal carving; the first being 'the use of something as a starting point for further exploration or study." Hsueh prefers to develop a design first, then look for a suitable carving knife that fits the design in order to let his creativity take rein. Secondly, he orients his creativity towards oval-shaped chops when making inscriptions on the face, following the "Wan School" (皖派) traditions of laying out Chinese characters in red ink. (This type of seal is sometimes referred to as a yang seal, from yin and yang, where yang means a "positive relief" seal.) The ovals are said to be much more versatile than the squares when making character arrangements.

Looking at Hsueh's calligraphy art, it is possible to see that even though he was trained by Wang Zhuangwei (王壯為), one of the most influential calligraphers and seal makers of modern times, his work is tinged with Taiwan-born master penman Li Putong's (李普同) style, with an undertone of Yu Youren (于右任, a another well-known Chinese calligrapher). Hsueh has managed to develop a personal touch, not a bit encumbered by artistic bequests.

Hsueh notes that it isn't easy to track the changes and progress he has made when going about his writings, but the evolution of his penmanship, molded over the years, becomes noticeable if he makes a retrospective of his works every few years, he says.
Hsueh remains delightfully humble in the face of widespread acclaim from calligraphy critics, who lavish praise on him for establishing a style of his own.  He considers himself very privileged to have been apprenticed by great tutors, who patiently nursed him, providing a very solid foundation.

Now 60, Hsueh teaches calligraphy during his leisure hours besides writing and carving seals. Expressing delight that colleges and academic institutions are revitalizing the art of calligraphy, Hsueh notes that the popularity of calligraphy contests in Taiwan is conducive to polishing the skills of young, fresh talents, but that academic establishments need to set their sights on higher goals instead of staying in a rut.

And in regard to the friction between conventions and modernization, Hsueh also allows that artists are bound to go on the quest for "new wrinkles" one way or another; however, he states, innovative endeavors are overridingly conditioned by a solid artistic underpinning; without such, all craftsmen could easily go vainly astray in their hunt for novelty.

Despite a dazzling array of accolades - Calligraphy Revival Culture and Arts Award, the National Culture and Arts Foundation Award (國家文藝獎), the Top Prize in National Seal Carving Exhibition (篆刻全省美展首獎), and the Chung Shan Literature and Art Award (中山文藝獎) - what has really come to the forefront of Hsueh's career, is Hsueh's courage to brave the stereotypical value systems and pressure, and look within to challenge himself and run the distance to attain the resplendent artistic triumphs. 

Written by Perry Hsieh for culture.tw
Translated by Shannon Hu