The Three Perfections: Chinese Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy

What do the Chinese write on their paintings? Why do they write on them? In this newly revised volume--now illustrated in color--Michael Sullivan provides a lucid and engaging analysis of the intimate relationships among painting, poetry, and calligraphy in Chinese culture. The fundamental unity of writing and painting is shown to be an ancient, though still valid, concept in China. Twenty-six luminous reproductions of celebrated works of art illustrate key aspects of this superb union of literature and the visual arts.