The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan unveiled Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze’s enormous calligraphic brushwork on paper as the latest Great Hall commission last week. Tong’s “Dialogue” (2024), on view at the museum’s entrance point through April 8 next year, excerpts from two of the artist’s favorite classical Chinese texts and engages with the ancient practice of calligraphy on a monumental level.
Across from the ticketing area and adjacent to the Greek and Roman art wing, Tong’s first calligraphy panel features the Chinese text “他山之石可以攻玉” which translates to “stones from other mountains can refine our jade.” The line comes from the Book of Odes (better known as the Classic of Poetry or the Book of Songs), the oldest known collection of Chinese poetry. The metaphorical phrase implores people to embrace and adopt the differences and criticisms of others, conveying that self-improvement is best facilitated through external knowledge.
On the opposite side, facing the Met Museum Store and next to the Egyptian Art wing, Tong’s second panel includes the Chinese text ” 行於其所當行，止於其不得不止” (“go where it is right, stop when one must”), words attributed the Song Dynasty poet and scholar Su Shi that reiterate the virtue of self-restraint.
Though Tong’s panels measure nearly 24 by 11 feet (~7.3 x 3.4 m) each, the 82-year-old artist completed the commissions on the floor of her Taipei flat using supersized calligraphy brushes and a deep bowl of black ink. She’s well-celebrated for her controlled abstraction of the ancient practice, expanding the confines of its disciplinary connotations with self-expression and global influences.
“The phrases that Tong has chosen, especially within the Museum and its surrounding cultural context, are grounded in tolerance and create dialogues with viewers about the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge,” said Lesley Ma, the project’s curator who works in the Met’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, in a statement.
Tong’s commission elicited different responses from visitors during an easygoing Monday morning at the museum. While some people paid it no mind as they channeled into the Egyptian or Greek and Roman wings, certain tour groups found Dialogue to be a fool-proof gathering spot. Many eager parties took family and group photos in front of the calligraphy pieces before coursing through the galleries, and one couple spent over 15 minutes in deep conversation about the works, using the quiet morning to take a closer look at Tong’s brushwork and admire it from afar.
