The Art of Calligraphic Building Plaques and Signs at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages

• Main Authors: CHEN, YU-RU, 陳玉如
• Other Authors: LIN, YUEH-CHI
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/h9c475

碩士 === 文藻外語大學 === 創意藝術產業研究所 === 107 === This thesis aims to explore the calligraphic building plaques and signs at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, focusing on their artistic features and implications. In view of the university’s heritage of Ursuline education embracing both Chinese and Western cultures, which distinguishes the university from the other ones in Taiwan, this thesis deals with the calligraphic building plaques and signs on campus with particular reference to the university’s educational ideas and historical development. The data include the 21 buildings’ plagues and signs on campus in 2018, the calligrapher’ lives and works, and other relevant spatial and temporal background information. Qualitative data collection methods are used to gather and analyze data. The associations and interactions between the following three pairs of items are explored: (1) the founding ideals of the university and the artistic views of its buildings, (2) the spatial-temporal contexts of the university’s development and the building plaques and signs’ artistic forms, and (3) the calligraphic building plaques and the calligraphers who wrote the names. Further explorations are made concerning the calligraphy of the university’s building plaques and their aesthetic implications. The major results of the study are as follows: 1. The art of calligraphic building plaques at Wenzao corresponds to the university’s idea of “Revere the Divine and Love the Human” and its Ursuline mission statement, forming a featured area that integrates Chinese and Western cultures. 2. The buildings at Wenzao were constructed one after another in the past 50 some years. Their names and plaques have never been designed or arranged in advance. But their final permutation is perceived as being harmonious and excellent. 3. Various forms of the building plaques and signs have been adopted, including calligraphic plaques, molded reliefs, marble engraving, calligraphic writing, font signs, bilingual juxtaposition, bilingual separation, and so on. The last item above indicates that the whole aesthetic picture of Wenzao’s building plaques and signs seems to be in lack of artistic principles. More consideration should be given to the aesthetic composition. Some suggestions to make adjustments of the overall layout are given at the end of the thesis.