Liu Gongquan: One of the Famous Union "Yan-Liu"

Liu Gongquan (柳公权,778–865), courtesy name Chengxuan (诚悬), was born in Huayuan, today’s Shaanxi province. He was a Chinese calligrapher who stood with Yan Zhenqing as the two great masters of late Tang calligraphy.

A minister like Yan of the Tang dynasty, Liu was a native of today's Tongchuan, Shaanxi, a devout Buddhist and follower of Yan's style of writing. Like him an expert of the regular script, Liu's works were imitated for centuries after and he is often referred in union with his famed predecessor as "Yan-Liu".

Apart of creating beautiful characters that were based on the style of Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan also dealt with theory and the more spiritual and mystical sides of art. Liu spoke about the relationship between the mind and the brush and the process of visualizing the final creation before it is actually executed on the paper or silk. According to Liu this involves well cultivated spiritual abilities and is not simply imagining in the everyday sense. This approach was also common to painting and can be dated to the great theorist and painter Gu Kaizhi. There is an amusing anecdote about the emperor asking Liu Gongquan how to write upright characters. Instead of giving the emperor some technical advice Liu told him that it all depends on ones mind and integrity, once these are achieved it is also possible to write upright characters. The emperor saw this as criticism of his conduct and this story survived as an example of the strong stress the Chinese laid on the necessity of forming a strong and moral character as a basis for artistic creation. Derived from Yan Zhenqing’s style, the Liu style of calligraphy is strict and thinner than the fat imposing style of his teacher. It remains to be a model style for calligraphy practitioners in China and beyond to this day.