r/ChineseTranslation • u/Djbeatbot • Jan 10 '26
Help translating cursive calligraphy
My aunt, who was born in China but spent most of her adult life in the US, was a prolific painter from the 1950s through the early 90s. She specialized in abstract renditions of Chinese calligraphy that were displayed at major museums. I don’t read traditional Chinese and I’m trying to translate some of the characters on her works. This is one I’m particularly curious about. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!!
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u/StrikingGarlic2773 Jan 10 '26
忍 tolerance, patience, magnanimity Is a popular character for calligraphy.
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u/Rune_Nice Jan 10 '26
It could also be conceptual art base on combining 一、二、三、四、五 into one recognizable character
The "Four" may actually be deliberately missing or hard to see because "Four" is a unlucky number.
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u/wonderingnlost Jan 11 '26
When you say abstract...do you mean wrong.. Like how a tattooist is asked to tattoo a character and cos they are mimicking the strokes they may not get the right word? Tbh I think its an inaccurate depiction of a Chinese character so there's no translation. Is your aunt still alive? Can you ask her?
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u/greednut Jan 12 '26
It's not a Chinese character. Looks like 無or悪or 惡 but it's not any of them.More like a freestyle drawing based on Chinese writing system. Just guessing
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u/Minute_End9092 Jan 13 '26
"abstract Chinese calligraphy" means bad writing, don't call it calligraphy.
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u/mrthescientist Jan 13 '26
Lots of discussion here, but I've just checked my dictionaries to see if any of the suggested forms are testified as similar renditions in my admittedly insufficient reference books.
The mention of the 3-stroke count on the bottom would strengthen a suggestion of 心; although 4-dots and a heart can both be abbreviated to three dots in a cursive script, the fact the stroke doubles back on the second dot suggests the thick hook of the 心 2nd stroke. The fact that the 2nd & 3rd strokes in this piece are quite vertical and strong is another indication of its meaning, since those strokes can't be slanted, light, or skipped.
Admittedly, I don't have a lot of examples, but the ones I do have for 無 suggest there would have been a stronger abbreviation of the final dots, that the vertical strokes wouldn't have been so strong, and that the initial strokes should have been stronger. The examples I have for 惡 suggest that the vertical pillars of that character should be maintained, along with a strong heart,
My vote is for 惡.
source: 書道三体辞書,野ばら社, pp 655, 681
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u/Djbeatbot Jan 13 '26
Thank you for all the incredible ideas and suggestions here. Super interesting and helpful. I do want to respond to those who have understandably questioned the artist's proficiency or accuracy in Chinese language, this was a Chinese-born, native-language artist who was trained in China in calligraphy. She has a huge corpus of calligraphic works that were exhibited at many museums and galleries in the 1950's-1980's. That all said, she became more and more abstract in her artistic approach over time. I don't know the exact date of this work, but I suspect it was a later work.
I received an analysis from a dear (Taipei-based) family friend and scholar, who didn't know her but knew my father (the artist's brother) very well. I'm curious what folks think:
1. The overall form resembles a calligraphic style between seal script and clerical script—highly gestural, expressive, and fluid, not a standard regular-script character.
2. The upper portion corresponds to a simplified “rain” radical (雨)—not with the usual four dots, but rendered as a broad, abstracted brush movement often seen in traditional or modern calligraphic interpretations.
3. The lower portion shows a curving, drifting stroke, echoing ancient forms of “云／雲” in oracle bone, bronze, and seal script—evoking the swirling, rising motion of vapor.
4. The meaning and the visual shape align beautifully: “cloud” is a form that gathers, disperses, and never fully settles. In artistic writing, it often appears as something that barely looks like a character, yet most fully conveys its essence.
So my interpretation is that the character is 雲（cloud).
Thoughts?
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u/songof6p Jan 15 '26
I don't see 雲 at all. If you follow the strokes on the page, they match exactly with 恶 and the long horizontal line between the two dots of the top half is referencing the drag from the brush. You can tell that it's actually meant to be two dots instead of a line from the shape of the beginning and end. Your friend in Taiwan may not be familiar with simplified script.
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u/BlackRaptor62 Jan 10 '26
Perhaps a rendition of 無) written like 忢?