Wang Fangyu’s calligraphy was based on traditional expertise but also “modernized.” Based on his perception of the “five principles of nature” (unity, change, balance, force, and motion) and inspired by his scholarship and collection of works by the seventeenth-century painter Bada Shanren, Wang Fangyu unleashed creative inner energy in his calligraphy.

The use of ideographic elements of the Chinese character is remarkable in his calligraphy; in this “Eagle,” the form resembles an eagle standing tall, with its feathers cascading down. This resemblance can be compared to Qi Baishi’s eagle, displayed next to this piece. By infusing the energy of the eagle into the flow of his calligraphy, Wang highlights the pictorial characteristic inherent in Chinese characters.

His work exemplifies the ideology of “calligraphy and painting share the same origin” (书画同源). Among the brushstrokes, there are turnarounds and pauses; he broke through barriers between painting and calligraphy by executing calligraphy with the methods of painting. This is not a deliberate altering of the character’s form in order to write something resembling an eagle, but rather an expression of a feeling and an expression of the inner literati spirit.