TONG YANGTZE (b.1942) Not Acting Does Not Imply an Inability to do so (Mencius), 1996TONG YANGTZE (b.1942)Not Acting Does Not Imply an Inability to do so (Mencius), 1996Ink on paper, framed. 69cm long x 137cm wide (24 1/4in long x 54in wide).董陽孜（1942年生） 是不為也，非不能也（孟子） 水墨紙本 鏡框 1996年作Born in Shanghai in 1942, Tong Yang-tze begn to practice calligraphy at the age of eight in the styles of the fourth century Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303-361) and Tang dynasty governor Yan Zhenqing (709-785). She received her BFA from the National Taiwan Normal University, and later studied oil painting and ceramics at the University of Massachusetts, where she received an MA degree in 1970. Tong, who currently lives and works in Taiwan, has gradually developed her own visual language that benefits from her previous training in different mediums and art-forms. Inspired by philosophical works like the Dao De jing and texts from Confucius and Mencius, Tong creates powerful calligraphic works in cursive style (caoshu) that reach toward the extremes of abstraction. Characters are dramatically distorted but usually remain decipherable so that there is a sustained dialogue between content and style, meaning and autonomous gesture. Variations in the width and character of the lines/strokes serve to sustain the effect of movement generated in the execution of each character and contribute to dramatic overall visual effects. Moreover, Tong's works - titled with the phrase calligraphed - are not only visually beautiful but are also profound in content.Tong Yangtze's works are in several important museums and collections, including the Kaohsiung Fine Art Museum, Taiwan; Taipei Fine Art Museum; the Olenska Foundation, Geneva; City University of Hong Kong; and the Taiwan National College of the Arts. See a related work by Tong Yangtze, illustrated in Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, Stanford, 2018, pp.166-167.