On the Lines of Calligraphy
Zhao was born in a wealthy family, and when he was less than 20 years old, he suffered "his brother was slandered and his lawsuit went bankrupt", which largely laid the foundation for Zhao's miserable life. After his family went bankrupt, he lived a life of "running around all the year round, selling clothes and food".
When he was in his thirties, the war broke out and his wife and children died in the war. During this period, Zhao carved many seals.
This seal is inscribed: "It's even sadder to lose a family.".
Since then, Zhao has devoted almost all his energy to calligraphy and painting seal cutting.
That's my problem. It stands to reason that when he was young, his family was ruined and his middle-aged wife was separated, and he showed a sad mood helplessly in art, but his artistic style was "sweet".
In the mid-Qing Dynasty, on the one hand, the massive loss of calligraphy led to the lack of a large number of reference templates for calligraphy, while a large number of new Wei Bei and Han steles were unearthed; On the other hand, the spread of western learning to the east has made it necessary to reform the social system. Scholars at this stage absorbed a lot of nutrition from inscriptions and expanded the aesthetic limitations of calligraphy.
There are losers, such as Bao of the Jianghu School, Bao of the New Jianghu School, and Li Ruiqing, who imitate the inscriptions and become a laughing stock.
There are also some successful people, such as Deng, and later He, Kang Youwei and Yu Youren. What they have in common is that they all use round pens to expand the writing style and aesthetics of stele studies, and reflect the broad, Gu Zhuo, heavy and magnificent aesthetic taste.
Only Zhao is unique, and wants to accept the systematic two kings' blood and blood into the study of steles. Zhao has a deep foundation in calligraphy research. His style of writing comes from Yan style and his brushwork comes from two kings.
After middle age, he devoted himself to the study of steles, and the characteristics of wide and wide words and knots also conformed to the square and flat shape of steles, making its structure wide but not loose.
In the use of pen, Zhao did not use Wei Bei's flat-cut method, but used the brushwork of the two kings system, that is, the center intervened and then turned to the front. At the turning point and the pen collection point, it also reflects the characteristics of the calligraphy of the two kings that adapt to the performance of the pen. Therefore, although his handwriting was written by Weibei and Fang Bi, it showed a mellow and soft feature.
Kang Youwei, a master of epigraphy in later generations, commented on Zhao "? Uncle learned from the North Monument, became a family, and was weak. Too much talk today is a decadent sound. Uncle's sin is also. " Although the statement is harsh, I basically agree. Although Chair Zhao's pen of two kings was pioneering, it was only effective on the scale of two kings system, and it was difficult to control the magnificent Wei Bei. Later, Kang Youwei, He, Yu Youren and others. They all entered the monument with Yan Zhenqing's brushwork system, but they succeeded. These three people mastered the momentum of Weibei with a round pen, which is magnificent and can be said to be unprecedented.
The line feature of calligraphy is the key to the emotion of calligraphy style. This kind of vastness, sadness and roughness is hard to express in the language of the two kings, so no matter what Zhao has experienced, his books, prints and paintings are still beautiful. Studying the calligraphy lines of various schools today can be summarized as follows:
1, Jianghu
The lines of Jianghu calligraphy are thin, flat and boring. Features are: like to "shake" ~
Step 2 scribble
The paint is black and the lines are uncontrollable, which is the result of unconsciousness. Features are: like "roar" ~
The following contents refer to The Study of Calligraphy Techniques in China published by Zhonghua Book Company 1960.
3, comely:
Delicate lines are most easily accepted by ordinary people, rarely flying white before breaking, and the ink is elegant, which is a common category in traditional aesthetics. If lines are discussed separately, they belong to a lower level.
Representative calligrapher: Dong Qichang,
4. Clear and moist
Handsome often looks thin and weak, while clean and moist adds a bit of beauty to flesh and blood. Lines are softer, softer and more powerful than those delicate and pretty ones.
Representative calligraphers: Zhao Mengfu, Xian Yushu, Wen Zhiming, etc.
5. Mei Qing
Pure and charming people, not so sharp, plump and not fat, are more charming and interesting, stable and natural than pure and moist people.
Representative calligraphers: Su Dongpo, Zhao, etc
6. Li You
If all the above are literati, then Qiu Li adds a little fighter temperament to the popularity of literature. Use a pen, the strength is strong enough, and the edge is restrained so as not to be nervous. Throughout the ages, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy has been praised as elegant, which is just a line, in line with the traditional golden mean and impartial.
Representative calligraphers: Wang Xizhi, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, Sun.
7. heroic
Heroic is a step forward on the basis of beauty, slightly exaggerated with a pen, but full, solid and sharp-edged.
Representative calligraphers: Huang Tingjian (only running script and regular script), Mi Fei, Wang Duo, Huai Su, Zhang Xu, Liu Gongquan, etc.
8. Strong
It is stronger on the basis of heroism, and its sharpness has been hidden. The beginning and end of the lines are hidden, and the brave spirit is contained in them. At the turning point, the turning point is changed to lifting the pen.
Representative calligraphers: Yan Zhenqing, Deng and Yi Bingshou.
9. Cangxiong
If the pen is too tight, serious and close to stagnation, there is a kind of friction with the paper, and the line quality is old and strong through a certain speed, that is, the line has a dry feeling on both sides or all on the basis of coarseness. Sometimes it is thick and dry, forming pimples.
Representative calligraphers: Kang Youwei, Qi Baishi, Wu Changshuo, Zheng Zhi, How.
Canggu 10
On the basis of Cang Xiong, the pen is more solid and moist, such as what the ancients called "cone painting sand" and "leakage mark", old and moist. And beauty form the two extremes of China's calligraphy, which combines rigidity with softness.
Masterpieces: Zhang Qianbei, Ode to Shimen, Shi Guwen, etc.