Wang Shizhen, the most influential connoisseur of the Wanli era, once pointed out with great accuracy that the value of Wang Pet's calligraphy does not lie in the beauty of Wen Zhengming's style, and the reason why he has an indispensable position in the Wumen School of Calligraphy is because of a kind of "clumsy" interest, it is this sense of clumsiness that makes people reincarnate the imagination and aftertaste of "ancient" in addition to elegance, in people's eyes, "ancient" not only has historical significance, but also has a personality symbol. Wang Shizhen said:
"Like Praise": The late festival is slightly unexpected, with clumsiness, elegance, and fun, and several beijing mega-prices.
Book VII of the Ten Volumes of the Three Wu Kai Fa: (Wang Luji Shu) The "Qin Cao" is slightly larger, and it is also a positive style, with an quaint attitude and a graceful style, the so-called great coincidence is clumsy, and the scribe is superior.
Book 11 of the Twenty-Four Books of the Three Wu Kai Fa of Ariake: In the midst of the Eight Laws of Enlightenment and Sorcery, the Supreme Master of the Eight Laws is also attained.
When discussing the relationship between "clumsiness" and "cleverness", Wang Shizhen did not advocate and praise the taste of "clumsiness" in isolation as advocated by later epigraphers, and the purpose of "clumsiness" was "clever", but the ingenuity was presented through a seemingly "clumsy" way. As Lao Tzu said, it is a great coincidence, and the most exquisite coincidence looks like it is not skillful. Pure smallness and blind clumsiness, its realm can not be compared with "big coincidence and clumsiness".
So, what kind of expression is the "clumsy trick" of Wang Shizhen's favorite in the art form? In general, it can be summarized into three aspects:
Writing is relatively slow
Point drawing-up implication
The gesture is childish
First, slowly
In the late Ming Dynasty, Sun Yongbao's favorite book "Jiang Wentong's Imitation of Ancient Poems" Yun: "If you follow the auspiciousness to Yongxing, you will have a little bit of its layer of slow steps, and you still lack bone strength." This is a description of the speed of Wang Pet's writing, on the one hand, Xu Slow can show an elegant demeanor, the so-called "fluttering immortal". But on the other hand, slow writing can also have a negative impact, especially in terms of strength.
Wang Shizhen divided Wang Pet's calligraphy into two periods, bounded by Gengwu and Xin Jiao, thinking that "Mr. Geng and Xin Qian's previous pens are rich and beautiful, and the characters take posture, but they cannot win without flesh; in the last years, they are windy and boneless, innocent and rotten, intertwined, and indescribable." "The so-called meat victory also implies a criticism of the lack of bones and bones, although it is rich, but it lacks the power of inner wrapping. As Zhan Jingfeng summed up: "There are bones and no muscles, and it is especially interesting to win." Zhou Guangba's favorite cursive "Nineteen Ancient Poems", which pursues the meaning of ancient clumsiness, appreciates its "very high physique and special charm", and regrets that it "cannot be apologized for the wind and bones". Xie Zhaochun believes that Wang's calligraphy is "charming and boneless." An Shifeng also thought that "the wind is more than enough, and the muscles and bones are not enough." Sun Xiang, on the other hand, more harshly described Wang's calligraphy as a weak "bean body".
What is the purpose of Xu's slow writing? When criticizing the calligraphy of Wang's favorite disciple Zhu Yuefan, Sun Yi said: "The book is extremely obedient to Zhishan, but the pen is absolutely elegant, and the rate is to slow down. It can be seen that Wang Pet and his students write slowly, which is easier to grasp the posture of calligraphy.
Second, posture
While weakening the sense of rhythm of writing, it is necessary to pay attention to the deliberate expression of the sense of glyph space. Obviously, what we call "posture" and "structure" here are not synonymous, on the contrary, in Wang's works, this is a pair of contradictions. Because once the interest of "posture" is strengthened, it is possible to damage the rigor of "structure". In fact, in the evaluation of posterity, people not only affirmed that he was good at taking attitudes, but also criticized his lack of rigor in structure. Wang Shizhen talked about the advantages of Wang Pet in "posture" in many inscriptions:
Wang Shizhen: Lu Ji... Recipient posture ear.
Wang Shizhen: Although the knot is small and sparse, the heavenly bones are brilliant, the posture is horizontal, and there is a mighty phoenix.
Wang Shizhen: Yu Yongxing, also like Wentong, is also like a literary imitation of ancient, the calligraphy posture is prepared, the structure is not bad, and the brush of Gai's later years is also proud.
Wang Shizhen: Good manners.
Wang Shizhen: If his book is charming and elegant, his posture is overflowing.
Wang Shizhen, who has been the true handiwork of the king's pet many times and has a good eye, has repeatedly thrown out the word "posture" to summarize the characteristics of the king's favorite calligraphy, and we have noticed that while affirming its "posture", Wang Shizhen has always used the "sparseness" and "遒" of the "structure" as the basis for judging whether it is a good work. In other words, if a suitable balance is sought in the "clumsiness" of "posture" and the "sloppiness" of "structure", then, in Wang Shizhen's view, it should be a proud work; on the contrary, while emphasizing the "clumsiness" of "posture", the "structure" appears to be "sparse", then it will be described by Zhu Yuefan as "fragrant shirt dragging", it will fall into Zhan Jingfeng's criticism of "evacuation and lack of solidity", and as Mo Yunqing criticized, "the knot is very sparse, although it is rotten and naïve, and the essence is insufficient", which will make Fengfang feel "disdainful" finish.
Until the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Shaanxi scholar Wang Hongzhuo also questioned with a rather dismissive tone that "the three hundred years of scholars Shi Xian pushed the Zhizhi Mountain Hengshan as the most, and then there was no Yayi", because "the remainder saw the relics of the body and the luck of the body, and the person who took the attitude".
Taking "posture" as a major direction of effort is actually a very dangerous thing. Because the deliberate performance of a form is often contrary to nature, and in the Chinese Lao Zhuang philosophy, nature is a higher and more important standard than anything else. In this sense, An Shifeng commented that Wang Pet's book "Virtual QinGuan Fu" "has good points, but too much posture", and even Wang Shizhen, who was excited to appreciate Wang Pet, also saw his wit for "posture" through Wang Pet's works:
The five sentences of the Xiaoxingshu are the first to change the old body, and the weasel posture and the metallurgical state are seen at the same time, and it is inevitable that it will hurt intentionally.
Ji Ji was almost careless, Andhizhe was too careless, but the gestures overflowed.
Wang Luji's "White Sparrow Miscellaneous Poems" is a post-illness pen, the posture overflows, and it is slightly intentional.
Its lower fingers are very funny, slightly hurting the natural ears.
Intentional is harmful to nature, and only unintentionally Jia Naijia can be called a superb work. The so-called "too true feelings" of the king's favor may exist more in Wang Shizhen's ideals, and it is only occasional in the works of wang pet.
In order to highlight the clumsiness, Wang Pet also consciously lost the traces of the beginning and end of the pen, especially his late works, showing a kind of cultivation that is rid of sharpness and fire, which makes people experience implicit interest. Zhou Tianqiu pointed out: "The white finch is drafted, the heavenly algae is hairy, and the corners of the pen are also lost." Chen Kui Linba Wang's favorite book "Ten Palaces Book" is also cloudy: "This book is super wonderful, and all the waves are shrunk into harvest, and the implication is exhausted." Although Guan Yong felt that Wang Xiaokai's closing point was "deliberately hidden but not revealed, slightly sluggish", it was precisely because of this weak sense of dullness that he tasted a rich ancient meaning.
The avoidance of the sharp edge is not unrelated to a certain extent to Wang Pet's good use of bald pens. He wrote a cursive "Poetry Scroll" for the inscription of the inscription in Jiajing (1526), and the inscription at the end of the volume peng said: "The later book is a little more indulgent, more lovely, is it also the help of the bald pen?" ”。 Wang Shizhen also specifically mentioned that one of Wang's works "used to take advantage of the momentum of retreating pen" is particularly cute. Qian Daxin once saw the volume of "Luoshenfu" written by Wang Pet, which was also written by a retired writer, and Qian Shi commented on it with the eight characters of "Vigorous and simple old, impeccable".
However, because the deep concealment of the king's favor is often "intentional", this implicit expression has been criticized as restrained and unflintuitive in other evaluations. Wang Shizhen once figuratively compared the poem of Wang's favor in this way:
Wang Luji is like a young man who has traveled to the capital for a long time, and the wind and flow are exquisite and elegant, but they are not completely out of their original appearance. It is also like the Yangzhou feast, although salmon treasures land and water, and sometimes has a taste of accommodation.
A rural teenager, although he has traveled in the metropolis for a long time, and outsiders seem to have gained a bit of freedom from the people in the city, he cannot completely get rid of that cowardly restraint. Although the Yangzhou Feast has a variety of mountain treasures and sea flavors, it always has a stale taste. These two metaphors reveal that due to excessive subtlety, Wang Pet's works are somewhat less vivid and vivid, and even somewhat restrained. Although the cloud poetry, the calligraphy is close.
The slow writing, the childish posture, the subtlety of the traces of the beginning and end of the pen, and the visual schema constructed by these features make the viewer feel the meaning of "clumsiness". Chen Jiu, a Qing dynasty man, was very sure of this kind of "rawness", believing that Wang's favor was "not a gentle and familiar sect of the princes, but a lot of considerable".
It is precisely because of the clumsiness that the king's pet and the fluent and meaningless vulgar books have opened up a great gap. Ni Sumen attributed wang pet's clumsiness and childishness to the result of "impersonation"—which is unrealistic, because wang pet is not unable to write those exquisite works, but just does not do something. But Ni also felt the "antiquity" from it.
Whether it is excitement or criticism, what arouses people's interest is this slightly "deliberate" pursuit of "ancient clumsiness", of course, as Wang Shizhen found, the purpose of Wang Pet is not really to "ancient clumsy" as beauty, the "ancient" he shows contains elegance, and "humble" pours deeper ingenuity.