Pathways to learning
——Reading Sheng Xinfu's "Explanation of Doubts in Calligraphy and Painting" Notes No. 4
Text/Ding Weiju
Chinese writing originated from "a line in Guancheng", and "a line" is the foundation of Chinese painting and calligraphy, so to open the "door of calligraphy and painting", it is undoubtedly necessary to learn from "one line".
In the eyes of mathematicians, a "line" is a collection of countless points, which is a figure produced by the movement of a moving point. In the eyes of the artist, it is alive, flexible, tasteful, and pinned on the spirit and emotion of the artist, so Mr. Sheng interpreted the essential attributes of "line" in Chinese painting and calligraphy with the eyes of an artist, he said: "The line is not independent, it is jointly with the font and the object to undertake its cultural mission. Therefore, injecting relevant cultural connotations into the subject, coupled with the accumulated pen and ink spirit, this line has a sense of life. (Pen and Ink Codex No. 48) Giving a definitive summary of "a line" in Chinese painting and calligraphy may be the first time in the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy: there are two "line" attributes with a "sense of life": (1) lines are integrated in fonts and objects to "undertake cultural missions"; attributes (2) Only by "injecting" "cultural connotations" and "adding" to the "accumulated pen and ink spirit" can there be a "sense of life" in art.
▲ "Calligraphy and Painting Interpretation of Doubts" Pen and Ink Codex No. 48
Yu believes that Mr. Sheng is very scientific and incisive to distinguish between the different levels of "culture" and "art", according to attributes (1), the fusion of "line" and "font" becomes "text", the carrier of human thought; the fusion of "line" and "object" becomes "pattern", which can be the carrier of the form of all things in the world, although they "undertake the mission of culture", after all, they are not art.
So, what is the essential attribute of "line" giving people a "sense of life"? Mr. Sheng believes that in order for "line" to become an art with a "sense of life", there must also be two elements: (a) "injected" into the "cultural connotation" and (b) plus "accumulated pen and ink spirit", only with these two elements, "line" can "undertake the cultural mission" of "font" and "object (pattern)" sublimate into art. However, these two attributes are inseparable, culture is the basis of art, art is the sublimation of culture, if art leaves culture, art becomes the water without a source, the wood without roots, and only when culture is sublimated into art, "line" can obtain life, "water" has spirituality, and "wood" knows cold and warm. Mr. Sheng's revelation of the "line" attribute of calligraphy and painting is here, which can be described as unprecedented!
The first element of calligraphy and painting is to "inject" the artist's "cultural connotation", so where does the artist's "cultural connotation" come from? Mr. Sheng summed it up with the word "learning".
▲ "Calligraphy and Painting Interpretation of Doubts" Pen and Ink Codex No. 2
In the Pen and Ink Codex No. 2, Mr. Sheng quoted Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Pen Talk" and explained that "the charm of the book, although it is obtained from the heart, but the Fadu must talk about capital learning": "Art" comes from the "heart", and "the flow of the soul needs the nourishment of learning".
The so-called "nourishment" of "learning", Mr. Sheng in the "Pen and Ink Codex no. 5" in two layers of understanding (1) the so-called "learning", first of all, what to learn, Mr. said: "The precipitation of the ancients for thousands of years has been eliminated for hundreds of years, leaving behind excellent culture and national essence. To learn from the ancients is to gather the wisdom of thousands of high-ranking people. The ancients gave us giant shoulders. He also said, "If you give up this, there is no other way to follow." Then "learning", that is, learning the essence of ancient thousand-year-old culture, in addition to including the profession of calligraphy and painting, must also be widely involved in literature, philosophy, physics, nature, history, martial arts, "all associated with art", and said that this "deepening of the external skills of the word will inevitably enrich your pen and ink lines, until the lines between the lines" (pen and ink codex eighteen).
▲ "Calligraphy and Painting Interpretation of Doubts" Pen and Ink Codex No. 18
(2) The so-called "cultivation" refers to how to "learn", which can also be described as a higher level of "learning". Sir said: "Learning from the ancients is not the goal. Take the essence of the ancients and use them for my use. Therefore do not do as you please, do not be a slave, but should be nourished. Through digestion, brewing self. What comes out of the soul is his own art. Here, Mr. Sheng put the process of "learning from the ancients" and "digesting" and "brewing", "re-emerging soul" and "revealing" to "lines", using the word "moisturizing" to express, which can be regarded as accurate in place, just like Du Fu's poem "Spring Night Happy Rain": "Sneaking into the night with the wind, moisturizing things are silent." It can be seen that only by "raising" can the essence of the culture of the ages that "learned" be infiltrated into the realm of their own calligraphy and painting art like spring wind and rain and the silent wetting of things. Mr. Sheng further expressed this realm with the word "god", and he quoted Ding Gao as saying that "take the god of oneself, take the god of man" and then say: "Take the god of man, nourish my heart, and return man to God." "If it is expressed in the vernacular, it is to take the essence of other people's art to nourish one's own soul and make one's own art reach a state of divine immersion."
"Learning" is one of the elements that give "life" to the line, and Mr. Sheng believes that "learning" is not enough, and it must also be "added" to the second element of the "accumulated pen and ink spirit". What is "accumulation"? Mr. Sheng summed it up as the word "skill".
Learning calligraphy and painting is no different from learning craftsmanship, first of all, learning "skills". Mr. Sheng pointed out: "Technology is the last word, art is the soft truth", and decisively said: "The method of calligraphy, first skill and then art", (Pen and Ink Codex No. 11) and then admonished the students to start from the "Tong Zi Gong", saying: "Handicraft, three years to complete the teacher." Thirty years of calligraphy may not be an ear. If you want to catch up with your predecessors, you must repeat your skills, you must make up lessons, you must make up for the 'Tong Zi Gong', which is not the same way" (Pen and Ink Codex NO. 13). Just as Mr. Sheng learned to paint at the age of six, and now that he has been more than sixty years old, Mr. Wei has not slackened off in learning "skills" in a single day, and Fang has cultivated the skill of "personalized calligraphy" as Mr. Xu Yan said, which is a powerful proof.
Mr. Sheng regards the current calligraphy circle as impetuous in fame and fortune, and does not hesitate to say: "Compared with ancient and modern books, inferior to technology rather than art" (pen and ink codex 13), a phrase to break through the shortcomings of today's calligraphy world, so Mr. Sheng emphasized "standing products". Mr. Sheng quoted Mr. Zhu Hetang in the "Eleventh Pen and Ink Codex": "Therefore, those who study books and paintings must first establish products. People with high quality will be calm, correct posture, not impatient, first skill and then art, step by step, in order to reach the ideal shore. "Foolishly thinking that Mr. Sheng's "standing product" is the "accumulated pen and ink spirit" in calligraphy and painting!
The "nourishment" of the "cultural connotation" of "learning" and the "accumulation" of the "spirit of pen and ink" have opened the door to Chinese painting and calligraphy, summed up in Mr. Sheng's own words: "Reverence for the ancients, erudition and about to take." The door of calligraphy and painting, only this shortcut" (Pen and Ink Codex No. 5). I think that anyone who learns the art should have no other way to do so!
First draft in the early morning of December 4, 2021
(Author: Ding Weiju, 83 years old, graduated from the department of Chinese of Hangzhou University in 1963, senior teacher of middle school Chinese)
Red Soil Landscape 45x66cm
Double Music 66x45cm
Shen Junru Jiaxing Two Songs One of the Book of 77x47cm
Commentary:
Tongxiang plums are full of basket pockets, and Wangdian lotus flowers are floating in the water.
After walking through the twin mountains and gazing, Jiang Houdi's house is the most suitable for autumn.
Takezachi Listening to Rain Cursive 20.5x60cm
Book Title: Calligraphy and Painting Explain doubts
By Sheng Xinfu
Xiling Printing Press
"Explanation of Doubts in Calligraphy and Painting" is Mr. Sheng Xinfu's traditional codex form, one problem at a time. Set the methods of thousands of years of ancient sages to solve the difficulties of today's people in learning books. It is an encyclopedia of doubts for learning calligraphy and painting. All the problems are basically answered. From beginner calligraphers and painters to high-level researchers, they will benefit from it.
This book starts from the more than 100 doubts of inheriting calligraphy and painting, takes the times as the foothold, takes the ancient sage classics as the basic theory, and takes the author's more than 60 years of reading history and calligraphy and painting practice as the foundation. It objectively analyzes and interprets the root causes and development possibilities in today's calligraphy and painting art. Quote the scriptures and convince people with reason. Sort out a practical and feasible path of artistic inheritance.
The book "Explanation of Doubts in Calligraphy and Painting" is a bilingual version of Chinese and Japanese. Japanese calligraphy and Chinese calligraphy are of the same origin and have commonalities, and the bilingual version is conducive to discussing the future of calligraphy, mutual benefit and complementarity, and common development; it is conducive to the internationalization of Chinese calligraphy and painting, and is conducive to the global sharing of Chinese culture.
Yugong Academy, Daixi Villa