Why do we study seal carving, study seal carving? What is the role of seal engraving art? Is it just to sign and embellish calligraphy and paintings? Apparently not.
Since seal engraving is art, then, it needs to bring people the feeling of beauty, touch people's emotions, delight people's spirits, purify and cultivate people's hearts, so that people get special aesthetic enjoyment from it, at the same time, it also needs to reflect real life, express the artist's thoughts and feelings, that is to say: the work is the author's life reaction, take literature as a metaphor, Lu Xun's style must be a gun and a dagger, Xu Zhimo's style must be wind and snow, because the two people's life experience and thought are different.
In this article, we talk about Shi Tao's seal carving, talk about his "jingxiong old ugly" seal carving style, and the core of the discussion is this side of "I have what I have":
(Shi Tao and his "I Ho Ji Zhi Zhi")
Shi Tao (1642-1708), original surname Zhu, name Ruoji, Guangxi Guilin people, small characters A Chang, monk name Yuanji, a work of yuanji, a lot of nicknames, such as: dadizi, blunt root, stone Daoren, bitter melon monk, blind venerable, zero Ding old man, etc., he and Hongren, Bearded, Zhu Yun (Bada Shanren) together known as the "four monks of the late Ming Dynasty".
It is not accurate to say that he was one of the "four monks of the late Ming Dynasty", because when the Qing army entered the customs in 1644, Shi Tao was only two years old, and he could be regarded as a Qing Dynasty man.
But he was the son of Zhu Hengjia, the king of Mingjingjiang, and was actually a pure royal family, or more importantly, he was a royal family, so after the Qing army entered the customs, he was the real destroyer of the country. When we look at his titles, it is enough to understand the pain that he never forgets and haunts his heart all the time, such as: "The Great Polyester" is actually the one who "washes away", that is, the one who destroys the "Qing"; and the "Bitter Melon Monk" is the "green skin and red heart" that takes the fruits and vegetables of the bitter melon, that is, the meaning of "'Qing' Pi' Zhu (mingzhiguo surname, which is also his surname)"; and the "blind venerable" is the "unclear" Venerable...
(Painting by Shi Tao)
Shi Tao is famous for his paintings, he is a famous painter in the history of painting, but in fact he is still a great seal engraver with a distinctive seal style, he is a good friend with Cheng Yi, and he is close friends with Gao Fenggang, the representative of the "Four Fengs Sect", in fact, the formation of the "Four Feng Sect" printing style has a lot to do with Shi Tao, and Shi Tao's view of printing is mainly reflected in a poem he wrote to Gao Fenggang:
The calligraphy and painting stamp book is one, and the spirit of the old and the ugly is conveyed. The Qin and Han dynasties are new to the ancient, and the present people are thinking of the ancient and the new. Spiritual illusion only teaches forced creation, and it is urgent to create and leave innocence. Non-cloud deeds are not exquisite, collection appreciation of who is its people. Only gold does not change color, and the pearls and jade are dusty. Fenggang, Fenggang, has always been the iron pen Xu He, Cheng, Ande Minshi thousands of changes and Jun, chiseled through the chaos is still disgusting.
Brother Gao Shi of Fenggang gave it to him with a seal, the book Xie Bo smiled, and the Qingxiang widow dadi zicao.
He said: Calligraphy and painting is the same thing, no matter which art form, their style can be divided into four styles: fine, male, old, and ugly, but no matter which style, its highest criterion is to express the spirit of human subjects (the so-called "fine" here refers to the style of seiko and beauty; "xiong" refers to the style of masculinity and boldness; "old" refers to the old spicy and simple style, and "ugly" refers to the ancient and mutilated style). Whether it is tracking the Qin and Han Dynasties, or innovating in form, it must have a source and come from the ancient tradition (new out of the ancient). And the creation of a generation must have a new atmosphere and new style of a generation.
He believes that the new form must create nature, take the law of nature, and cite the Example of han "Hurry to the Chapter", believing that the most valuable thing about it is the innocence of nature. He advised Gao Fenggang not to be limited by He Zhen and Cheng Yi, and asked him to redouble his efforts to create a new style of his own and open up a new world.
In essence, this square seal is the so-called "ugly" seal of the so-called "Four Phoenix Sect" later, that is, the ancient clumsy and mutilated style.
1. Let's start with the brokenness.
(Extreme mutilation around the seal)
All around this square seal are all desolate due to broken edges of strokes or deliberate knife techniques (the left stroke of the "zigzag" character, directly because of the brokenness, has become a white stroke of "borrowed edge"), these broken, such as the wrinkles of the old man's face, such as the dry rocks and old trees, a longitudinal and old spicy, everywhere is cold and reckless, we can even taste the wind and frost of the engraver's face in the printing surface, a big cripple, a big broken, a big deficiency, full of the life cry of a country destroyer! The "sesame dots" white that are deliberately added to the red are the traces of erosion of the years, and those that seem to be unintentional but intentionally formed everywhere are broken, and they are the cracks accumulated by the years.
2, let's talk about ancient clumsiness.
No matter how innovative the form is, there must be something "ancient" in its bones, and the text material of the seal engraving is the "seal book", which is itself very "ancient", at the same time, the chapter printed on the chapter is also an equal, symmetrical chapter, which is also an "ancient" thing, at the same time, it is also a "clumsy" thing, of course, it is also a "natural" thing. As shown in the figure:
(Symmetrical equal parts)
This square seal, with the word "Ji" as the axis of symmetry, the left and right two parts are symmetrical to each other, which is the most primitive aesthetic style, but also based on the seal style of the Qin and Han Dynasties, it is natural, simple, simple, but generous and majestic!
3, let's say "new".
Although the symmetrical chapter of this square seal originated from the Qin and Han Dynasties, one thing is completely innovative, that is, the word "Ji" in the middle is vigorously enlarged by Shi Tao. It is not the size of the Qin and Han dynasties, but is widened and enlarged. Of course, this is an emphasis, emphasizing the word "Ji", he is telling: My Legal name is "Yuanji" and "Yuanji", but what "Ji" can a monk like me have, because in the face of the mountains and rivers, he is deeply powerless, and no matter how he struggles, there is no "help" to do anything.
To this end, he made an imaging treatment: the word "Ji" was not only enlarged, but also the "water" part changed the seal method, weakening the influence of the "water" part on the image in the middle of the printing surface with three vertical points, and the center of the "ji" word was forcefully enlarged, such as the nose on the face, and the left and right were accompanied by tearful eyes, as shown in the picture:
(Imagery of the word "Ji")
In fact, this is also the spiritual core of this seal, the most important thing that Shi Tao wants to express - he wants to "ji" the world, but he can't start from "ji", so he is always in tears!
4. Finally, let's talk about "the ancient from the new".
Zhao Zhiqian said that the seal engraving method is nothing more than the word "dense", in fact, this is the real unpublished theory. The principle of denseness is the principle of the seal aesthetic chapter that has been common since ancient times, and Shi Tao is of course well versed in this way, so the contrast between the denseness in this seal is also very obvious, as shown in the figure:
(Dense)
This square seal is also a representative work of "Great Sparse and Great Secret", and the red area in the lower part of the "Ji" character is enough to be comparable to the size of other characters, forming a contrast with other secrets. Moreover, this "sparse" is not monotonous, and on the left and right sides of the seal, there are corresponding "sparse" echoes it, thus forming a "reunion" in the chapter. Denseness and virtual reality are important aesthetic elements at the top of the white freehand print, which should be well understood.
([Pudding Reading] No. 93, some pictures from the Internet)