Chinese calligraphy has a strong imprint of the times, from the Shang Zhou to the Qin and Han Dynasties, from the Jin and Tang Dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, basically the specific cultural environment of each era has played a certain role in restricting or promoting the development of calligraphy at that time. Almost everyone can't escape the influence of the times on themselves, and Fu Shan and Wang Duo are no exception.
Fu Shan and Wang Duo both lived in the turbulent era of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and in this multi-era cultural environment, Fu Shan and Wang Duo showed their very personal side, which was caused by the environment of the times and could not be surpassed, and it was precisely this era environment that created their unique style of writing. The use of pen, knot, chapter, ink is the basic element of calligraphy, although the wild grass is a more bold, moving book style, but to specifically study the art of the two wild grass is inevitably from these most basic aspects.
Qing Fushan,"Four or Five Pounds of Felt Balls" on paper, 170×55cm
I. Comparison of Fu Shan and Wang Duo's wild grass art with pens
As an important part of calligraphy works, the use of pens is an important criterion for judging the skills and quality of calligraphers. Starting from The pen of Fu Shan and Wang Duo, the similarities and differences between the two are the most direct and essential. Cursive writing seems to be a kind of liberation from the use of the pen, and the flowing lines really have the momentum of a dragon stirring in the sea and a golden snake dancing wildly.
Fu Shan's lines are the excitement of the symphony of fate, the flying of emotions and the stormy swaying, the strong ink color impact and the rise of ink, and the contrasting use of dry ink, which constitute the beauty of Fu Shan's strength and great shore. Through this form of continuous grass, he expresses his own vigor, excitement, and consciously shows his personality charm. With the help of the unfolding of space, the coiled pines and galloping beasts, his movement to realize his life reveals his anger and resistance to the world.
Qing Wang Duo Linwang Xizhi "Jingyu Thesis" on paper, 201.5×52cm, 1636
Qi Gong once praised Wang Duo's calligraphy in a poem, saying: "Wang Duo's pen power can carry the ding, and there has been no such king for five hundred years." This shows the strength of its pen. Wang Duo's cursive pen is extremely rich, it can be said that it is eight-sided out of the front, mostly use the center forward to write, the flank is secondary, the pen strength is strong, the layer is rich, and its penmanship is often cross-pen in the vertical posture, and it can be skillfully used in the round turn back to the front, retracting freely, the mood is ups and downs, and it appears to be exposed and not ostentatious. Carefully observe its stroke lines to make it more than "house leak marks" and "folded strands". In the use of the pen, Wang Duo's cursive writing not only gets the traditional high-quality irrigation, but also has its own creative play, which is one of the important characteristics of forming his calligraphy style.
We can compare and analyze from the specific works of the two, and we can draw the following conclusion: Fu Shan's large-character wild cursive calligraphy is mostly carried by elbow, inadvertently, pulled down along the front, the pen method is extended, the circle is more than square, the action of the pen tip is small and the amplitude is not large, forming a continuous winding line; Wang Duo's large-character cursive pen is used interchangeably when the elbow and wrist are used, the wrist action is more, the brush is relatively perpendicular to the paper, the counter-edge is used more, the top edge action, the pen resistance is larger, and the bending and twisting during the pen process is more. Thus forming a strong sense of undulating lines.
Qing Wang Duo Linwang Xizhi "November 4th Post" Ayamoto 192.5×48cm 1640
Second, Fu Shan and Wang Duo's wild grass art knot comparison
Zhao Mengfu said: "It is not easy to use a pen for thousands of years, and the knot is easy to change with the times. Leaving aside for the moment whether it is difficult to use a pen for eternity, it is completely correct to say that the knot is "easy with the times". Among the three elements of calligraphy, the use of the pen reflects the skill of the calligrapher, the chapter rule is more macroscopic, often associated with the author's aesthetic ideals and artistic accomplishment, only the knot is the most able to reflect the calligrapher's wisdom and artistic taste, but also the most reflective of the personality differences of the writer. For the formation of the book style, the knot is the most important factor that reflects its personality style. Because different writers have different methods, different aesthetics and different cultivations, their knots are bound to be different. Therefore, it is natural that the knot should be different from time to time and from person to person. For everyone, the knot body is bound to be unique and will inevitably be different from others.
Fu Shan and Wang Duo can be described as unique in their styles in terms of knots.
Fu Shan's continuous grass, in addition to making people have a sense of roughness and chaos, indisputable, seems to have all kinds of unspeakable sadness, that kind of crazy, abnormal, paradoxical, wild feelings are also manifested in the exaggerated deformation of the font, changing the structure of the word, making it fragmented, disrupting the balance, and breaking the neatness, which plays an important role in his cursive creation, from ingenuity to clumsiness, and at the same time, in the visual to give people a strong ups and downs and exciting, dripping ink, dissolve themselves into the realm of "forgetting me", It is not so much a continuous line as it is a continuous song of life composed with continuous notes. "Fu Shan Wild Grass Knot pursues the complexity and density of the internal space, and divides the space with the complex entanglement of the line to seek a different effect from the conventional, but the longitudinal opening of the word posture does not make people feel closed."
Qing WangDuo, "Yuquan Mountain Wanghu Pavilion", Ayamoto 300×78cm, 1639
Wang Duoxing cursive writing has no trace of complete conversion to the orthodox calligraphy of the "Second King", whether it is in line with the standards of ancient calligraphy, or dong Qichang's calligraphy, which is well-known decades before him, as a reference, people will not be able to accept Wang Duo's style as a pure Wang Xi school.
Fu Shan's wild grass knot is mainly rounded, pursuing strange and clumsy effects, and there is a sense of being squeezed. In terms of knots, Wang Duo also has creative play, with dense juxtaposition and positive contrast in structure. It can be seen that the pursuit of oddity is the commonality of the two, but Fu Shan's wild grass knot is mainly round and huny, rarely edges and corners, and it appears graceful and generous, which is the result of his study of Yan Zhenqing. Wang Duo's knots are relatively introverted, with many square folds and a large amplitude on the left and right sides.
III. Comparison of Fu Shan and Wang Duo's Wild Grass Art Chapters
A successful calligraphy work not only requires precise brushwork and beautiful knots, but more importantly, the complete harmony of the layout of the chapters. The chapter method is the result of the interaction of structure, pen, ink and rhythm, and at the same time, the completeness and perfection of the chapter method are also fully reflected in the value and meaning of the pen and knot. The first thing that moves a calligraphy work is often the chapter of the work, which is especially true in today's exhibition-themed era, in the exhibition hall where hundreds of works are displayed, if you want to make your work stand out and attract attention, the first thing to rely on is the chapter law. People appreciate calligraphy works, accustomed to from the whole to the part, that is, from the chapter to the knot, and then to the order of the pen, only the chapter is attractive, in order to retain people's attention, the appreciator is interested in continuing to appreciate the knot and the pen.
Gu Yanwu, a famous thinker at the end of the Ming Dynasty, admired Fu Shan very much and said, "Xiao Ran is outside of things, and I am not as good as Lord Fu Qing." In the early Qing Dynasty, Fu Qing's calligraphy was famous for its calligraphy. From his cursive works, we can feel a kind of momentum like a dragon and snake rolling, "flying down three thousand feet". This momentum is precisely the formal beauty produced by its cursive rules that brings us. Fu Shan's cursive calligraphy looks at the big picture, as if he disdains the gains and losses of one city and one pool, and his subtleties are all in the big place, using a form of rough and careless expression to cover up the meticulous technical mistakes. The extremely continuous winding of its lines has violated the taboo of "dead snake hanging from tree" in the "Gesture Theory". Calligraphy theorist Chen Zhenlian commented: "Fu Shan's wild grass emphasizes authenticity and emphasizes momentum, which is close to the great cursive calligraphers of the Ming Dynasty such as Xu Wei and Wang Duo, but it is better in atmosphere." It seems that Fu Shanben did not intend to leave a fine aesthetic paradigm for future generations, but focused on providing a new concept of calligraphy creation, a mode of thinking, and a true calligraphy art personality for the history of calligraphy. Fu Shan cursive answers what is the essential characteristics of a work of art, what is the soul of art, and what is the aesthetic goal pursued by the artist. He was not very sophisticated in ancient times, and was heavily influenced by the winds of the times, and he obviously reduced the technical taste of calligraphy to a secondary position, and regarded the consciousness of the subject above everything. Therefore, his cursive writing is known for its temperament, true feelings, and simplicity and nature.
Qing Fu Shan Lin Li Yong "Three Days of Sunny Posts" paper 163.5×48cm
Wang Duo has two main innovations in his wild grass knot font posture: one is the dense juxtaposition of the structure, the positive contrast, the sense of side of the character posture is very strong, some people have done research on the maximum inclination of his writing is twenty-five degrees, and the cursive has reached sixty-five degrees, so its momentum greatly exceeds the cursive works of any previous era; the second is a very special phenomenon: the double axis connection. When our feeling goes down the axis line, the axis is suddenly interrupted in a certain word, but when we find a new axis in the next word, we find that it is well connected to this word, but it uses another potential axis. This "potential axis" causes the break of the upper and lower axis to be repaired, and while achieving the effect of the sudden and staggered connection between the words, it can also drive the smooth transition of the axis.
Fourth, Fu Shan and Wang Duo's wild grass art ink method comparison
Calligraphy art developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, calligraphy art as an art discipline its independence is getting stronger and stronger, has become a carrier of the personality of the calligrapher, the use of ink is no longer only attached to the use of pen, but as an important factor in the composition of the form of calligraphy works, has become a refraction of the rhythm of life of the calligrapher, has an independent aesthetic value. More importantly, the scribe's pursuit of ink color is also gradually active and conscious, and it is incorporated into the formal composition of the chapter, at this time, the ink method, not only to serve the pen, but also to serve the overall chapter, in order to enrich, harmonize, and unify the overall chapter and consciously control it. Before the Ming Dynasty, there were too many rules and regulations for the ink law, and in fact, art is not right or wrong, only beautiful and unbeautiful, as long as it is beautiful, it is right, if art reaches the time of "only this, can not be like that", it can no longer be called art. After the Ming Dynasty, the ink method broke the stereotypes of the previous generation and became an important factor in the composition of the rules and regulations and the increase of the artistic appeal of the works. The ink used by Xu Wei, Ni Yuanlu, Wang Duo, Fu Shan and others in the late Ming Dynasty boldly mutated, and the alternating flow of ink and thirsty pens was full of natural interest.
Qing Wang Duo' "Eight Songs of the Garden Pavilion Outside the City" No. 5, on paper, 329×51.3cm, 1634
Calligraphy critic Mei Mosheng once said, "In the use of ink, Wang Duo's cursive calligraphy shows a summative inheritance of traditional ink and outstanding creative talent." The strong contrast between the rising ink of the pieces and the dry ink of the large pieces show his majestic and arrogant personality. In some works, the flowing ink and the thirst for ink that only has hues seem to indicate that he has taken the contrast between calligraphy and ink to the extreme. ”
"Ink increase" refers to the phenomenon of ink overflowing outside the stroke. Wang Duo deliberately smudges the dot paintings with polished pens or water-doped ink; or merges the lines with each other; or makes the brush strokes and halos intersect to enrich the layers, so that the change of ink color is strong, showing a unique pen and ink interest, thus promoting the exploration and application of focus, moist, dry and wet ink color techniques in the future. "Rising ink" dissolves the local dot line in one place to form a block surface volume. Increase the rhythmic dynamics in the movement of the line, as if it is a heavy drum and a heavy hammer, sonorous and powerful. Carefully tasting, Wang Duo's "rising ink" also lies in his ethereal and thoroughness, and it is by no means a pile of dead ink. This method should be the result of Wang Duo's introduction of the blending technique of painting into calligraphy. Wang Duo's cursive ink is thick, light, dry, wet and scorched, and it is used just right in his cursive, with endless changes, and combined with the speed and slowness of the pen, his works have a strong sense of movement. It's like an exciting symphony. Wang Duo's method of increasing ink expands the ink space of traditional calligraphy, enhances the emotional expression of ink, and gives people a strong visual impulse.
Wang Duo's ink-raising method is also revealed in Fu Shan's manuscripts from time to time, and it is conceivable that the calligraphers who lived in the trend of changing the style of calligraphy in the late Ming Dynasty at that time were also consciously or unconsciously influenced by the calligraphers under his influence to a certain extent. In terms of ink law, Fu Shan did not have the same contribution to history as Wang Duo.
Qing Wangduo's "Temple Slang" Ayamoto 224.5×49cm
5. Conclusion
Both Fu Shan and Wang Duo are known as the great cursive scripts of the open, but the openness of Fu Shan's cursive is different from that of Wang Duo, and their ways of letting go are different, the degree is different, and the meaning is different. This kind of indulgence in the word is actually the outpouring of people's spirit and the laissez-faire of people's emotions. Therefore, this emotion is a factor in the category of subjects, and he is the expression of the writer's self-spirit. The opposite of emotion is the dharma. The two most important issues in the art of calligraphy are emotion and dharma, and people like to personify, spiritualize, and emotionalize art. Art is the abstraction of the human spirit, and it is precisely because the artwork is injected with human emotions and thoughts that calligraphy works have a huge appeal. But calligraphy is not purely emotional, it has a side that expresses the subjective self, and it also has a side that expresses its own formal laws. Judging from the essential laws of calligraphy, he has a specific formal language, which has rules and laws. The relationship between emotion and dharma, that is, the relationship between subject and object. Calligraphy is the materialization of the "intention" of the calligrapher, which can be expressed without means of concreteness, but in the laying out of points, lines, and surfaces. Technique and emotion are often in the form of contradictions, if the work wants to be fine, in line with the law, in order, it is bound to affect the free expression of emotion, the existence of the law restricts the expression of emotion, and if the author wants to fully and freely express his inner emotions, it may be lost in the law, and the release of emotion makes the delicacy of the technique difficult to take into account. However, both emotion and dharma are important to the art of calligraphy, and both are indispensable. Laissez-faire emotions and restraints on the law are not advisable, and emotions and laws must be highly compatible.
- END -