Author: Blowfish Jun
In elementary school, there are also occasional calligraphy classes. The teacher brought a black and unsophisticated note and asked us to write it. The blurry bottom plate was printed with several large characters that looked like fat, not only was the words not clear, but they couldn't even understand where to put the pen and pen, so they didn't like it.
When people reach middle age, they see Japanese Chinese inscription publications from the 70s to the 80s of the last century, including replicas, and immediately realize that what they saw before was a fake Yan Zhenqing! It turned out that he was not a fat idiot at all, but a "man" with a bodybuilding physique and a noble spirit, if you want to compare the image of a work of art, the famous bronze sculpture of Zeus in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens may be comparable: standing in front of him and looking up, the words that come into his mind are: majesty, nobility, tranquility, composure... Yet it is full of human charm.
The domestic calligraphy and painting publishing industry, which likes to be "almost" and "made up", has not been the gospel or enlightenment teacher of the masses for a long time. Of course, it's another matter for high-ranking people or insiders who play with the golden stone, who have channels to see Jiatuo. But in this way, for ordinary people such as me who have no opportunity to contact the true meaning of calligraphy, it will cause visual cognitive bias and even affect a generation. For example, many middle-aged and elderly people nowadays write "ink pig" as soon as they write the face body by hand, and "Tian Kai" when they write the European body.
Fortunately, the younger generation is gradually breaking this pattern. Although many of them are gradually sliding to greasy, after all, it is no longer difficult to see the real thing now, and domestic publications are gradually becoming more refined. It can be said that this is the best time for the spread of calligraphy as art.
For example, the "After the Book Saint - Yan Zhenqing and His Era Calligraphy Special Exhibition", which is being held at the Tokyo Museum in Japan, has attracted many domestic book lovers to observe, most of whom are the younger generation.
Yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of sacrifice to the Nephew", which is firmly in the C position, can be said to be the most important work in chinese calligraphy cultural relics so far, and its significance exceeds that of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the "Orchid Pavilion Preface", or the Codex of Wang Xi, a Tang facsimile in the Japanese Imperial Household Agency. Why? Because it is authentic, this pulls the facsimile down a notch. Including the various works of Yan Zhenqing himself, it is the only inkblot. At the same time, the inkblot "Jianzhong Confession" on display, whether Yan Zhenqing personally wrote it, has been a big controversy, and there are more and more views tending to believe that the standard of this work is still some distance away from Yan Zhenqing. To be able to witness the Great Manuscript of the Sacrifice nephew, a great masterpiece from a thousand years ago, is a meaning in itself.
So, is it possible to understand "going to Japan to see Yan Zhenqing" as going on a "pilgrimage"?
This is a complex problem. After all, the exhibition of the Tokyo Museum this time has the meaning of pulling Wang Xizhi off the horse and "canonizing" Yan Zhenqing.
In 2019, can we not repeat the views of the ancients? Can we re-examine this "holy"?
In fact, the historical Yan Zhenqing has been canonized many times.
Leaving aside the extremely dubious theory that "character is character", which binds him to the moral code of the Confucian literati, it is inexcusable to interpret him as a look of thick eyebrows and big eyes; as a descendant of Yan Hui, the first disciple of Confucius (it is said), Yan Zhenqing and his family have long been used as a model for feudal imperial and royal politics, and there is no room for flaws. Have you seen the "Yan Family Temple Stele" in the Forest of Steles in Xi'an? This Yan's family temple, just in the core area of Chang'an City, they were hung up all the way out for exhibition as ideological and moral pacesetters.
Integrity, composure, perseverance, this is a beautiful character. Loyalty, this is the rhetoric of royal politics. Behind this rhetoric, how much do we know about this "person"?
A 75-year-old man who was jealous of him was sent to the rebels by the dpron and Central Government to "persuade him to surrender" on the grounds that he was "highly respected", which is not to first morally kidnap and then borrow a knife to kill people? So, was he really strangled to death by the "rebels"?
Such an important cultural and political figure, but the New Book of Tang recorded only one article, why is this?
Is the "Sacrifice of the Nephew Manuscript" an example of "loyal jun"? Isn't it an expression of human nature, the cry of an old man's grief? Through pen and ink, we can hear this old man who lost his independence in his old age as much as King Lear' heart, and can't hear his disappointment in "royal politics"?
"The thieves will not be saved, and the isolated city will be besieged." The Father traps the Son and dies, and the nest is overturned. ”
Where did he die at the hands of An Lushan, and he died clearly from "his own people"!
Yan Gaoqing recaptured Tumen, sent his son Yan Quanming to Chang'an to report victory and ask for help, on the way was detained by Wang Chengye of Taiyuan, Wang Chengye wanted to risk merit to promote his ranks, so he supported the soldiers and did not save, Yan Gaoqing and Yan Jiming fought hard for three days, and ran out of food, Yan Gaoqing was first cut off a foot, and then executed by Ling Chi; Yan Jiming only had one head left, and Yan Jiming was killed by more than thirty people.
Words cry blood, that's what it says.
On the contrary, what cannot be hidden is the brilliance of Yan Zhenqing's human nature, even in the dirty environment, he has always maintained his "virtue".
Therefore, if canonization is "retro", and the dregs are regarded as virtues, festering places, and beautiful as peach and plum, it will be ridiculous!
But if the "pilgrimage" refers to the Everest that we will witness with our own eyes in Chinese calligraphy, it is undoubtedly true.
After all, there were not many people who could witness Yan Zhenqing's inkblots since ancient times. Because most of what he left behind was inscriptions, time erased a lot of halos, and there were not many people who were good at "seeing the blade through the blade".
The world's impression of Yan Zhenqing often stops at "broad". However, it is not that the size is "broad", but that the big is a kind of temperament and pattern. Calligraphy can indeed reflect a person's pattern, comprehensive cultivation and aesthetic tendencies. But this does not mean to lose the fine - Yan Zhenqing is precisely in the details, can withstand the test and scrutiny, can shout loudly, and can whisper quietly, Su Dongpo has a proper evaluation of Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy: Xiong xiu.
Majestic and elegant, this seemingly opposing aesthetic style, is perfectly unified in Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy. Xiuya does not refer to the neat and brush-by-stroke style of the "Duo Pagoda Stele" (there is no pejorative meaning here, because his copying is also very advanced), but more refers to the profound learning exuded by the pen, such as his use of Han Li and Qin Seal, and the borrowing of ancient characters. Especially after middle age, the "xiuya" formed by learning is more mellow, and the pen is more self-propelled, and many words seem to be written inadvertently, but with a simple meaning. Many later people wanted to learn this, but no one reached his height. Dong Qichang, who was recently exhibited at the Shanghai Museum, copied his "Poems of General Pei", and compared them with the inscriptions, Guiwei was the first person in the Ming Dynasty to immediately show weakness in front of the original work. For another example, the "Trek" of Cai Xiang's yan body behind the "Jianzhong Confession", although Su Dongpo respected him as the "first of the Song Dynasty", he also seemed to be incompetent.
"Xiongxiu", of course, can be anthropomorphized, as long as it is not elevated to "the lofty object of ideology". Just like a "masculine" man, of course, can go hand in hand with "elegance". "Xiongxiu" itself is first of all a "person" full of humanity and personality charm. Just as the famous Japanese calligraphy artist Inoue Ichi understands him, every word of his is a capitalized, standing person. Inoue Ichiichi's life to write the "Yan Family Temple Stele" did not quit, look at his temporary writing, quite Yan Lugong's backbone strength, and his own calligraphy with abstract expressionist meaning, that "poor" word, also like an indomitable person, is not it precisely because of this? (Blowfish Jun)