When we study Deng Shiru, we can summarize Deng Shiru's lifelong contributions into two points: 1. Introduce the concept of seal carving creation of "printing from the book" into seal carving, and create freedom for seal carving (in fact, this article is particularly important in the history of seal carving); 2. He introduced the concept of calligraphy into seal carving, especially the chapter theory of "calligraphy and painting can be sloppy, the secret places are not ventilated, often count white as black, and the strange is interesting" (Bao Shichen's "Art Boat Double Maple, Narrative Book") The chapter theory plays a pivotal role in the development of seal carving.
(Deng Shiru statue)
Zhao Zhiqian, a genius seal engraver in later generations, inherited Deng Shiru's theory and even simplified it to the extreme, believing that the seal engraving method is not mysterious, and all problems can be solved by understanding the word "dense"; the later seal engraving master Wu Changshuo developed from this, summing up the seal engraving principle of "virtual place should be real, real place should be virtual, virtual reality should be born" when discussing printing.
Art is not mathematics, chemistry, physics, of course, there is no so-called theorem, and it will never produce a corresponding formula of "a hundred tests and a hundred spirits", but if you deeply understand Deng Shiru's set of chapter theories, you will definitely benefit the seal engraving learners for life. This article will combine Deng Shiru's party seal, and then talk about this seal engraving method theory, this side seal is the following side of the "seal Zen resident":
(Deng Shiru and his "Seal Zen Resident" seal)
At first glance, this square seal seems to be an ordinary Chinese-white indian-style work, just a generous and upright, simple and plain work, but if you examine it carefully, you will find that it is not ordinary.
To say that it is not ordinary is, first of all, a change in the word "print".
Because the word "yin" is the only word in the whole print that remains "dynamic" because of the change of the seal law. Because in the "print" word, the author retains a large number of flowing curves, and even a large number of strokes remain in these lines, which promotes the "three static and one movement" in the seal method. We can't underestimate this "three static and one movement", with the movement in the still, the unique stability of the Chinese-Indian style is broken, and with the movement in the stillness, the printing surface is no longer rigid and flat, the craftsmanship is greatly reduced, and the interest is greatly increased.
(Three stills and one movement)
Art is always the pursuit of change, just like the use of brush strokes to shape the strokes horizontally and vertically is generally not calligraphy art, smooth and upright, neat and uniform is the printing body, not calligraphy. For this square seal, if the word "seal" keeps the line straight, this square seal is a practical seal of one side, and after the word "seal" remains in circulation, this square seal is a seal engraving work and has "artistry". This is actually the origin of the Handwritten Writing of the Indians into the Printing, and it is just a subtle embodiment of "printing from the book".
But the magic of this seal is far from this, and there is also the fun of Deng Shi's principle of chapter law:
(Deng Shiru's Theory of Chapter Law)
Note that under the premise of "equally divided printing surface", the dense idea of "sparse places are more sparse, dense places are denser" in this square seal (that is, "sparse places can go horses, and secret places do not make ventilation") is very clearly reflected - in order to emphasize the "secret" of the two words "Yin Zen": 1. The lower right of the word "Zen" is left blank and disposed of, and the Miao seal method is completely used to seek its compactness; 2, the last stroke of the word "seal" and the word "Zen" are glued together, so that the two words are completely one. In this way, the right half of the printing surface strives to be dense, that is, "the secret is denser" (if you look further closely, the upper and lower parts of the word "seal" are also connected, and the left and right sides of the word "Zen" also have a structural concession relationship, which is also for the purpose of "seeking secrets").
In order to emphasize the "sparseness" of the word "layman": 1. The word "ju" adopts the seal method of "凥" (same as "ju"), and the "several" places in the lower part strive to open, and the extreme "sparseness" in the upper part is rationalized; 2, the word "shi" is mentioned horizontally, and the "sparse" of the left and right extremes is obtained. This is the so-called "looser place".
(Denser, looser)
Not only that, but also "counting white as black". These four words are more difficult to understand than "the sparse place can go to the horse, and the secret place does not make the air breathable", in fact, it is emphasized that in the design of the chapter, the empty place should be paid as much attention as the text, considered together, and even considered the counterweight comparison between the blank place and the text place, and the weight should be "dang".
In fact, in this seal, "Yin Zen" is the "black" part, that is, the "dense" part, the "real" part, the heavy text part, and the word "layman" is the "white" part, that is, the "sparse" part, the "virtual" part, the light part of the text, but if we change the angle, starting from the red area and light weight, the result is exactly the opposite -
The red of the word "layman" is very heavy, so they become the "real" part, the "dense" part, and the red color of the word "Yin Zen" is relatively light, so they become the "virtual" part and the "sparse" part. This is actually what Wu Changshuo later said about "virtual reality", that is, Deng Shiru's theory of "counting white as black", you see, this square seal, the left and right halves of the original text is very dense and different, but it is not at all visible that the printing surface is unbalanced, it is because of the reason of "counting white as black".
We can also popularize this theory, that is, when designing the printing stamp method, the text and the blank space need to be carefully considered, and the impact of the two on the printing surface effect is equally important.
([Pudding Reading] No. 102, some pictures from the Internet)