If we pay attention to Wu Rangzhi's 24-year-old work "Bu Sheng Lu" (the previous one) mentioned above, we will find that whether it is "fangyuan and ji", "rigid and soft", "sparse and beneficial", plus the use of knives, Wu Rangzhi's level of seal engraving is not inferior to deng Shiru in the mature stage, but why does Wu Rangzhi "abandon his learning and learn" after seeing Deng Shiru's works ("Wu Rangzhi's Seal of Existence" self-prologue)?
The reason is very simple, that is, when he came into contact with Deng Shiru's works (about 32-35 years old), he was overjoyed, and a door was pushed open in front of his eyes, this door was "printed from the book", it turned out that the seal could also be carved like this! What surprised him was Deng Shiru's creative concept!
Yes, not only the words in the ancient seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties can be printed, the handwritten text materials can also be printed, and even the "way of writing can be engraved", which is in line with the direction of Wu Rangzhi's artistic pursuit, note that there are levels: the first level, the handwritten seal book of the seal engraver can be printed, no longer limited to the old model of "printing in the seal" (the text materials are derived from the ancient seal of the Qin and Han Dynasties); the second level, used in the way of "writing" on the printing surface with a knife, writing with a knife on the printing surface.
According to records, Wu Rangzhi's engraving did not print the bottom at all, only a cross was drawn on the printing surface, and if there was no sight, the knife was left and right, and one side of the seal was quickly formed. This kind of creative method dilutes the chapter method and dilutes the brushwork, which is an ideographic process of writing with a knife, resolving the situation of "three rights splitting" of chapter, brushwork and knife method, and realizing the theoretical practice process of "taking one as one". In fact, this is the ultimate, the ultimate "printed from the book"!
It is precisely for this reason that Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo, Huang Mufu and other famous artists of later generations have all drawn nourishment from Wu Rangzhi, and Wu Rangzhi's works are worth studying hard! Therefore, we continue to read Wu Rangzhi's seal, and this article reads this fang "Zihong":
(Wu Rangzhi "Zihong")
We have not yet focused on Xu Sangeng, the style of this square seal is very similar to Xu Sangeng's style, the difference is that Wu Rangzhi uses a punching knife, but also uses a knife to "cut", each knife into a line, Xu Sangeng uses a cutting knife, accumulating points into a line, but the flowing charm is similar.
Back to this seal.
First, say the seal of the word "son"
A good seal engraver should generally be a philologist, just like the "zi" character in this seal, Wu Rangzhi's choice of seal method, derived from the ancient glyph of "zi", "zi" is a hieroglyph, the original meaning is a baby, regardless of gender, the upper three strokes are like baby's hair, below is the fontanelle and the two arms and the lower limbs merged due to swaddling, the difference between ancient Chinese and small seals is the presence or absence of "hair". The method of adding hair was chosen for at least three purposes:
(Glyph evolution of subwords)
1. It retains the vivid beauty of the unique ideographic image of Chinese characters, so that the "zi" character has a more visual sense, and the "zi" of the smaller seal is more vivid; 2, the dense contrast of the "zi" character itself is achieved, forming a dense glyph of upper and lower density. With this set of dense contrasts, the visual conflict on the right side of the printing surface can be produced; 3, the stacking shape of the "hair" line and the line stacking of the "water" part and the "bird" part of the "Hong" character form a coherent rhythm, which has the beauty of music.
(The influence of the "sub" seal method on the overall situation)
Considering the "zi" word alone, it is a dense contrast, and the "Hong" word is considered, which is the beauty of the rhythm and the echo of the blank space, and the seal method of one word can bring the whole situation to life, which is a good example.
Second, "square circle" and stability
1. Square circle. "Fangyuan" also starts from the word "zi", whether it is the "fontanelle" in the middle or the two arms on the lower side, the two corners of the lower part have been processed as "one side and one circle", and these two sets of "square circles" are interlaced and presented around the "sub" word, avoiding similarities and retaining symmetry. In the same way, there are many arc pens of the word "Hong", most of which show a round and flowing posture, but there is not only a round turn, such as the sharp angle of the next right stroke next to "water", and the shoulder of the "bird's claw" is deliberately left with a square corner. In the round pen, with the presentation of "square", the masculine taste comes out, and the word is not weak.
(Variation in radius)
2. Stability. Neither word is easy to stand, because the two words are mostly curved strokes, with few or no horizontal and no vertical strokes. Wu Rangzhi's approach: the main pen is connected to the edge, the border is thickened, and the horizontal strokes of the "Hong" character "Gong" part are fully utilized, interspersed and bitten well with the "water" on the left and the "bird" on the right.
(Bite and junction)
The bite reunites the text, and the edges make the text stand more stable.
Third, the virtual reality
Note that with a wide print edge, it is often easy to fall into occlusion and sluggishness, because the elements of the print surface are too solid. But this thick border and because of the instability of the text needs it to support, how to do it, the usual way is to "break the real into the virtual, for example, the "work" word these two horizontal, there is a virtual real treatment, the upper part of a blur, the lower part of a thick, and a group of virtual real changes, but also a set of obvious visual contrast; of course, more bokeh is the continuous stroke of the broken, so that it produces the effect of "pen breaks", while increasing the mottled sense of the entire printing surface and "vicissitudes", increasing the "golden stone" flavor.
(The virtual reality effect and the taste of the golden stone produced by the pen break)
However, it must be remembered that this kind of damage is based on the needs of the printing surface, and cannot be broken for the sake of breaking.
IV. "Abandonment" of Deng Shiru's Theory of Den Shiru
Wu Rangzhi recognized Deng Shiru, but did not fully accept his "sparse place can go horse, secret place does not make the wind" theory of the dense, in Wu Rangzhi's works, the sparseness is mostly out of the natural flow of the indian text, completely out of the natural flow of the text, he does not "stiffly" change the denseness of the text, does not squeeze the strokes together, nor does he leave extra prominent blanks, he thinks that it is "let the head comfortable", which is actually related to Wu Rangzhi's simple personality, he does not pursue the strange interest of "flying in the sky", he is willing to be natural.
("Sinology" under Zhao Zhiqian's Extreme Density Theory)
This is completely different from the later Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884). We often see that Zhao Zhiqian has changed the seal law to highlight the dense works, but it is rare to see Wu Rangzhi having such works, and the denseness in Wu Rangzhi's works is naturally generated. For example, this square seal, the density of "Hong" and the sparse contrast of "Zi" naturally exists, if it is the extremely dense practice will make the "Zi" more sparse, and "Hong" is more dense, it is bound to shrink the occupied area of "Hong" and highlight the "Sparse" of "Zi", Wu Rangzhi did not do this, he let "Hong" still occupy more of the printing area, and the "Zi" character changed the seal method, although the printing surface still has a dense contrast, but it is not blunt (in fact, the beauty of calligraphy and seal engraving depends to some extent on the naturally existing density difference of Chinese characters).
In fact, the reason is very simple, the two practices are not right or wrong, they represent two aesthetics, but also represent the character of the creator, Wu Rangzhi has been immersed in the Han seal for more than ten years, he is more willing to be stable and serene, he feels that this is more beautiful, more simple, he is an honest man. Zhao Zhiqian is a genius, he is willing to show off his skills, willing to have a unique beauty.
([Pudding Reading] No. 113, some pictures from the Internet)