If you want to give a separate name to the male and female calligraphers in the history of Chinese calligraphy, then the most outstanding male calligrapher in Chinese history is Wang Xizhi, and the first female calligrapher in history is none other than Lady Wei. Wang Xizhi is a famous calligrapher who is respected by the world as the "Sage of Books", and his famous work "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion" is also known as "the first line of books under the heavens", which also consolidates his position as the first book in history.
So how powerful is Lady Wei, who is revered by posterity as the first female calligrapher in Chinese history? How is its calligraphy?
The calligrapher Lady Wei is very familiar with Lady Wei, but many book lovers have only heard of this name, but they do not know its calligraphy and related matters.
Lady Wei was a famous female calligrapher during the Jin Dynasty, a native of Anyi, Hedong (present-day Xia County, Shanxi Province), born in 272, died in 349 (Yonghe 5th year), at the age of 78, originally named Wei Shuo, the daughter of Ting Wei Wei Zhan, the wife of Ruyin Taishou Li Zhi, a student of the famous Calligraphy Master Zhong Xuan, and the calligraphy enlightenment teacher of "Shusheng" Wang Xizhi. Lady Wei had a great influence on Wang Xizhi in calligraphy and was Wang Xizhi's benefactor.
Lady Wei inherited the famous calligraphy of Zhong Xuan, who was good at calligraphy, and her writing style was in the same vein as Zhong Xuan, and later also influenced this Wang Xizhi.
Lady Wei's family is also a group of calligraphers, it is understood that Lady Wei's ancestors, from Bo Wei, from brother Wei Heng, are all famous calligraphers and calligraphy theorists. Because of this family background, Mrs. Wei was influenced by the art of calligraphy since she was a child, laying the groundwork for her to become a famous calligrapher in the future.
Later, she married Ruyin Taishou Li Zhi, and her husband was also a calligraphy master, including her husband's family, which was also a calligraphy family, which can also be said to be the right door. Among the Li clan of Jiangxia, there was a calligrapher named Li Shi, whose prestige was comparable to that of Wang Xizhi's uncle Wang Xizhi and another famous calligrapher, Yu Yi, who was only two years younger than Lady Wei at the time, and he called Lady Wei his uncle. I also received the guidance of Lady Wei to be more brilliant on the road of calligraphy! Including the frequent appearance of calligraphers among the descendants of the Jiangxia Li clan, Lady Wei played a major role.
Student Wang Xizhi
So what kind of background did Wang Xizhi become Lady Wei's "student"? It turned out that Wang Xizhi's mother and Lady Wei were cousins, which provided innate conditions for sending Wang Xizhi to Let Lady Wei teach Wang Xizhi calligraphy. This tells us that people's relationship background is very important. According to historical records, Liu Song Yangxin's "Cai Gu Lai Neng Shu Ren Ren" contains: "Jinzhong Shulang Li Chong Mother Wei Lady, Good Bell Law." Wang Yishao's teacher. This is one of the records that shows that Lady Wei was Wang Xizhi's teacher.
When Wang Xizhi was 7 years old, he studied calligraphy with Lady Wei, and Wang Xizhi was very studious at that time. Although he was still young, he was clever and clever, and he was bent on learning calligraphy well, and asked Mrs. Wei how to write well. Mrs. Wei told him the story of the calligrapher Zhang Zhi practicing calligraphy, which was about Zhang Zhi practicing calligraphy and dying a pool of water blackened due to a long period of practice and pen washing. This has always inspired the young Wang Xizhi, and he also realized that the most important thing is to persevere and practice unremittingly to write well.
There is no doubt that Mrs. Wei, as Wang Xizhi's enlightenment calligraphy teacher, her role can be large or small, and in the big case, if there is no enlightenment of Lady Wei, there may only be Wang Xizhi in history, and there is no calligrapher Wang Xizhi; in the small aspect, Wang Xizhi will also learn calligraphy, but he will take many detours, and may not have today's prestige.
Mrs. Wei calligraphy
Lady Wei's calligraphy is mainly to learn the calligraphy of Zhong Xuan, so Lady Wei's calligraphy is also the best in calligraphy, and her heirloom works include "Chunhua Ge Ti", "Pen Array Map", "Wei Shi and Nan Ti" and so on. Mrs. Wei's calligraphy is not only the inheritance of Zhong Xuan, and there is a certain development or change, in terms of shape, from the flat square of Zhong Xuan to rectangular, the lines are clear and peaceful, elegant and graceful, to be subordinate to the far away, the charm of the calligraphy is very mature.
Lady Wei's calligraphy is very exquisite, and in Song Chensi's "Small History of Books" quoted from the Tang Dynasty, it is said that Lady Wei's calligraphy is like a flower arrangement dancer, low and beautiful; it is also like a beautiful woman on stage, Xian'e making a shadow, a red lotus reflecting water, and a green swamp floating xia", which fully affirms the beauty of Lady Wei's calligraphy. As a result, there are many evaluations of Lady Wei's calligraphy in history, believing that Lady Wei's calligraphy can be rated as "wonderful product", or "superior and inferior", and so on.
In addition, Mrs. Wei is not only a master of calligraphy, but also a calligrapher with rich calligraphy theory, who has a very profound insight into calligraphy and can learn a lot in "Pen Array".