Calligraphy is fascinating for our times
Author: Shu Tong
Name: An ancient poem
Collection of Qingweilou Fine Arts Museum
First, what we think of as the art of calligraphy was not art at the beginning
Nowadays, when it comes to calligraphy, everyone thinks that it is a profound art category, but looking back at history, we will find that it did not appear in the form of an art from the beginning.
For example, the oracle bone, the oldest script on the mainland that we are familiar with, was used to divine fortune and misfortune; the gold script cast on bronze was used to record the life of the nobility; many simple calligraphy works in modern times are a model for many calligraphers to learn, and at that time it was only a means of taking notes; not to mention the small seal of the Qin Dynasty, which played a great role in the unification of China at that time, but no one regarded it as art at that time; the monumental atmosphere of the Han Dynasty allowed Han to have a place on the historical stage, but it was only for the sake of chronicle praise.
So at first, calligraphy only exerted its practicality, and no one thought about whether it was beautiful, how to make it more beautiful, and how it could develop itself.
Author: Qi Gong
Name: Fish Sticker
Collection of Qingweilou Fine Arts Museum
With the change of the times and the development of political and social economy, some people finally began to pay attention to the fact that calligraphy is not only a means of daily recording, but also "played". For example, Zhang Zhi of the Eastern Han Dynasty studied calligraphy extremely hard, and his family's silk veils were first used to practice calligraphy before being dyed for clothing; the Han Ling Emperor loved calligraphy and once recruited hundreds of people from all over the world to work in Hongdumen. And some calligraphers began to study the theory of calligraphy: the Eastern Han Dynasty Cui Yan wrote "Cursive Writing Posture", and the Western Jin Dynasty calligrapher Wei Heng had "Four-Body Calligraphy" to describe the origins and relics of ancient texts, seals, li, and cursive writings.
Calligraphy rose from a chronicle tool to artistic creation, which was a major turning point in the history of Chinese calligraphy. It is precisely because of the self-consciousness of the art of calligraphy in this period that we can look at calligraphy as an art today, and there are many questions about calligraphy that we can explore.
Second, the art of calligraphy is an art based on Chinese characters, and the brush is the most important tool in this art
The definition of "Chinese calligraphy" in the "Course on the History of Chinese Art" edited by Mr. Bo Songnian is as follows: "Chinese calligraphy is an art form composed of Chinese characters as the object of expression and brush writing as a tool of expression. ”
The two most important messages conveyed in this definition are: 1. The object of expression of Chinese calligraphy is Chinese characters and 2. The brush is the expressive tool of Chinese calligraphy.
These two points are very central to the art of calligraphy. Therefore, when you see some of the so-called "calligraphy works" in society that use calligraphy as a cover to make sensations and deliberately put on a show (such as writing with a kitchen knife dipped in ink, scribbling with a pen in the nostrils, etc.), you should know very clearly that this is not calligraphy, and this is a kind of defilement to the art of calligraphy.
Author: Wu Zhongqi
Name: An ancient poem
Collection of Qingweilou Fine Arts Museum
Third, calligraphy is not just as simple as practicing words, calligraphers need high cultural literacy
In addition to practicing words, you must also learn calligraphy theories such as the history of Chinese calligraphy, the history of Chinese and Western art, the appreciation of calligraphy and painting, etc.
However, this is only the most basic thing to learn as a professional student, and if you want to go down this road all the time, you need to read a lot of books, not only calligraphy books.
Calligraphy and literature, history and philosophy are very closely related, and if there is no knowledge to support it, it is possible to engage in calligraphy for a lifetime and be just a writer. To take the simplest example, the calligraphy and seal engraving exhibitions at the provincial level and above have set up a text reading and review link, which is to prevent those contributors who can only write and have poor literary literacy from being selected. They simply copied ancient poems or chapters of some literary works, but did not pay attention to whether there was a mixture of complicated and simple or other words misused.
In addition, in order to improve your own artistic aesthetic level, you may also need to understand other art disciplines, especially fine art. For example, we often say that "calligraphy and painting have the same origin", Chinese calligraphy is very closely related to Chinese painting. They have been intertwined throughout history, using a tool like a brush and sharing some common brushwork. For example, the chapter method in calligraphy works and the layout in seal engraving have a certain relationship with the design direction to some extent, and it is easier for a calligrapher with a strong sense of design to write wonderful works.
Author: Zhang Tong
Name: Pisha Picking Gold Chi Yu Danqing
Collection of Qingweilou Fine Arts Museum
Fourth, calligraphy will not lose its charm because of the times
We often find that grandfathers, whether with soft or hard pens, write better than our young people, which is related to the era in which they lived and the daily writing habits of this era. A person who often needs to write with a brush and a person who only practices words as a hobby of occasional practice must be a little more capable of using the pen. After the popularization of computers, more and more people no longer need to write records by hand, let alone calligraphy.
People are gradually adopting calligraphy as a hobby, and it is like a condiment for modern boring life. At the same time, in recent years, the mainland has set up calligraphy majors in more colleges and universities, allowing groups of students to bring more efficient calligraphy learning methods and calligraphy art aesthetics into the society. Although times have changed, calligraphy still unleashes its unique charm in today's society, which is a gratifying thing.
Editor: Wen Shuijing
Review: Yang Xiangxiong
Past 丨 period 丨 inside 丨容