Zong Baihua once profoundly analyzed in "Aesthetic Walking": "Chinese painting ... Pay special attention to the line, is the organization of a line, Chinese seal engraving is also like a painting, do not pay attention to three-dimensionality, but pay attention to the flow of lines... The stylization of Chinese drama is to break the clumps, turn a whole set of actions into countless lines, and then reorganize them. ”
Indeed, Chinese's understanding of the nature of lines, that is, linearity, can be described as deep into the muscle marrow, and traditional sculptures, dances, portraits, etc. all use lines to build their own artistic system. This reflects the unique understanding of external matter in people's inner consciousness.
1. Symbolic and calligraphic
As the expression of calligraphic art, the first artistic nature of the line is symbolism. Symbols refer to the medium of art, that is, the material means of expression of art. The line level benefits from people's perception of nature. But it is not to reproduce the material world concretely, but to create the means of the calligrapher's subject. In the process of artistic creation of writing the object of the line, the calligrapher makes the symbolism of the line highlight the characteristics of "strange and raw". The calligrapher's creation of the line itself is to write the meaning of the book to the fullest. Zhang Yanyuan recorded in the "Essential Records of the Book of The Book of Laws" that Wang Xizhi's "Book of Self-Discussion" said: "It is necessary to have a deeper meaning of the book, and everything between the dots and paintings is intentional, and there is no end to what is said in vain." This kind of "book meaning" is the same as Confucius's "book is not complete, words are not complete" is the same theme. Calligraphy is an important means for calligraphers to use line as an artistic medium to express "writing my heart", and calligraphy and symbolism together constitute the first feature of line.
2. Musicality
Western artists often say that "all art to the subtle state requires approaching music" Calligraphic lines are melodic lines. Music is a kind of sound line, with the characteristics of flowing in time, which is what people call the melodic line. This flow of lines is extremely distinct in the staves appealing to the visuals. Chinese calligraphy is the kingdom of lines, and the lightness, heaviness, slowness, urgency, turning, turning, lifting, pressing, etc. of the lines are flowing with the melody and rhythm of music everywhere. In particular, the cursive lines are particularly vivid and calm. For example, the second line of the Tang Dynasty caosheng Zhang Xu's book "Four Ancient Poems", starting from the word "candle", spirals straight down and rolls in, with the continuous undulating and agitated musicality of "the water of the Yellow River rising from heaven". The word "drifting" at the end of the line swirls upwards again, which has the meaning of "the Yellow River is far above the white clouds", and the musical sense of "the afterglow goes around the beam, three days are endless". It can be said that the lines and the music are the same.
3. Simplicity
Western oil painting and sculpture are simplified into complex, and they are keen on the treatment of decent relationships at multiple levels and from multiple angles. Chinese calligraphy is tedious and meticulous, refined in the simplicity of the lines. Mountains and rivers and bright moon, clouds, rain and smoke, the direction of the words is clear and single-minded. But the lines of calligraphy are not bound by the figurative substances to which these words refer, but are reduced to the extreme, as "one" that can no longer be simplified. This is the highest state of the philosophy of "nine nine to one" and "Tao Sheng One". Simplicity to the extreme is complexity to the extreme. Giving birth to all things with a "Word" is both a sign of "tolerance is greatness" and the origin of all life. The simple linearity of calligraphy is the condensation of the humanistic spirit, and it is the "new day and day by day" of artistic life.
4. The symbiosis of potential and force
The reason why the line can produce a shocking power lies in the tension, penetration, explosive force and many other powerful forces it produces on the paper. These senses of force are not random, but have a certain direction and occur according to the situation. Potential is the accumulation of force, the launch of force, the impact of force, and the orientation of force. Force is the existence of potential, the role of potential, the energy of potential, and the manifestation of potential. Powerful and weak, weak lines; Powerful and lacking, the lines are loose.
Zong Baihua once made a profound comment on force and potential from an aesthetic point of view: "When the handwriting falls on paper, a point is not a tiled surface, but a deep point must be the end of the spiral movement, showing strength and jumping into the eye." The point, not called the point but called the side, is to say its "potential", left and right, respect the side is uneven. Madame Wei's "Pen Array" said: "The point is like a peak falling into a stone, and the bump is like a collapse." What a crushing force. A horizontal painting is not said to be horizontal, but called Le, it means its "potential", which leads to the horse and jumps on the paper... "beauty" is the potential, that is, the force. It is the rhythm of tigers and tigers.
The close cooperation between potential and force makes the calligraphy lines in a state of vigorous life.
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