The calligraphy pattern of the early Tang Dynasty is quite interesting.
Let's first look at what kind of situation Ouyang Qian, Yu Shinan, and Chu Suiliang faced in the Tang Dynasty.
As early as the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Qi had admired Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, and he once commented on the Right Army's book: "Wang Xi's characters are majestic, such as the dragon jumping the Heavenly Gate, the tiger lying in the phoenix yin", and popularized it. However, because its regime lasted short, it did not succeed. However, he successfully completed the work of collecting Wang Youjun's book "Thousand Characters", laying a solid foundation for the promotion of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.
Sun Zhiyong, the seventh emperor of the Sui Dynasty, once linsi more than 800 copies of the Ganzi Wen were scattered in the temples of Jiangnan, which promoted the promotion of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Emperor Taizong of the early Tang Dynasty was good at the Book of the Right Army, and further promoted the Book of Wang, making the Book of Wang a common practice.
Shi Zai: "Emperor Taizong of the early Tang Dynasty was good at the Book of the Right Army, and personally praised the Book of Jin. He repurchased the gold, was determined to copy it, and unveiled the "Orchid Pavilion Preface" to give it to the nobles, so at that time, the scholars and masters were all patriarchal right-handers. The exclusive status of Wang Xizhi in calligraphy was officially established.
Tang Taizong's aesthetic and political views directly influenced his educational ideas, and he implemented two calligraphy education measures: First, he built the "HongwenGuan" and decreed that all Officials above the level of five products must learn calligraphy. Kobunkan became a specialized school for learning calligraphy.
The second is to set up two "doctors of calligraphy" in the Guozi Prison, who are in charge of the sons of the eight pins of civil and military attaches and the sons of shuren as students, and the class is written on the grounds of writing. The Hongwenguan and Guozijian also bear the heavy responsibility of cultivating officials for the examination of theory, and the "Doctor of Calligraphy" is specially examined, and those who do not meet the requirements cannot become officials.
It can be seen that for a long time in the early Tang Dynasty, the aesthetic preferences of Chinese calligraphy were mainly biased towards the style of Wang Xi's vein, and anything that conformed to the aesthetics of Wang Xi's calligraphy was right and good. Anything that does not conform to the aesthetics of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is bad and bad.
Next, we analyze Ouyang Qian, Chu Suiliang, and Yu Shinan little by little.
The first is Ouyang Inquiry.
Ouyang Qian's calligraphy creation was carried out in the context of the great fusion of northern and southern cultures in the Chen, Sui and Tang dynasties, including calligraphy, and the history books record his experience in learning books and his obsession with calligraphy: "When he first imitated the book of Wang Xi, he was more dangerous than he was, because he named himself his body. The ruler is preached, and people think that the law. ...... Taste and see the stele of Suo Jing, look at it, go a few steps back, and tired, Nabu sits, to the end of the night, three days is to go. Its hobby is similar to this. ”
Xizhi is the ancestor of the calligraphy of the Southern Dynasty, and Suo Jing is the ancestor of the calligraphy of the Northern Dynasty, Ouyang Inquiry started from Wang Xizhi, and poured his heart into SuoJing, calligraphy wins with danger, from here it can be seen that he entered the north from the south and integrated the calligraphy of the north and south.
The "Eight Techniques of the Eight Laws" transmitted to Ouyang Inquiry made a more detailed description of the writing method of the dot painting on the basis of Zhiyong's "Eight Laws of Yongzi"; the "Thirty-six Laws" transmitted to Ouyang Inquiry made a more comprehensive and meticulous analysis of the single-word structure method of the letter, especially the large character letter, on the basis of Zhiguo's "Ode to the Heart". The Eight Laws and the Thirty-Six Laws may have been added by later generations, but they can still be seen as a theoretical summary of the practice of the creation of the Script during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and have a great influence on future generations.
Therefore, from the above analysis, Ouyang Inquiry is the successor of the standard Wang Xizhi, and has a very detailed and accurate grasp of the overall style, development and change of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, and the style requirements.
This is followed by Yu Shinan.
Yu Shinan, a contemporary of Ouyang Qian, was more of a successor to the Shangyi Chongyun calligraphy style of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Yu Shinan's calligrapher, Congzhi Yong, took the Second King of the Fa, and his brushwork was harmonious and elegant, graceful and gorgeous, and his calligraphy theories included "The Theory of Pen Essence" and "Narrative of the Book". His calligraphic thought mainly inherits the jin people's custom of shangyi rhyme, "Therefore, knowing that calligraphy is mysterious, it will be a divine encounter, and it cannot be strived for." Ingenuity must be enlightened, not blind", emphasizing the mystery and charm of calligraphy art, advocating that only when the reader is enlightened in the Tao can he achieve the realm of "inaction". In his creation, Yu Shinan inherits more than innovates, and his works show a graceful and solemn atmosphere.
However, due to the excessive pursuit of Wei jin's dashing and ethereal atmosphere, Yu Shinan's calligraphy was not as regular as Ouyang Qian.com. In theory, Yu Shinan should surpass Ouyang Qian.
The most emblematic of Yu Shinan's calligraphic aesthetic thought is his book theory "The Theory of Pen Essence". He used metaphors to discuss the laws of pen use, and made a detailed discussion of the use of the pen in truth, line, and cursive. On the basis of the establishment of the "ShangFa", he made an extremely sophisticated description of the use of the pen, with different types of whisks, skimming, hooks, interceptions, waves, etc.; while the use of the pen has many techniques such as horizontal millimeters, side pipes, and straight edges.
Yu Shinan's theory is inseparable from Shangfa, and his calligraphy theory is the theory that truly inherits the mantle of Wang Xizhi, and at this point can surpass Ouyang Qian.
Finally, let's talk about Chu Suiliang, starting with a story.
Once, when Emperor Taizong of Tang obtained a scroll of ancient ink treasures, he asked Chu Suiliang to see if it was written by Wang Xizhi. Chu Suiliang looked at it for a while and then said, "This is Wang Xizhi's fake." Tang Taizong was quite surprised to hear this, afraid of how Si Chu Suiliang would see it. Chu Suiliang then asked Tang Taizong to pick up this volume of calligraphy and look at it through the sunlight. Chu Suiliang pointed to the word "small" and the word "wave" and said to Tang Taizong, "There is a layer of ink marks that are darker than the outer layer in the dots of this small character and the stroke of the wave character." Wang Xizhi's calligraphy pen walks the dragon and snake, super wonderful, and there should be no such failure. Tang Taizong listened and admired Chu Suiliang's eyesight from the bottom of his heart.
It can be seen from this story that Chu Suiliang is very familiar with Wang Xizhi's calligraphy.
His calligraphy, yu Shinan, who first learned Yu Shinan, took the Fa Zhong Wang in his later years, integrated Han Li, was rich and smooth, varied, and became a family of his own, together with Ouyang Qian, Yu Shinan, and Xue Suo, who were called the four major calligraphers of the early Tang Dynasty. According to legend, after Yu Shinan's death, Tang Taizong lamented that no one could discuss the book. Wei Zheng praised, "Chu Suiliang's pen is vigorous, and wang Yi is even less than a body. Wei Zheng believes that he has a deep understanding of the Wang character and has the ability to distinguish the authenticity of the Wang character. The Tang Ren Book Review says that his characters are "golden life in the word, jade between the lines, gentle and elegant in the law, beautiful and multi-faceted." The "Sacred Order of the Wild Goose Pagoda" that he wrote had the most own method. In this stele, he integrated Yu and Euclidean into one, aiming at the natural wave. From the perspective of qi rhyme, it is directly chasing Wang Yishao, but with the pen, the knot, the round and thin place is Chu Fa.
Therefore, although Chu Suiliang's calligraphy looks quite different from Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, it is still very close in terms of internal temperament and Dharma spirit.
Therefore, I think that these three great calligraphers have inherited the mantle of Wang Xizhi and are the descendants of erwang calligraphy, and they have not only deeply inherited the strengths of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in calligraphy theory and calligraphy practice, but also inherited the inner spirit of erwang calligraphy, that is, the aesthetic paradigm of elegance, beauty and generosity.
However, to say that there is no way to surpass Wang Xizhi. The artists who have studied Wang Xizhi for generations have all drawn profound nourishment from Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, but they have only learned one aspect of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, and it is impossible to cover everything, so few people have surpassed Wang Xizhi.