Cai Xiang is one of the "Four Song Families", and he is the earliest one among the four, so we have to know a little more about Cai Xiang.
Cai Xiang's simple life
Cai Xiang (March 7, 1012 – September 27, 1067), Yu Junmo, was a native of Xianyou, Xinghua Army (now Fujian).
(Image by Cai Xiang)
In the eighth year of Cai Xiangtiansheng (1030) and Jinshidi. Judges, magistrates, and pavilion surveys. In the third year of Qingli (1043), the Zhiyuan sponsored the "Qingli New Deal". The new deal failed, out of Fuzhou, changed to Fujian Road transfer envoy, Gongbeiyuan Longfeng group tea. In the second year of Emperor You (1050), he was recalled with the right Zhengyan and the living notes of the initiates. Knowing the system, knowing Kaifeng Mansion, etc., and returning to Zhifu and Quanzhou. During this period, the Wan'an Bridge in Quanzhou was repaired. In the fifth year of Jiayou (1060), he entered the dynasty as a bachelor of Hanlin and an envoy of the third minister. With the trust of Yingzong, he knew Hangzhou. Loyal and loyal. There is "Cai Zhonghui Collection".
Cai Xiang's calligraphy
The year after Cai Xiang was born, Li Jianzhong and Li Zongge passed away one after another, and there was a relative vacuum in the Northern Song Dynasty book circle. There is no information to show when he began to study books, but the year of his study was the period when Zhou Yue was famous for his books. There is no information to show when he began to study books, but the year of his study was the period when Zhou Yue was famous for his books. Or because he started with Zhou Yue, Zhou's two major problems of being rated as "soft" and "vulgar" by later generations have not been able to get rid of Cai Xiang throughout his life.
(The earliest Cai Xiang calligraphy "Door Screen Post")
The earliest surviving piece of Cai Xiang today is the "Door Screen Post", whose style of writing may be between Zhou Yue and Song Sui, or perhaps closer to the Song family. However, Song Shou is "delicate but not weak", while "Door Screen Post" is relatively weak. Cai's thirty-seven-year-old "Xutang Poems" has changed greatly, and it has been mixed with the penmanship of Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan.
He later learned from Wang Yizhi, but traced it back from the basis of Yu Shinan. The sporadic simplicity of the Jin people may be obtained from time to time, but the water Huai of most of the works is not too high. In short, Cai Xiang's middle-aged two types of books, true and lined, basically failed to jump out of the fence of the Tang people. Specifically, it is a combination of Yan Zhenqing and Yu Shinan. Yan Ti can be said to be a further expansion of Xu Hao's composition in Song Shou's calligraphy. The difference between Xu and Yan is that in addition to Xu being more sideways, the pen is also light. Therefore, even if Cai tried his best to trace Yan's charm when he was in Yan Zhenqing's "Self-Written Confession", he finally felt that there was a large distance between him and Yan Zhenqing's vigorous and vigorous breath.
Cai Xiang Linchi is very diligent, he has learned almost all the books in the past, and he can reach a considerable level. It is precisely for this reason that Cai Xiang was trapped in many famous homes and never came out in his life, and I will talk about it later.
(Detail of Cai Xiang's "Self-written Poems")
Writing is Cai Xiang's strong point, and it also accounts for the largest proportion of his creations. Some of the best we see today are the Codex, the seemingly casual swaying of letters that dwarfs other books that have been carefully written and deliberately worked. The 40-year-old "Manuscript of Self-Written Poems" is certainly a wonderful long scroll, but the reason why it is not excellent is that it is re-transcribed, and the main reason is that the style is not yet mature, and there are too many sharp and soft brushes, so that the overall style is smooth and far from the best state of calmness.
(Detail of Cai Xiang's "Chengxintang Paper Post")
(Cai Xiang's "Chengxintang Paper Post" Part 2)
Until Huang You and Jia You, that is, when Cai Xiang was forty or fifty years old, it was the peak period when he formed his style and tended to perfection. The Hu Cong Ti (c. 1052), the Antao Ti (1055), and the Cheng Xin Tang Paper Ti (1062) are considered to be the finest of Cai's Xingshu Codex. In particular, "Chengxintang Paper Post", the kind of warm and super-anecdoted, graceful and luxurious charm is also the only one seen in all his calligraphy works. Of course, the faded Nantang Chengxintang paper helped him a lot. This paste has six lines, sparse between the lines, plus the knot is charming, and the dot painting is certain, and it is not far from Yang Ning's "Leek Flower Post". Of course, the difference is not difficult to see. This is because Yang Ning's style is strange and positive, and strange is not strange, the so-called surprise is amazing.
Xiaokai Cai Xiang and many works, most of them can be quiet and calm. After Ouyang Xiu's "Collection of Ancient Records" was undrafted, he asked Cai Xiang to write the book "Catalogue Preface", although this work does not exist, but Ou Gong's evaluation is:
Cai Junmo is not only for the rest of the book "Collection of Ancient Records Preface", carved stone, its words are particularly powerful, cherished by the world.
The word "Jingjin" is indeed the advantage of Cai's Xiaokai. We can take a look at the "Xie Ci Imperial Book Poems", as shown in the picture (this book is in Japan, and the one in the National Palace Museum in Taipei is a fake):
(Part of Cai Xiang's "Poems of the Imperial Book of Thanks")
This post fully embodies the two characteristics of Cai Shujing's precision and strength. This work can indeed be regarded as Cai Xiangkai's masterpiece, showing the pride of reaching the peak of glory in his life. The book used in this post means Yan Zhenqing and the penmanship is close to Yu Shinan, the breath is leisurely, and the dot painting is clear, he wrote this post when he was forty-two years old, and it was also his most energetic period before the death of his wife and wife at the end of the warp. Like the letters he wrote during this period, they form the most brilliant and majestic peak of Cai's calligraphy.
In terms of cursive writing, Cai Xiang is most proud of his self-esteem "flying grass".
This kind of cursive writing written with a Sanzhuo pen has the characteristics of both chapter grass and flying white book, Cai Xiang said: "Every pen is flying cursive, but I feel that the smoke and clouds are dragon and snake, running with their hands, galloping up and down, which is very appalling." Quietly watching, the expression is happy, and it is gratifying!" The best model of this kind of cursive script is "Tao Sheng Ti", as shown in the picture:
(Cai Xiang's "Tao Shengti")
Commentary: Xiang: Show and new records, when it is not a Tao Sheng's hand, but it can also be good. The pen is quite fine, Henan Gongshu is not scattered and can not be done, in the past, the two pipes of the people, the great things, now still make it also. Geng Zi is pure and sad, and it is very painful, and it is also unexpected. The servant must be returned, and he hastily sparsely obliged to be sparse. On May 11, Xiangdun Shou. The family is safe. Chu Peng traveled day and night.
Cai Xiang's big characters, in terms of size, can be divided into two kinds, one is the big block, the other is the cliff giant characters. His block is relatively better, and he can basically belong to the rules of the Tang Dynasty, such as "Yan Zhenqing's Self-Written Confession":
(Cai Xiang's "Yan Zhenqing's Self-Written Confession" part)
As for the big characters, Huang Tingjian commented:
Jun Mo is really good at making small characters, and he is very sick when he is making big characters. Therefore, Dongpo Yun: 'The smaller the small characters of Jun Mo, the more wonderful they are, and the bigger the big characters of Manqing, the more strange they are. ’
Obviously, the bigger Cai Xiang's big characters, the worse it gets. Cai Xiang's cliff characters still have a lot of preserved on Fuzhou Drum Mountain, all of which were inscribed by him when he was too punctual and had a banquet with guests in Fuzhou.
(Cai Xiangshu "Forgetting to Return to the Stone")
For example, the three characters of the giant character "Forget to Return to the Stone" and several inscriptions, although they can still survive alone after more than 1,000 years of wind and rain erosion, indicating that Cai's legacy is still cared for by the people, but the stupidity of its handwriting is really not flattering. Another example is the Suzhou "Tiger Hill Sword Pool" looking for the big character is the same.
(Cai Xiangshu "Tiger Hill Sword Pool")
Cai Xiang's subordination, even Su Shi felt that it was "small (slightly) inferior" (Su Shi didn't want to say bad things about Cai, he said this, I'm afraid it's really not good enough). Because ancient characters such as seal and subordinate have lost their ancient meaning in the Tang Dynasty, the responsibility is not in Cai Xiang.
Cai Xiang's ability to write in all kinds of styles, regardless of the level, is enough to be admired in terms of the energy spent on learning. In the more than 100 years since the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang should be second to none for those who are so obsessed with calligraphy and have reached a considerable level. However, Cai Xiang failed to recognize that there was actually a deep danger hidden in his calligraphy.
After all, calligraphy is an art that expresses a strong personal will, so if there is no spirit of prudence to guide the creation and constantly adjust the value orientation, people will eventually fall into blindness. Compared with Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang was less wary of being shackled by the ancients. Li Yong of Ou Gongxue, from the perspective of calligraphy, touched the essence of calligraphy, did not stick to the law, did not follow the old tricks, so he can advance and retreat as well, and come up with new ideas. Cai Xiangyi is the opposite, he is greedy and promising, he learns all kinds of books, and a person's energy is limited after all, so he has little time to face up to his creative state and make appropriate corrections. Every time he learns one, he always drives straight people, and the result is that the deeper he enters, the more difficult it is to quit.
It wasn't until four years before his death that Cai Xiang finally said the lesson of his life's study:
The key to learning is to take the spirit is better, if the model is like the posture, although the shape seems to have no spirit, it is the ear of the person who does not know the book.
Evaluation of Cai Xiang
Huang Tingjian said: "Jun Mo's books such as Cai Yan's "Eighteen Beats of the Old Tomato", although they are strong and frustrated, they sometimes have a boudoir attitude. Mi Fu said: "Cai Xiangshu is like a young woman, delicate, and decorated with famous flowers." Obviously, the two coincide.
Huang Tingjian said elsewhere: "All books should be more clumsy than clever." In modern times, young people write words, such as a bride's makeup and comb, a hundred kinds of embellishments, and there is no martyrdom in the end. Mi Fu also said: "The word to the bones, the meat must be wrapped in tendons, the muscles must hide the meat, paste is Xiu Runsheng." The layout is stable, the danger is not strange, the old is not dry, and the moisture is not fat. The perverted noble form is not expensive and bitter, bitter and angry, angry and strange; the noble form is not expensive, it is made into the painting, and the painting is vulgar, and the words are sick. ”
The so-called "work" here is pretentiousness. In connection with the criticism of Michael's "Cai Xiangle character", it can be classified into the category of craftsmanship and chisel. Therefore, in the eyes of the "Shangyi" calligrapher who advocates natural nature, Cai Xiang's overly clever and contrived handwriting has become obsolete.
In fact, Cai Xiang's Achilles' heel is not all about which company to start with at an early age, but the problem of not knowing how to change or even not being able to change when straining.
About the sorting of the "Song Four Families".
The Southern Song Dynasty had the seating of "Su, Huang, Mi, and Cai" for the calligraphers of this dynasty, the so-called "Song Four Families", and this order has continued to this day. After the Song Dynasty, the disagreements caused by this ranking were mainly concentrated in Cai Xiang alone.
(Cai Xiang statue in Kaifeng Han Garden)
Those who admire the Cai family use age as a weapon, because Cai Xiang is the elder in terms of age, and those who despise the Cai family coincidentally say that Cai should have been Cai Jing, and he was easily removed because of his disdainful conduct. There is even a saying that it is more extreme, and even Xue Shaopeng will replace Cai Xiang's position. Mr. Cao Baolin believes that the ranking basis of the "Song Four" itself takes into account both art and non-art factors. In terms of art, it focuses on one's own calligraphy attainments, contributions to the times, and influence on future generations, while in non-arts, it is nothing more than the dignity of official position, good and bad character, academic superiority and inferiority, and teacher-teacher relationship, etc., so this is the result of a comprehensive trade-off.
To put it simply, the order of "Su, Huang, Mi, Cai" is basically reasonable.
Regarding the conclusion of Cai Xiang's historical status, he believes:
Before Cai Xiang, no one in the Northern Song Dynasty could have made such a comprehensive and profound inheritance of the traditional calligraphy, and it can be said that Cai Xiang's efforts ended the chaotic and disorderly situation of calligraphy in the Zhao and Song dynasties for a hundred years, so he is undoubtedly a "peerless" figure. However, Cai Xiang has limitations from both the times and himself, which determines that he has more than enough to carry on the past and not enough to open up. Therefore, Cai Xiang's historical status can only be a requiem for the legacy of "Shangfa", and it is by no means a milestone of "Shangyi".
([Follow the pudding calligraphy history] No. 133, some pictures come from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original copyright owner)