A standardized and exquisite model - appreciation of Gu Lu's "Poems" in the Yuan Dynasty

Original title: Rules and Rules for Writing - Gu Lu's "Poems"

Although Gu Lu of the Yuan Dynasty did not admire the achievements of calligraphy, he walked into the palace of calligraphy art step by step, just like he wrote articles, showing subtlety in simplicity and chic in meticulousness, which set a good example for us to learn calligraphy. On the road of calligraphy art, ignoring the law and taking the "fast lane", the result is always unsatisfactory.

Gu Lu, who lived in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, was a native of Songjiang, Shanghai. He is rarely famous, fond of wine and good poetry, talented and romantic, and has the reputation of "Dr. Xijing Poetry, a generation of wine fairies". Gu Lushan's poems, there is a couplet of poems "Crossing Poyang Lake": "Sing today's high-rollers, and break the enemy and want to be supreme." This couplet reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears and resonated quite a bit. Zhu Yuanzhang became interested and asked him to send all the works he wrote to see. After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang appreciated it even more, and liked it more and more, and hung a few poems by Gu Lu on the wall of the palace.

Someone said that the house where Gu Lu lived was a cloud nest, and he replied: "I am a native of the clouds, and I dream of the edge of the cloud mountain." Smell the cloud of the public nest, love to be the cloud nest. Where is the public cloud nest? Will show off the sea of clouds. The sun and moon rise on the mountain, and the clouds and peaks are ten thousand floating green lotuses. The mountain people knotted the house and went into the clouds, and they went straight to the top of the clouds and pines. Yunluo thousands of feet cover the outdoors, and hundreds of roads come to Yunquan under the threshold. Yun Weng lives under it, and the sun and the clouds circulate. Or travel with clouds and cranes, or sleep with clouds and dragons. Meal Yun Yingxi gargled the cloud liquid, and was driven by the clouds? Sometimes I look at the clouds and high songs, and the pen is often Lingyun. How can the clouds stumble over the world? Xiao Sanzi is an immortal in the clouds. I want to ride the clouds to find each other, the cloud road is extremely difficult to meet, Erlai mountain people abandon the clouds, I am also a Qingyun guest today. Yunqi Bridge South Ancient Bianjin, a smile meets the clouds and water. Q: How many years has it been? Looking sideways at the clouds, dazed. He hung the cloud sail and whisked the sea, and returned to the field of self-cultivation. It can be seen that there is a legacy of Taibai, reflecting his interests and talents, revealing that he is self-assured, sees through the red dust, has no quarrel with the world, and has a strong sense of retreat in the poem.

Gu Lu is good at writing and grass. The calligraphy is neat and neat, and there is a thick and elegant demeanor. "Poems", on paper, 25.8 cm long, 54.2 cm wide, a total of 16 lines and 106 characters, on the "Gu Lu private seal", "Jinzhong" two seals and Anqi, Hengyong and others collection seals, now in the Palace Museum. This post is simple and upright, square and vigorous and changeable, sharp edges and corners, strict structure, concise penmanship, with the characteristics of Qi, straight, square and flat. The outside is square and the inside is round, the inside is extended and the outside is square, and the square is not sluggish. At first glance, it seems to be clumsy, but only after tasting it carefully can you see the exquisiteness, and the chapter and line are also smart, calm and powerful, and the ancient and abnormal. The thickness of the pen is between two and three points. The transition of the wave painting is not obvious, which is different from the three monuments of the Confucian Temple. In the square straight, it is round and delicate, and the thickness of the strokes is alternate, vivid and natural. This post is well preserved, only the 6th line of the word "畊 (ploughing)" is missing on the left side and on the right.

The glyph of this post is biased towards the ancient clumsy road, the font in the stele infiltrates a large number of seal structures, although the handwriting is more diffuse, but the end is neat and elegant. The combination of structure, uprightness, intricacy, flexible change, and a lot of fun. The two strokes connected in the left corner have more gaps, such as "smell" in the second line, "near" in the fourth line, "in" in the 15th line, and so on. The vertical painting has a back front, which is similar to the vertical writing of the regular script, such as the word "south" in the first line, and the "official" left and right of the 15th line. The size of the word is the same as the text, and the layout is arranged in a unified manner with the text. Individual words, the way of processing, is also very interesting, such as the 6th line of the word "Yun", the last point and the apostrophe into a stroke, the end of the front, elliptical shape, typical seal calligraphy. The fourth line of "Yi" is painted next to a single person, like an ancient weapon halberd, extremely sharp. This post encounters the same radical.,The whole text is written in the same way.,This is the lack of beauty of change.。 Even if it is the same radical, we can often see different changes in the Hanli script, which can be reflected in the changes in the writing style and the knots of strokes. Next to the words of this post, "let" in line 11, "respectfully" in line 15; Next to the horn silk, the "tassel" in the first row, the "continued" in the third row; Three points of water, "Song" in line 4, "wave" in line 5; At the bottom of the word, the "near" in the 4th line and the "pass" in the 5th line are too numerous to mention. It's the repetition of the radical writing that is similar.,This post makes people feel dull.,There's a feeling of getting tired after reading.,I don't want people to read it again.。 Calligraphy is an art, not just a tool, but also a higher pursuit of beauty.

The people of the Yuan Dynasty wrote official books, and they were in an embarrassing situation in the history of calligraphy, unable to leave a strong stroke, and were destined to be mediocre. There is the peak Han Li of Lishu in the front, and there is the Qing Dynasty after archaeological excavation, and new inscriptions are constantly unearthed. In the atmosphere of calligraphy change, the Qing Dynasty stele study was very popular, and Lishu as the mainstay of the stele calligraphy ushered in new opportunities. If the method is not ancient enough, the calligrapher is not deep enough, it is easy to become popular, and he has entered the road of art craftsman, which is worthy of reference and reflection by contemporary calligraphers.

Judging from this post, the author's creative attitude is very serious and cautious, and each stroke has a source, standardized and exquisite, and tries to reflect the natural beauty of the brush. This is consistent with Gu Lu's academic spirit. Gu Lu must personally look at the ancient inscriptions, not afraid of all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, and have a rigorous and solid style of study, which is also very worthy of learning from our calligraphers and calligraphers in contemporary times. In his self-description of "Qing Jialu", he described this: "It is a book that is all interviewed by itself, in front of the mountain and behind the mountain, the rain and wind are uninterrupted, or the boat visits the ancients, or the pen discusses the present, or the fathers and elders are consulted, and the past is heard, and it is collected from the collection." If the fallacy follows each other, it will be in the population for a long time, and it will not dare to be based on assumptions. "On the basis of learning from the ancients, after that, we should come out of the post and completely integrate with the human temperament and temperament to form our own style. In the creation, when the natural and legal taste of brush and ink is expressed, it can be regarded as truly entering the palace of calligraphy art.

By appreciating Gu Lu's Lishu work, people can clearly see that the pursuit of peculiarity and weirdness may achieve certain results in a short period of time, but it is not real progress, and in the end it will delay itself, unable to withstand the test of time and history, and will be forgotten. To learn calligraphy, you must first find your own interests, then choose a good copybook, conduct research and study, and then create a work with a personal style, which reflects the relationship between the concept of inheritance and the concept of innovation. The three elements of calligraphy art, such as the dot painting brush, the knot and the layout, are just as the ancients emphasized the rigor and standardization of righteousness, evidence, and diction, with clear levels and strict logic.

Author: Zhi Ronghui

Source: "Calligraphy Herald" February 14, 2024 Issue 7 02 Edition