Among the previous presidents of the Calligraphers Association, I think Mr. Shen Peng has made the greatest contribution to calligraphy, both in terms of the depth of his understanding of calligraphy and the concept of calligraphy guidance.
The Chinese characters he proposed are just a prop of calligraphy, and calligraphy can be separated from the existence of Chinese characters, and it can be developed without being sent before, and it can go directly to the ontology of calligraphy. The sixteen-character policy he proposed: promote originality and respect individuality; Inside and outside the book, art and Taoism go hand in hand. To this day, it is still the only way to write good calligraphy.
"Promoting originality" emphasizes that originality should be paid attention to in the creation of calligraphy, that is, the work should have unique creativity and novelty.
"Respect for individuality" means that the personality and style of each artist should be respected in the art of calligraphy, and artists should be encouraged to use their creativity and imagination.
"Inside and outside the book" means that the study and practice of calligraphy art is not only limited to calligraphy itself, but also includes a wide range of knowledge of calligraphy theory, history, culture, etc., as well as the exchange and integration with other art forms.
"Art and Taoism go hand in hand" emphasizes that on the road of art, artists should pursue the improvement of artistic skills and moral cultivation at the same time, so that art and life complement each other.
This 16-character policy not only reflects Mr. Shen Peng's deep understanding of the art of calligraphy, but also reflects his emphasis and contribution to calligraphy education, talent cultivation and the sustainable development of calligraphy art. In particular, the first article promotes originality, which has a strong practical significance today, the calligraphy on today's national exhibition, no personality, almost all of them are fruit platters, a few Wang Xizhi, a few Yan Zhenqing, a few who who, put together, the sense of patchwork is extremely obvious, there is no rhyme at all, let alone through.
Mr. Shen Peng, a native of Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province, was born on July 1, 1931 and passed away on August 21, 2023 at the age of 92. He has won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the "Chinese Calligraphy Pavilion Award", the "Achievement Award of Plastic Arts", the "Honor Award of the 3rd National Chinese Poetry Award", and the "Lifetime Achievement Award of the Chinese Art and Literature Award".
Some time before Mr. Shen Peng's death, he suffered crazy slander in the media, led by Wu Huan, Wu Zuguang, and the son of Xin Fengxia, both of whom were recorded in history, giving birth to such a capable son, painter, calligrapher, writer, etc., with a lot of titles, I don't know whether it was a spontaneous act, or was instructed by others, and scolded Mr. Shen Peng's calligraphy crazily, using mean language, which can be described as a layman criticizing an insider, and taking ignorance as a model of personality. I suspect that this matter was planned and premeditated, but there is no evidence, so I can only point to it.
Let's talk about Mr. Shen Peng's calligraphy, in today's calligraphy circle, Mr. Shen Peng's calligraphy level is also very high. Being able to write naturally is better than many people, and being able to write elegant calligraphy is even more rare, and many calligraphers today have no ability to achieve it.
Mr. Shen Peng's calligraphy is lively, elegant and charming, and very interesting.
On the knot, interspersed with techniques such as avoiding clutch forward oblique are very good. The knot is mostly in the left and right circles, and some people call it Tai Chi boxing.
With the pen, thick and calm, borrowing a sentence from the ancients, not excited, the wind is far away, there is a kind of neutral and calm beauty, from the aesthetic feeling, the arc and speed of the line he wrote, just like drinking soft type. So in terms of chapters, especially the swaying of the line, it is unexpected, very dramatic, writing and writing suddenly a word is lying down, but the transition is very good, not too stiff, on the whole, Shen Peng's words have a poetic beauty, or poetry, that is, people pay attention to this rhythm and charm.
Mr. Shen Peng advocates natural writing and opposes deliberate arrangement. But I don't think he did it completely, his words are a bit clever, and there are carefully controlled ingredients in it, and dexterity itself should also have unnatural places, be careful, lack some chance in it. Mr. Shen Peng's words are at the spiritual level, in addition to the elegant bookish atmosphere, there is also a lingering mood, it was said that intellectuals have petty bourgeois sentiment, Mr. Shen Peng's words are similar to this, elegant and lingering, full of petty bourgeois taste.
Mr. Shen Peng's calligraphy has undergone an important transformation, as can be seen from the cursive thousand-character text he wrote in his early years and Tao Yuanming's poetry book written in his later years. This transformation makes the calmness of the lines and the sense of length want to be highlighted. The corresponding word structure also changes from tight to loose, so that the left and right loops, and the continuous echo is like a fan drumming, filling the word, which is quite intriguing and evocative.