Yu Fan was one of the most famous scholars of the late Qing Dynasty. Later generations honored him as the "Last Great Confucian", and the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty said that he was "deep in scripture study, particularly strict in self-discipline, devoted in nature, honest and straight, clothed and vegetableed, and called Mr. Quyuan in the sea", and had the evaluation of "Gong Seal Li".
In the past, it was not uncommon for a scholar to be good at calligraphy, and it can even be said that as a scholar, it is inconceivable that you cannot write a good hand.
In fact, Yu Fan is a person who has a deep understanding of calligraphy, a person who has a thorough understanding of the social functions and social attributes of calligraphy, and a person who has a clear conception and planning for his own calligraphy.
Spring is in the church
Yu Fan's lecture, reading, writing, and book collection in Suzhou
001
Yu Yu once said a phrase that is often quoted by scholars who study his calligraphy, and is sometimes used to prove Yu Yu's contempt for the imperial examination. That is the first sentence of the opening chapter of Yu Fan's "Essay on Spring in the Hall": "Yu has not learned to write small letters since childhood, and the story palace examination, especially the font is the most important." The "small letter" here refers to the "pavilion style" dedicated to the Qing Dynasty imperial examination.
At that time, if the readers wanted to pass the examination and enter the army, they had to learn the "pavilion style" well. Otherwise, the examiner can make you fall behind sun mountain just by relying on the "unqualified" calligraphy on the test paper. Therefore, Yu Fan will say, "The palace examination, especially the font is the most important."
However, Yu Fan was a mid-level scholar and a person who had been an editor of the Hanlin Academy, and it was impossible for him to "not practice xiaokaishu". Yu Yu tasted a poetry cloud: "Don't need to treat the word Cao Shi, the pavilion article hall style book." This just shows that when he was in Hanlin Academy, he also needed to engage in the preparation of articles and writing.
Suzhou Quyuan Yu Fan's former residence
It is difficult to see Yu Fan's calligraphy in his early years, but fortunately, there are several books from his 30s and 40s in the Huizhou Culture Museum in China, which can give us a glimpse of the foundation of Yu Fan's calligraphy. These several books strongly prove that Yu Fan has a good foundation in "Pavilion Style" calligraphy.
The "Chun Zai Tang Poems" was compiled by Yu Yu himself, which fully represents his "true" thoughts. Knowing that he had been admitted to the Jinshi, Yu Fan's first thought was "Chang'an Spring has a letter, and the early report of the old garden is known." Until 1897, recalling the situation of obtaining the deputy list sixty years ago, the old man of Quyuan, who was almost eighty years old, sighed with emotion: "The small record of the inscription is still there today." Verses like this, which abound in the Chun Zai Tang Poetry Compilation, are the pursuits and ambitions of an ordinary Qing Dynasty reader.
Until his later years, Yu Fan, who lived by lecturing after his dismissal, still did not have the slightest contempt for the imperial examination. In 1884 and 1886, the eldest grandson Yu Yuyun returned to his native Deqing to take the imperial examination and went to Beijing to take the examination for the Ministry of Rites, and Yu Fan, who was in his sixties, accompanied him throughout the whole process. In 1898, Yu Yiyun explored the flowers and the first, and Yu Fan wrote at least four poems for this purpose, in order to rejoice.
Yu Yu never thought of hiding his enthusiasm for the name of keju. However, when faced with the "pavilion style" calligraphy that is "dedicated" to the imperial examination, he deliberately avoided it.
Interior view of Quyuan Garden
The "History of Chinese Calligraphy • Qing Dynasty Volumes" gave Yu Yu a place, saying: "Yu Yu is also good at calligraphy, and you are especially happy to write a book, with profound skills and high style. ”
Yu Fan himself also said: "Mr. Jiang Gangting, his life is not written in letters, although it is sloppy and written, it is not sealed, that is, it is subordinate. The rest of his life also has the style of Mr. Zhang, the ordinary book, the rate of the subordinate book. This passage can also be found in the 1871 issue of "Essays on Spring in the Hall".
As the "History of Chinese Calligraphy" said, in Yu Fan's time, "it has become a common phenomenon for literati and scholars to be good at writing seals and writing calligraphy." Those who came to Yu Fan to ask for words were all his seals, "precious to the world."
However, by 1889 at the latest, Yu Fan had already issued an exclamation that "those who have asked for books every day will write eight books, and they are very tired of it." The following year, Yu Fan made it even clearer: "There are many people who ask for books, and they do not have time to give them every day, and they should respond with cursive writing at the rate, and they should not be lightly sealed." Unwilling to write the seal again, one of the reasons given by Yu Fan was that he was old and weak, and he did not have time to cope.
Then, in 1891, when Yu Fan said, "Books from near and far, but still try to write them myself", what should be explained?
Asking someone to ghostwrite it was not unacceptable to both the recipient and the letter writer of that era. These books, written in a hurry, should be written in cursive rather than seals. The seventy-year-old man stubbornly wrote a note to his friends who were close and far, and in addition to showing his sincerity, he may also have the will to show and spread his own cursive writing.
The seal calligraphy that brought him fame was not written by Yu Fan since he was a child, nor did he insist on writing it to the end.
At the end of 1906, Inspector Chen Kuilong of Jiangsu asked Yu Fan to write a poem "Fengqiao Night Berth" for the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou. Three months later, at the age of eighty-seven, Yu Died in Yulu, Suzhou. The poem "Fengqiao Night Berth" uses not a lishu, let alone a seal book, but a line book.
"Maple Bridge Night Berth" poetry monument
In fact, in the last thirty years of his life, Yu Fan wrote more in cursive writing, and the seal was only occasional. Yu Yu himself said that he began to study the seal in 1858, and used the seal as the main writing font for only twenty years. In other words, Yu Fan spent more time and more energy writing cursive.
Yu was dismissed from his post in 1857. He was thirty-seven years old. After the dismissal of the official on the front foot, he gave up the "pavilion style" on the back foot and changed to the seal, and Yu Fan's calligraphy quickly and comprehensively entered the first period of transformation. "Ordinary books, rates of belonging to the body of the book", came suddenly and decisively.
Yu Yu Li book album
002
In 1850, he entered the army and the first, in 1852 he was taught the editor of the Hanlin Academy, and in 1855, he was put in Henan to study politics, and Yu Fan's career was very smooth. If it were not for the sudden dismissal, I believe that Yu Fan would be official and prosperous, which is the goal of their family for generations.
As mentioned earlier, Yu Fan is not bad at "pavilion style", and on this basis, it is not a reasonable choice to study traditional theology assiduously. Although the era in which Yu Yu lived, epigraphy has become popular, but the people who are high above the temple, from Zhang Zhao, Liu Yong, Prince Cheng, and Tie Bao to Lin Zexu, Qi Liaozao, and Weng Tonggong, are all masters of Theology or the thesis.
Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), who liked jinshi script and wrote the "Treatise on the Southern Thesis of the Northern Tablets" and the "Treatise on the Southern and Northern Schools", still learned the most authentic Thesis calligraphy, especially Yan Zhenqing's writings. The people who really incorporate the stele into the practice of calligraphy and win a reputation are almost all middle- and lower-level officials and even cloth clothes.
Yu Fan's dismissal is a bit of a historical suspense.
It is widely said that Yu Fan's exam questions in Henan angered Yi Guifei. The dismissal is not terrible, the terrible thing is that there is no possibility of a comeback from now on. Yu Fan had close contacts with the current shida officials such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Peng Yulin, yang Changjun and so on. Even if he is dismissed from his post because of corruption and bribery, dereliction of duty, and low talent, I believe that these powerful factions will have a way to make him start all over again.
This situation was not uncommon in the official circles of the late Qing Dynasty.
Princess Yi guifei soon changed her insignia to Empress Dowager Cixi, and in 1861 launched a coup d'état of Xin You, ordering the eight ministers to be either reprimanded or degraded, and to listen to the government and control the qing dynasty until her death. At this time, Yu Fan must have felt very hopeful. Besides, he became friends with the eunuchs many years later.
Yu died in 1907. Most of his eunuch friends, who were older or younger, died before. Yu Fan's way out seems to have been doomed from the beginning of his dismissal--he could not establish a life for the people, but to learn from the saints. Zeng Guofan commented on Yu Fan as "desperately writing books", and these friends were very aware of the urgent and long-term efforts made by Yu Fan in pursuit of academic achievements, and they knew that the scholar Yu Fan was eager to establish and consolidate his position as an academic leader.
Yu Fan, who is outside the temple and has lofty ambitions, seems to have consciously changed the doorway in calligraphy, rewriting the seal and reshaping his social identity through the alienation from the pavilion. The body of the book has a special significance in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and as an ancient body of writing, the cultural connotation carried by the seal is beyond the reach of the calligrapher who specializes in writing and writing.
Yu Fan was familiar with the development of epigraphy and the representative calligraphers at that time, and paid considerable attention to the calligraphy of Deng Shiru, He Shaoji, Bao Shichen, and Tao Junxuan, and when he commented on Chen Shuofu's calligraphy, he said: "His books are very good, neither as the old people who made seal books and cut pen heads, nor are they comparable to those who specialize in copying Deng Shubai's school. ”
In the broad sense, epigraphy includes at least two major parts, the Han Stele and the Wei Stele (North Stele), and The Book of Yu Yu is derived from the Han Stele, which is very much in line with his status as a scholar of "Sinologist". He also has a good understanding of the ancient clumsiness of the Han stele, once saying: "The words of the Han people, although they are clumsy, they also feel that they are cute." ”
His lishu gradually developed a characteristic of no waves and slight trembling, which is not only related to his later love for the "Diary of the Three Old Secret Words", but also shows that he has a clear aesthetic proposition. There is no doubt that Yu Yuzhi's admiration could not have been made merely because of his calligraphy or learning, which was necessary, but not sufficient, and what attracted him to the audience, as well as his unique aesthetic and skill, although he did not deal much with it in his vast writings.
Around 1870, around the time of the self-proclaimed "Ordinary Calligraphy, The Rate of Belonging to the Book", Yu Fan began to occasionally write calligraphy in xingshu, and his calligraphy entered a second period of transformation.
The previous transformation was to replace the traditional theology with Han steles, and this time it was to return to the theology with steles.
By the mid-to-late 1870s, the shadows of Sui and Tang tablets appeared conspicuously in his calligraphy, and famous artists such as Li Yong and Yan Zhenqing, as well as the Song people Su Shi and Mi Fu, Yu Fan were particularly valued.
For example, Xu Qi's Su and Rice Characters are quite appreciated by Yu Fan, such as "A Poem Inscribed by the Flower Farmer with the Inscription of the Luochi Inscription of the Dongpo Shuluo Pond in Lin": "If the Su character of King's Landing is like a god, this volume is particularly proud." I am ashamed to owe the imitation work, and the parrot brother is difficult to work. "The flower farmer also sent a poem to the Linmi character also inscribed a poem" Yiyun: "Learning Su is Su, and learning rice is rice." Ask the king how he can be, and know the essence of the book. "The disdain for celebrity calligraphy since the Jin and Tang dynasties in the past seems to have been swept away.
Yu Yu Xing book page The paper is shaded as "Yu Lou Tu"
003
In 1873, Liu Xizai, who was in charge of teaching Shanghai Longmen Academy, compiled a six-volume "Outline of Art", which immediately attracted widespread attention and received rave reviews.
In "Art Overview", Liu Xizai's sober understanding and objective analysis of the dispute between the inscriptions and posters made Yu Fan have a strong resonance. In a sense, the "Outline of Art" represents the positive and prudent attitude of a large number of literati, scholars, and eunuchs to epigraphy at that time.
At this time, Yu Fan had frequent exchanges with dignitaries and dignitaries, various works were published one after another, and the people of the corporal were proud of the field, and the need to show their own value by sealing the ancient body was no longer so urgent and important.
In Yu Fan's heart, he still prides himself on being able to ascend to the height of the temple, and for the further creation of his personal image, traditional theology seems more appropriate.
Yu Fan not only believes in his own pen skills, he also hopes to let more people understand and be familiar with his grass level and thesis achievements, so he "writes near and far, and still strives to write by himself."
In 1872, Zeng Guofan died. In 1875, because of Yang Naiwu's case, more than 100 officials led by Yu Fan's friend Yang Changjun, the governor of Zhejiang, were dismissed from their posts, and the power of the Xiang clan in Jiangnan suffered a heavy blow. Yu Fan's relationship with Zeng Guofan and other Leaders of the Xiang Army was not equal, and he and Peng Yulin were even more pro-children. Without the maintenance and support of Zeng Guofan and others, it is almost impossible for Yu Fan to establish and consolidate his position of academic authority in Jiangnan, to publish hundreds of volumes of works for decades in a period of time, and to buy land and buy property in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the "paradise on earth". At that time, Weng Tonggong, the right attendant of the Punishment Department, led the rehabilitation of Yang Naiwu's unjust case. The following year, Weng Tonggong became a teacher to the Guangxu Emperor.
In 1879, Weng Tonggong was awarded the Shangshu of the Punishment Department. Yu Fan's "patrons" were overthrown by Weng Tonggong. Logically, Yu Fan and Weng Tonggong were in a hostile camp. However, after Yang Naiwu's case, Yu Yu seems to have moved closer to Weng Tonggong instead.
In 1877, Weng Tonggong sent Yu Yu fifty stalks of yarrow from the Tongzhi Emperor Huiling Mausoleum, and Yu Yu also gave up the identity of Hanlin's predecessor and affectionately called Weng Tonggong, who was ten years younger than himself, an old friend. However, Yu Fan was unable to develop his close relationship with Zeng Guofan and Peng Yulin with Weng Tonggong.
Weng Tonggong was very polite to this senior in speech, but he rarely read the works given by Yu Fan on the grounds of busyness. In 1898, Weng Tonggong was dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown of Changshu, and the two were close at hand, but there did not seem to be any contact, so there was no substantive help to Yu Fan.
Unlike the high-profile and decisive way of the first change, the second change of Yu Fan's calligraphy began quietly and slowly advanced. In the process of the second change, Yu Fan did not give up or interrupt Han Li's creation, but with the passage of time, the works of the Rongbei into the Thesis, which were mainly based on the grass, occupied more and more important positions. In order to complete the change, the old man has made thirty years of efforts.
Yu Yuxing book album
Yu's seal has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and is recognized as a typical feature and major achievement of his calligraphy. Even his seal book prints were quite popular at the time. After his death, he was revered as a master of calligraphy in the Epigraphic School.
However, from the perspective of calligraphy art, Yu Fan tried to melt the stele and cast the post with thirty years of practice in his later years, thus achieving another leap in calligraphy. Yu Fan not only has ambitions, but also is quite conceited about his achievements in changing the law, and does not hesitate to "offend" those who seek words, do not write the seal that is popular with the market, but insist on practicing cursive writing to reward. The widely disseminated poem "Fengqiao Night Berth" is even more painstaking and lonely, and it is worth playing.
004
Yu Fan established his position and reputation in the book world with the seal, which was recognized as the representative face of Yu Fan's calligraphy at that time and in later generations. Yu Yu is a master of fa gu, who is very concerned about the strange simplicity of the calligraphy and has a special love for recognition and visual effects.
Yu Fan's Lishu works in this period are intricately intertwined with the lishu works of lifa, seal law, kaifa and xingfa, magnificent and exaggerated, but they are still immature in integration.
In the later period, Yu Fan's vision began to turn to the North Monument, then the Sui Monument, and then the Tang Monument. Compared with Han Li, the North Monument emphasizes the de-taking of point painting. After practicing for a long time, the taste of Yu Fan's Lishu became increasingly flat, and the horizontal and vertical lizi became the norm. This kind of cognition and practice can be said to be the development and progress of Yu Fan's calligraphy vision and style, but what is sacrificed is the purity of the subordinate law.
Written in 1871, "Essays for Shen Junchu Shuchun in the Tang" is a work of Yu Yu's Lifa Dacheng period.
During this period, Yu Fan's lishu neither had the excessive clumsiness of the early stage, nor did it have the disadvantage of losing its pure subordination method due to being mixed into the Northern Tablet; it was neither exaggerated nor tended to be dull. In the use of the pen, Yu Fan's pen force stopped evenly, not hurried, the face was simple and full of energy, showing a strong ability to control the pen. The whole article is carefully arranged, the ink is exquisite, the dry and moist are harmonious, both cang and moist, which is a typical fine work in Yu Yu's book. From the perspective of the state of creation, Yu Fan intends to write first, and the words are in the heart, so he can control the overall situation and plan steadily, reflecting the important qualities of Yu Fan who eventually become a generation of giant Confucians.
The Book of Letters to Wang Mingluan was roughly written between 1885 and 1905, at a time when Yu Fan became interested in the slightly pictorial lines of Li Yong and Yan Zhenqing in the Tang Dynasty.
Yu Fan had made a serious interpretation of Li Yong's "Monument to General Yunli". Written in 1885 and 1888, such as "Sending Gifts to Ejiaoza" and "Fuyao Yangchengzha", the glyphs are slender and zhouzheng, the bones are clear and vigorous, dignified and beautiful, and the influence and shaping of the "Monument to General Yunli" on Yu Fan's calligraphy can be clearly seen.
From the mid-to-late 1890s onwards, Yu Fan conducted a period of specialized research on Yan Zhenqing's penmanship (mainly writing). This research and practice continued for almost a decade until Yu Yu's death. In order to enhance the diversity and expressiveness of his own calligraphy style, Yu Fan based on Yan Zhenqing, and also extensively studied the Song calligraphy of Shifa Yan Zhenqing.
The calligraphic works of this period can be seen in Yu Fan's quotations from the Song dynasty' calligraphy style. Unlike the tendency of Qing Dynasty thesisians such as Weng Tonggong to favor Su Shi, Yu Fan paid special attention to Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian in the Song Dynasty.
After the late 1890s, the style of Yu Yu's calligraphy based on the Yan body has basically stabilized, with only the difference between more "rice" or more "yellow", the former appears neat and free, and the latter feels more indulgent.
In his later years, Yu Fan's penmanship was vigorous, showing the remarkable characteristics of his body posture and withering and growing, which can be described as old books.
The Tang Dynasty Sun Guoting first proposed the concept of "people are old in books" in the "Book Genealogy": "The initial meaning is not reached, the middle is passed, and then it is a general meeting." At the time of the meeting, people are old. That is to say, only when the fire is pure and completely integrated, can we truly deserve the four words of "people are old and old".
When Yu Fan was in his eighties, he wrote the "Quyuan Self-Written Poetry Book", which is thick in calligraphy, strong in pen strength, and strong in bone strength, comparable to prime-age. As an example of practicing the value of "everyone is old with books", Quyuan Zishu Poetry Book is undoubtedly a treasure worth cherishing.
In fact, the highest achievement of Yu Fan's calligraphy was achieved in the last decade of his life.
The Quyuan Zishu Poetry Book was created after 1903, and belonged to the same period as the "Three Different Poems of Ciyun and Chen Xiaoshi Cao Shuai Qingyan Garden" and "Self-Laughing Poems" in the "Zhi Wang Mingluan Shuzha", which are all works of Yu Fan in his later years.
At this time, Yu Fan had a deep understanding of Yan Zhenqing and the calligraphy of Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian, and the force was also the deepest. We can see the ubiquitous Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian. On the basis of strong bones, old and calm yan characters, these books are more full of changes in mood, more entangled, and more strange and vivid.
When Su Shi commented on the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, the literary scholar Han Yu, the calligrapher Yan Zhenqing, and the painter Wu Daozi, he once described it as "the changes of ancient and modern times, and the ability of the world to complete the things".
Yu Fan's later years traveled to the book album
This article is excerpted from "Three Kinds of Handwriting of Du Zhai Zang Yu Yu Fan"
Declare | Graphic source network, designed to share and disseminate, the copyright belongs to the original author! The original text only represents the views of the original author himself, and does not represent the views or positions of the Book Art Commune. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other matters of your work, please contact the Book Arts Commune within 30 days of the publication of your work.
END
Add book art commune small art WeChat,