Thank you for the invitation and for your questions. Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884) was a Zhejiang huijian. The initial characters Yifu, Leng Jun, later changed to Shu Shu, No. Sorrowful Nunnery, Mei'an, Wu Stuffy and so on. He was a master of epigraphy who rose to prominence in the late Qing Dynasty and was highly accomplished in poetry and painting. His academic works are also widely covered, such as "The Continuation of the Sinology Of the National Dynasty", "The Visit to the Monument of Supplementing Huanyu", "The Gossip of Yonglu", "The Seal of erjin Yingtang", "The Poetry of Ji Yatang", "The Collection of Mei'an", "The Poetry of the Sorrowful Nunnery", etc. He is a master of poetry, calligraphy and painting, who pioneered the hai school of calligraphy and painting, and had a decisive influence on Wu Changshuo and Ren Bainian.
Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy in his early years was to learn the traditional Yan Zhenqing all the way.
However, fate is very good at tricking people, if it were not for the sudden change of fate, Zhao Zhiqian would probably continue to be in Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy along the way. However, a gathering changed Zhao Zhiqian.
Once, at a gathering of celebrities in Hangzhou, there was He Shaoji, whom Zhao Zhiqian admired, and his own teacher, Wu Xizai, who was the lord of the alliance, and he asked the youngest Zhao Zhiqian to talk about his views on calligraphy.
Zhao Zhiqian thought that it was a good opportunity to report his academic achievements to the master, so he unreservedly talked about some of his own views on calligraphy, but he did not expect to be refuted by He Shaoji one by one, this is not counted, it is reasonable to say, the key is that He Shaoji is purely to reprimand Zhao Zhiqian, in order to show his academic authority.
Zhao Zhiqian has great admiration for He Shaoji, and usually, as long as he encounters He Shaoji's calligraphy, he is full of praise and worship.
Therefore, in Zhao Zhiqian's heart, He Shaoji was his favorite teacher.
Therefore, if you are rudely reprimanded by the teacher you like, you should also reprimand.
Then, Zhao Zhiqian took out his own calligraphy and asked the teachers to comment. Wu Xizai looked at it and thought it was good. He Shaoji didn't even look closely, and it was another overwhelming scolding.
Zhao Zhiqian thought psychologically: How does the teacher treat the students like this? This is no longer a well-intentioned criticism, but a contempt! The most beautiful teacher in Zhao Zhiqian's heart collapsed in an instant!
From then on, Zhao Zhiqian never studied He Shaoji again, and he focused his main attack on the study of seal books and Wei tablets.
Since then, the thirty-five-year-old Zhao Zhiqian has specialized in the North Monument and has dabbled in a wide range. His calligraphy also soon surpassed He Shaoji's realm.
He Shaoji is also a master of calligraphy, and he is particularly successful in learning Yan Zhenqing.
At the same time, He Shaoji's calligraphy vision is also relatively broad, he is not only good at Erwang and Yan Zhenqing, but also has a high attainment in Lishu, but he has no intention of studying Weibei, so it is still brief about Weibei.
Because of his high achievements in the study of theology, it is inevitable to despise the world's calligraphy, Zhao Zhiqian just debuted, he met such an indispensable master, it is difficult to enter the master's eyes.
At the age of 36, he wrote his own poems for Qi Jiwen, which can be said to be the early classics of his study of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
When he created the work "Supplementing Huanyu's Visit to the Monument", Zhao Zhiqian collected a large amount of inscription materials, and at the same time, his vision was wide open, and he also carried out a large number of temporary studies on the north stele, taking many methods from "Fistula Ming", "Zhang Ronglong Stele", "Yunfeng Mountain Carved Stone" and so on. Zhao Zhiqian was more unique in the late Qing Dynasty, first, he inherited the tradition of advocating Wei Bei in the late Qing Dynasty. Second, Zhao Zhiqian is also a pioneer who consciously pioneered the combination of inscriptions and posters.
Because Zhao Zhiqian's early study of the Erwang was already very thorough, he had a yearning for calligraphy to seek newness.
For example, he Shaoji, a calligraphy celebrity he admired, was a master of learning from The Second King Yan Zhenqing. At the same time, his teacher Wu Xizai Wu Rangzhi was also a student of Bao Shichen, a pioneer in epigraphy.
This made him have a strong interest in Wei Bei.
You must know that in the intellectual circles of the late Qing Dynasty, although Wei Bei was very fashionable, the people who really accepted and studied it were still a very small number of people, and the vast majority of people still could not extricate themselves from the erwang calligraphy.
Being able to take the initiative to accept Wei Bei already belongs to a different kind and rebellion.
This is also why Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy is always not like the later Weibei calligraphers, who are not ancient and far away from the thesis, but consciously integrate the thesis.
For example, let's take a most typical work and see how Zhao Zhiqian navigates between the two disciplines of inscription and posting.
This is the word "love late" written by Zhao Zhiqian. These two words are mainly calligraphy in the category of "Thesis".
However, what Zhao Zhiqian can do is that between the splashes of ink, the tact of the just built is free, and there is the freedom to cut into the square pen in the harmony. This is completely sent to the harmonious realm of the two invincible inscriptions.
In fact, Zhao Zhiqian's most wonderful calligraphy works are more artistic because of the compatibility of inscriptions.
If you just study the Wei Monument, in fact, there is nothing new, because the Wei Monument is also ancient.
In fact, the Wei Monument was a misreading of calligraphy in the Qing Dynasty.
Wei Bei is a continuation of the Lishu and Lishu, and the colorful calligraphy works of the Weibei are based on the colorful Calligraphy style of the Lishu.
In the process of the collective transformation of the Lishu into my calligraphy, it was only a few steps slower or even the last step.
For example, like the "Zheng Wen Gong Monument" and "Fistula Crane Ming", they are basically calligraphy, but they are interpreted as Wei Monuments.
There is still a certain distance between Lishu and Calligraphy, so this is the fact that there is "Wei Stele" calligraphy.
However, the Wei Stele and the Kaishu Xingshu can actually be integrated, and there is by no means an insurmountable threshold.
Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy creation is a good proof of practice.
Zhao Zhiqian's fate in life is very obedient, he has been reading since childhood, learning words, and has strong knowledge, but his father has been bedridden for many years with asthma, his 14-year-old mother has died, his family has fallen in the middle of the family at the age of 15, and at the age of 19, he began to pick up the responsibility of the family's top pillar, find a way to make a living to subsidize the family, write and paint for people, and let him taste the cold of the world.
He took three exams, none of which were lifted. Later, he served as the governor of Poyang, Fengxin, and Nancheng Zhi County, and at the age of forty-four, he served as the chief editor of the "Jiangxi Tongzhi" and died in office.