The basis for the production of Chinese writing is "pictograms". Originally "writing is painting". People write in order to use words to record things, convey and exchange ideas, but the writing of Chinese characters has gradually developed into an art in the long course of history. "Chinese pen and ink, Chinese calligraphy tradition, Chinese characters, are pictographic. There is a pictographic basis, and this is artistic." The art of calligraphy, like all kinds of literary arts, is a reflection of a certain social life in the human mind.
The beauty of the art of calligraphy, which is discussed here, "is the product of the reflection in the mind of the calligrapher of the physical and dynamic beauty of various things in real life." At the same time as this reflection, the calligraphers also show their certain thoughts and feelings, and this thought and feeling is, of course, based on the actual social life as its source." The brush plays a leading role in a writing-oriented writing system. The writing of lines and the structure of glyphs are the two basic elements of calligraphy art modeling, and also the two basic elements that constitute the beauty of calligraphy art.
The line is the foundation and soul of calligraphy, an important medium on which calligraphy continues to live, and also a medium through which the calligrapher's expression is expressed, and the spirit, temperament and cultivation can be revealed. The emergence of Han Li is an epoch-making milestone in the art of calligraphy, and no kind of calligraphy expressiveness can compete with it. Of course, more directly, it lies in Han Li's main contribution- the liberation line. It has a decisive influence on our study of line beauty. When we appreciate a calligraphic work, the first thing that is felt by the viewer is also the line, so it is also a bridge for the viewer to communicate with the book. Through the lines, the viewer can obtain the enjoyment of spiritual beauty, spiritual comfort, purification and shock. The brush tool of Chinese calligraphy provides an ideal support for the high-level shaping of line beauty. The viewer can use the line as an aesthetic object to visually grasp the deep connotation of the work, and the calligraphers also see the line as a symbol of life in their works. Kang Youwei once made such a statement in the "Guangyi Zhou Shuangyi Stele Commentary No. 18": "If a book is a person, it must be prepared with flesh and bones. Thick blood and old bones, muscles and flesh, coupled with a strange posture, can be described as beautiful." Here, "tendon", "bone", "blood", and "flesh" are all aimed at calligraphic lines. Kang Youwei believes that the beauty of calligraphic lines is like the beauty of a person's living body, which embodies the highest principle of calligraphy beauty. In the field of Chinese calligraphy art, the aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy lines are mainly reflected in the following aspects.
(1) Sense of strength
The sense of strength discussed here is a kind of ingenuity in calligraphy, a natural movement of the palm, fingers, wrists, and arms under the coordination and control of human consciousness and the integration of the writer's aesthetic concepts and writing experience. Chinese calligraphy has always emphasized pen power, and Mrs. Wei's "Pen Array" has clouds: "The next pen dot painting." Waves are bent, and they must be sent with all their might." Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty pointed out in the "Nine Potentials": "The next pen is forceful, the beauty of the skin." Skin is the form of beauty of the line. Generally speaking, the next stroke is powerful, the lines are beautiful, and there is a rich skin connotation. "In the power of skill, there is still a contrast between light and dark: the person who turns the line is called 'bright', and the force that does not appear to be striking in the line is called 'dark'." This passage points out the true beauty of the strength of the line. The beauty of powerful calligraphy works of art is that it enables the viewer to appreciate the style of life and the rhythm of the heart in this solidified and static glyph. If the pen is weak and thin, the beauty of calligraphy cannot be fully expressed and exerted.
(2) Three-dimensional effect
For calligraphy, a graphic art form, three-dimensionality is a contradictory statement. Because the line itself is a flat existence, it is simply impossible to meet the physical standards of three-dimensional space. However, if a calligraphy work lacks a three-dimensional sense, the lines are thin and boring, and they are not durable. True stereo sensing is calm, thick and makes people feel the rich information contained in the lines. Briefly, the three-dimensional sense emphasized by calligraphy is a kind of space that has been abstractly refined. In the creation of specific calligraphy works, it has its own form due to the different styles of books and the aesthetic tastes of the book's authors. The emphasis on the line should have a three-dimensional sense, of course, is closely related to the traditional spirit of the Chinese. Any kind of aesthetic consciousness is inseparable from the constraints of social content, and calligraphy is no exception. For example, Lady Wei pointed out in the "Pen Array Map": "The magic of the three ends of the husband, mo xianhu uses the pen, the mystery of the six arts, and the silver hook." The reasoning formula for this passage is: calligraphy - with the pen first; With a pen - the center is the most important; Lines - to have a three-dimensional sense of beauty.
From the point of view of calligraphic beauty, the center forward technique is absolute. The flanking technique is relative, it cannot be used independently, and can only be alternately complemented by the center. And it cannot be in a dominant position. The reason for this is that the purpose of calligraphy is to pursue the beauty of the line, and the most important one of the lines is that the three-dimensional sense should be strong and thick. We can transform the method of using the pen, but we cannot cross this ultimate goal of calligraphic beauty. It is by no means a question of mere skill, but essentially a question of beauty.
(3) Sense of rhythm
We can find a kind of vitality in the rhythm of the calligraphy works, and then experience the value of life in the vitality. The principle of rhythm is the intersection of contrasts. Implemented in the form of calligraphy, it is the ratio of blank space to ink, the ratio of blank size, the ratio of blank shape, the ratio of ink dot lines, and even the ratio of ink thickness, wetness, square circle, and turning. Everything that constitutes a contrast contains elements of rhythm. "One yin and one yang is the Tao", "yin and yang" is the basis of rhythm. The movement characteristics of the pen in the composition process of the line - tightness, weight, speed and slowness - are the specific content of the line rhythm. The nature and types of movements are also different, and no matter what kind of rhythm, they all exist in contrast. Brush calligraphy can show the personality of many calligraphers. The vitality of each writer's life reflects the aesthetic value of the rhythm of the line. Such as: space rhythm, pen undulating rhythm, blank rhythm, direction rhythm, etc.
The principle of rhythm seems to be relatively simple compared to the principle of sense of strength and three-dimensionality. Because of the strength and thickness of the line, we can all start from a practical starting point and make a deep description of this in terms of appearance and form. But for rhythm, visual forms abound, and the deep content of invisible is not only the content of calligraphy, but also involves physical and psychological problems. The sense of three-dimensionality, strength and rhythm basically encompasses the entire content of the aesthetic consciousness of the line. Not only that, even in terms of calligraphy's pen-moving skills, the existence of the "three senses" has included the entire spatial content of the technique.
The composition of the sense of power is to rely on lifting, pressing, toddling, frustrated, turning, folding, square, circle, emphasizing the ups and downs of a pen - up and down movement; The composition of the three-dimensional sense relies on the pen based on the center, and the pen rule is implemented to the specific range of line beauty, and the pursuit is not only to draw the line on the flat paper, but to shape the three-dimensional effect; The composition of the sense of rhythm is based on the control of speed, intermittent coherence, light and heavy, there is a process of movement, so it has the property of time. Three-dimensional sense and sense of strength, plane movement and up and down movement, constitute a three-dimensional action space, coupled with a sense of rhythm, but also constitute the contrast of time and space, the three intersect with each other, mutual penetration, forming the most extensive artistic world of calligraphy skills.
The so-called beauty of structure, that is, how the structure of the glyph can reflect the beauty of the structure of various things in reality. Although Chinese characters are no longer primitive hieroglyphs, the Chinese character forms developed from "pictograms" still have the meaning of modeling and the art of image. The beauty of the structure of words is inseparable from five aspects, namely, flatness, symmetry, jaggedness, coherence, and flying.
One is to be fair. It is an essential element of the beauty of the calligraphic form. It gives a sense of stability, comfort and completeness. Calligraphy is consistent with people's general aesthetic psychology, and people gradually form such aesthetic concepts through social practice; Neat is beautiful, messy is ugly; Order is beautiful, chaos is ugly; Proper is beautiful, inappropriate is ugly, and so on. Therefore, the calligraphers of ancient times have attached great importance to the flatness of characters, and Wei Heng of the Western Jin Dynasty pointed out in the "Four-Body Calligraphy" that it is necessary to "repair the short and the same, the different bodies and the same posture, and the efforts to write lightly, and the separation is endless."
Second, it should be symmetrical. It is the sense of appropriateness and neatness formed between the strokes of the word and between the parts. Generally speaking, the symmetry of words can be achieved only by paying attention to the tight length of the solid line. However, calligraphers also often look at the white without solid lines to make black and white suitable, and the virtual reality is formed, which is called "counting white as black". Among the various calligraphies, the most symmetrical and black self-appropriate is the seal book.
Third, it should be uneven. Things are also beautiful in jaggedness. The undulations of the mountains, the rolling of the waves, the teeth of the trees, and the stacking of cirrus clouds are all jagged beauty. In terms of calligraphy, even the stricter calligraphy and calligraphy emphasize the beauty of jagged characters and cloth whites.
The symmetry, symmetry and jaggedness of calligraphy seem to be contradictory, but in fact, this is not the case, and it is often the case that the calligraphy is straight and symmetrical. It is the law, which is mainly about the basic requirements of the knot; Jagged is the change of potential, mainly about the beauty of the flexibility of each part. Writing can not only talk about the constant harmony method, so as not to get a vivid and lively calligraphy image; Writing should also be about strange changes, so that you can get a colorful calligraphic artwork with a posture.
Fourth, be coherent. Refers to the strokes of a word, the care between the various components, the reflection, and even the connection. Coherence makes the parts of the word more organic. Tang Taizong Li Shimin made this statement in his biography of Wang Xizhi on the calligraphy charm caused by coherence: "The smoke is exposed, and the shape is broken and connected", and the words "if" and "like" here mean that the line is not true and absolutely broken, but only "if broken". Wang Xizhi is good at using an aesthetic principle in creation and appreciation: works of art can show the greatest beauty between "seeming nothing".
Fifth, fly. This is the most important way that calligraphy has a lively image. Not only can it create static beauty, but it can also generate dynamic beauty, and it seems to see vibrant living things, hear the beautiful music of melodies, and generate all kinds of associations and imaginations. The dynamic beauty of art is often better than the static beauty.
We examine the structure of every word. Whether it is up and down, or left and right strokes should be coordinated and orderly, and the composition of each word must be natural. At the same time, this structural beauty is not simply uniform, but there are changes in a unified atmosphere and style, contrary to the opposite, harmonious and different, full of spontaneous and natural interest. Of course, different calligraphers have different understandings of structural beauty, and the styles of their works vary greatly. The same is to write the book, the European body structure is thin and dangerous, the middle palace is introverted, the Yan body is wide and majestic, and the middle palace is outside. Both Mi Fu and Su Dongpo are famous for their books, but the former structure is vivid and full of curiosity, while the latter is calm and diluted, elegant and beautiful. This requires us to examine and evaluate with a broad vision in the aesthetic process, and we must not generalize.
There are no isolated lines and structures in Chinese calligraphy. Everything is organically combined, and everything is mutually causal existence. What's more, when studying the beauty of the line, we should not ignore the value of spirit and emotion. They are distinct from each other and interdependent and interrelated, and the relationship between the two is opposites and unified. The shape of any word. These two basic elements are inseparable, and these two elements do not exist in isolation. The structure of any glyph must take into account the thickness of the line, square circle, curvature, rigidity and softness.
The structural problem between words, between lines, and between widths is what the ancients called "chapters". For example, Liu Xizai of the Qing Dynasty said: "The chapters of the book are as large as a word and a number, as large as a line and several lines, and one and several pictures, all of which must have avoidance of each other and call each other corresponding to each other." Tang Zhang Huaijin called calligraphy "a silent sound, an invisible image" in his book theory, and he talked about the symmetry of chapters, interspersed, echoed, and broken, like a melodic and moving piece of music.
The essentials of the beauty of the chapter can be summarized as the undertaking of the posture, the virtual reality is formed, and the staggered. They are three ways of communicating between words and between lines. With such a chapter, a calligraphy will have a mixed style and lively vitality, that is, there is both a sense of order, a sense of rhythm, and a sense of flight. Of course, each of these three forms of communication has a different aesthetic effect than the above.
First, the posture is undertaken. What it pursues is the coherence and order between words and words, lines and lines. As Zhou Xinglian of the Qing Dynasty said in the "Linchi Pipe View", "The ancients wrote books, saw the chapters at the liaison office, and saw the artistic conception at the spilled place.".
Second, virtual reality is formed. In calligraphy, the real mainly refers to the place where there are lines and words; Virtual is the blank space between words and lines. From the perspective of the process of writing, the rules of virtual reality are temporary and completed at one time. The scholar uses his eyes and hands to grasp the distribution of black self, so that the black place reaches such as "the cutting of the golden sword"; At the same time, the white outside the line should reach such as "the measure of the jade ruler". Calligraphy works are generally inscribed. It is not only the continuation and development of the main text, but also another point of attention to the beauty of the chapter with the virtual reality. In addition, the font changes on the title can also form the beauty of the virtual reality into an equal chapter.
Third, there are many patches. This is a kind of chapter that seeks breakthroughs in the degree of law, curiosity in the midst of color, and harmony in change. It is mainly manifested in: there is a misalignment between words, and the central axis of the word sometimes coincides with the midline of the line, and sometimes forms a certain angle. These misalignments and oblique sides deliberately form an uneven, unbalanced, and incoherent word between lines. But the good calligrapher then uses technique to correct it, so that the whole of the work creates beauty in the change, and shows spirituality in contradiction. The holy hand that consciously uses the staggered rules and regulations is the Tang Dynasty Huaisu, and the characteristics of his masterpiece "Self-Narration" are manifested in jagged changes, leading the ribbon, and saving the right side.
The body posture is undertaken, the virtual reality is formed, and the staggered is the embodiment of the beauty of the calligraphy chapter. "The Tang people's wild grass is rampant, it seems impossible, in fact, it is impossible to have its own law, and the dot paintings of the tang are all in the middle of the rope." The important role of "Tang Shangfa" in the history of calligraphy, especially the outstanding achievements in wild grass, has further established the aesthetic standards of calligraphy. An aesthetic concept of calligraphy art creation in the knot body and chapter method is: neat and orderly. Unity, the pursuit of orderly beauty. As Sun Guoting said: "Beginners learn distribution, but seek peace and integrity; Now that we have been straightened out, we must pursue the danger and return to the righteousness."
The ancients called it "God", "Divine Radiance", "Divine Qi", "Spirit", etc., all of which are about the artistic beauty of calligraphy. Zhang Huaiyang of the Tang Dynasty said: "The brilliance of the gods is almost as good as Xuanwei." Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty said, "Look into the gods." If a calligraphy work lacks a temperament and spirit that runs through the whole width, it is difficult to form a beautiful artistic conception; Successful calligraphy art should be that the lines and structure of each word are beautiful, and at the same time, the whole width is composed into a whole, which concentrates on a certain aesthetic mood. That is, the ideal or realm of beauty embodied by the pen and structure of the whole text. The Song people pursue the pen and ink attitude, emphasizing the pen in the word, using the flanking edge, creating unexpected lines, and advocating the vivid charm, strong rhythm and rich changes of the whole calligraphy to express the personal aesthetic taste and inner emotions of yi state. They still want to, but they do not want the law, but they pay attention to exploring their own creative paths and methods within the scope of the law, and writing works with personal interest. The creation of calligraphy and aesthetic beauty is inseparable from the following three aspects.
One is radiance. It is an emphasis on individuality in calligraphy creation activities. Its opposite is the shape of the appearance. Ancient Chinese art theory has long been mentioned as both form and god. In calligraphy theory, God as the opposite of form is very clear and unmistakable. The Southern Qi monk's "Pen Yi Zan" has a cloud: "The wonderful way of the book is the first, and the form and quality are secondary." In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Huaixuan's "Commentary on Books on Medicine and Stone" is cloudy: "Those who know books deeply." Only the spirit, no glyphs. ”
The "radiance" discussed here is all spoken of as the opposite of form, and it also exists as an opposite at a higher level. The category of radiance is the general category of mood and emotion. And when the radiance as a constituent element is placed in the large category of artistic conception, which is the beauty of calligraphy. It should focus on the spiritual content of the writer - specific to the work refers to the actual content of the book's personality, spiritual outlook, and so on. Radiance is the successful expression of the personality beauty of the writer in the work.
The second is rhyme. If in the most basic creative relationship between the calligrapher and the work, the personality of the person who is "radiant" is partial to the spirit is displayed, then "rhyme" is the unfolding of the style of the work that is partial to the spirit. Its opposite is the standard shape. Rhyme refers to a style of natural form that is more peaceful, more implicit, and more implicit. The most typical statement, such as "Jin ren Shang Yun", refers to the pattern of Xiao, simple and elegant in the artistic concept of Wang Xizhi and other Eastern Jin dynasty scholars. Fun, on the other hand, refers to a more exaggerated, more appearance, more romantic subjective external posture. The most typical examples are "literati ink drama", and the pursuit result of "drama" mainly refers to "fun" rather than "charm". From a specific historical standpoint, the expression of fun is more intense.
Rhyme is a kind of personalization of the work. In harmony with the exuberant personality of the person, it is based on the interesting personality of the work. Generally speaking, the personality of the work and the personality (brilliance) of the writer should be unified, reflected in the art form, then there is no insurmountable gap between the rhyme and the brilliance.
The third is poetry. In the land of poetry, the aesthetics of poetry determine the aesthetics of other arts. We do not know whether the aesthetic content of the artistic conception in calligraphy is clearly leaning toward the poem, whether it is a kind of willingness or a helplessness. But it has led to a very obvious trace of penetration of art, both in spiritual concepts and in concrete forms, and of course it is a more one-way penetration: using poetry to influence calligraphy.
The reason why Wang Xizhi has been worshipped by the emperor for thousands of years, and then by his descendants. The reason why the incense is exuberant and gradually declines is that his sparse, simple, elegant and gentle Wei Jin demeanor is invariably in line with the goals of poetry, which shows the ever-changing artistic conception in the aesthetics of Chinese art. Its basic feature is the intervention of poetry and the absolute control of poetry over the aesthetic consciousness of the calligraphic "path". Strictly speaking, the above-mentioned criteria of "brilliance" and "rhyme" are actually the appearance of the potential domination of poetry. Therefore, the artistic category of calligraphy beauty has another specific content: from the aesthetic point of view of the viewer, what they use to judge the success or failure of a work, in addition to the formal treatment, there is also a poetic standard. If two works, which are not divided in form, can be slightly superior in "poetry", their favor is almost self-evident. Where a work can enable the viewer to recreate the poetic mood, it means the success of the work. How much thickness the artistic conception of the poem means how much thickness the artistic conception of the calligraphy has. The structure of "poetry" multi-faceted and multi-dimensional aesthetic consciousness provides us with the rich connotation of calligraphic artistic conception.
In the discussion of the beauty of the artistic conception, the three major contents of the artistic conception, such as the charm, rhyme and poetry, were summarized, and it was found that it had the orderliness of the structure. In the subjective category of artistic conception: "radiance" is from the perspective of the person who creates it, "rhyme" is from the effect of the medium of the work, and "poetry" is from the perspective of the person who appreciates it. The purpose of the three is one: to emphasize the absolute value of artistic conception as artistic personality, but the focus of the three is exactly to string through the three main links of calligraphy aesthetic activities: the creation of a work and an appreciation.
In summary, in fact, the expression of calligraphy beauty is nothing more than "real" and "virtual". The "real" aspect is tangible. It includes lines, structures, chapters, etc.; The combination of line beauty, structural beauty, and chapter beauty is a harmonious beauty, and it is all visible physical beauty. The beauty of the line has the distinction of delay, undulation, and twist, the pen edge has the positive side, the difference between the hidden dew, the stroke form is square and round, and the pen strength and gestures are also emphasized; Structural beauty has legal theories such as oddity, density, and violation; There are methods of expression such as guest and host, virtual reality, avoidance, qi pulse coherence and rank form, which are both different and complementary to each other. The "virtual" aspect is invisible, and the charm, rhyme, and poetry it contains are all intangible things, which must be expressed through tangible pens, structures and chapters. The ancients commented on calligraphy, and there was already a saying that "the spirit is the first, the form and quality are secondary", pointing out that the spirit is the soul of the art of calligraphy. The two aspects of "real" and "virtual" are interdependent and mutually useful, and together they show the aesthetic value of calligraphic art works.
All in all, the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy art no longer seek a single artistic conception and style, no longer only relish in the Jin people Shangyun, Tang People Shangfa, Song People Shangyi, Mingren Shangyi, But the rhyme, law, meaning, and fun of the predecessors are fused into one furnace, and from the traditional calligraphy of the realm, rhyme, qi, god, theory and other philosophical content to expand and innovate, in order to show the Chinese nation's struggle and take-off spirit of the times, to create a new style of calligraphy works.