In the history of seal engraving, there is a recognized genius of seal engraving, he is the art master Zhao Zhiqian of the late Qing Dynasty. Zhao Zhiqian has a variety of artistic talents, is an artist who is proficient in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and his seal engraving achievements are the most prominent. What is interesting is that Zhao Zhiqian did not have a unique sect in the concept of the door sect recognized by the seal engraving circles in later generations, but he is an important part of the history of Chinese seal engraving that inherits the past and the future, and we can see his position in the history of seal engraving through a picture:
(Zhao Zhiqian's position in Indian history)
Yes, this position in the picture looks like a pass, a throat position of "one husband and one hand, no one can open". After Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo's Wu Faction, Huang Mufu's Yishan Faction, later Zhao Shuru (Chen Julai's teacher), Wang Fu'an's two fine Zhu Wen masters, and later Qi Baishi's Qi Faction all received rich nutrition from Zhao Zhiqian.
In this way, all kinds of popular print styles in our modern and contemporary seal engraving circles have also benefited from Zhao Zhiqian, because most of the big men in the seal engraving circles now are actually the descendants of the masters of the above schools.
So, what kind of person is Zhao Zhiqian?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Zhao Zhiqian</h1>
Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884), the characters Yifu, Zi Ow, Leng Jun, later changed to Shu Shu, the number of sorrowful nunnery, sorrowful Weng, wu boredom, the world of ordinary people, the humble residents, etc., the name of the study room is two golden butterfly hall, bitter room, repentance reading zhai, look up at the thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine crane zhai and so on, Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Zhao Zhiqian was born on July 9, 1829, in the 9th year of Daoguang (1829), in a merchant family in Dafangkou, the east of The Kaiyuan Temple in Shaoxing, the Zhao family was originally a solid family, he was a child prodigy since he was a child, it is reported that he could write at the age of two, and received a good education in Fa Meng.
However, soon after Zhao Zhiqian was born, he "took revenge for his brother and went bankrupt with a lawsuit", and his family fell from then on, and since then he has lived a life of setting up a museum to teach apprentices, making a curtain for people, and "running all year round, selling clothes and food".
1. Zhao Zhiqian's life goal
Zhao Zhiqian's life goals are the Confucian tradition, and he is single-mindedly committed to taking the path of his career.
He was 20 years old, and at the age of 31, he won the third place in the Zhejiang Township Examination, but in the subsequent examinations, "he was deposed after repeated tests, and he was late and went against the brigade". It is said that one of the times he did not pass the exam was because he wrote more than 30 strange words on the exam paper, and these words, even the examiner did not know, how could such a test paper achieve good results.
(Portrait of Zhao Zhiqian)
Later, when Wei Xi printed a personal seal for Zhao Zhiqian, the Erjin Di Tang Seal Score, Zhao Zhiqian wrote four big characters in the opening volume with a seal book: "Jiasun is troublesome", as shown in the picture:
(Zhao Zhiqian's inscription "Jiasun is troublesome")
A small note next to it reads: "Jiasun did his best to collect printed manuscripts and poems for me, and scattered and discarded the text, which is thicker than covering up and burying the hips." However, I have engraved poetic words all my life, and gu tian has lived me. And my parents' intention to give birth to me was very contradictory. The four words of the book are respectful. Obviously, his life goals and his parents' expectations of him are all a career path, and his outstanding artistic talent, self-identification in his heart, is just a life path given to him by God.
Perhaps for this reason, when he learned in 1862 (at the age of 34) that his wife and daughter had died one after another, he still carved a Zhu Wenyin to express his feelings, which was du Fu's two poems: "Born in Yao Shunjun, if you can't bear it, you will never be able to do it", and he wrote in the side paragraph: "After the sorrowful nunnery, after Xin You, all thoughts are gray." Do not dare to ask the dead, Shang Ji to go to the capital division, according to the light of the sun and the moon, do the use of dogs and horses. Unfortunately poor and old, the more they grow. Among the thieves, the country is insulted, and these two words are engraved to clarify their aspirations.... It can be seen that even after the destruction of his family, he still has the ambition of Ji Shi Anbang.
(Born in Yao Shunjun, if you can't bear it, you will never know)
Even if he did not change his mind and worked hard in the direction of his career, he did not have to move to Jiangxi until he was 44 years old, became a petty official who compiled local history, and later served in Poyang, Fengxin, and Nancheng ZhiXian, and died of exhaustion at the age of 56.
Zhao Zhiqian's life, there are very outstanding achievements in seal engraving, but the experience of the second half of his life is enough to explain his life pursuit of "not to be printed", we see the last side of his life seal "Shi Lan Tang" in the side paragraph: "It has been ten years without engraving, and the eyes are dizzy and hard, this is the Special Heavenly Algae awarded by Empress Dowager Pan Dasi Kouji, with the honor of Zhi zhi and the stone of Jingles. ”
(Cilan Tang)
After Zhao Zhiqian entered the army, he did not engrave it for ten years. In fact, when he carved this seal, Zhao Zhiqian was already completely disappointed in being an official, and although he had long been determined to abandon art, "painting is rare" and "vowing not to play a knife", but his experience as an official only made him "from the dynasty to the twilight of the court and the lawsuit against the gangsters" and "he could not sit on the desk for a day", he deeply realized that in that era, "the art of being an official cannot produce the four words 'despicable and shameless', which is definitely beyond the ability of my generation." "Just think, how can a person with an artist's temperament survive smoothly in the official arena?"
Because of Zhao Zhiqian's "sheng nian shu knife", coupled with his "sexual impatience to be engraved by people, so the interlocutors have one or two, not true knowledge, or Jin is not with" (Wei Xizeng), he only left more than 390 seals in his life.
(Tomb of Zhao Zhiqian)
This is a regret in Zhao Zhiqian's life, and it is also a regret in the history of seal carving!
2, Uncle Is happy
Zhao Zhiqian is a straightforward and funny person, and in one of his paintings, there is a passage inscribed by posterity, in which a story is recorded:
"When Ling Jiang was right, Fan Siqiang painted, and it was a small print, saying that 'Uncle Huan was not happy' at the end. The winner is great, thank you. Zhangnai did not make a frame, changed to a chapter, and the text said 'Uncle Is Happy'. ”
This story is very interesting: the superior high-ranking official forced Zhao Zhiqian to paint because of his talent, Zhao Zhiqian could not fail to paint, but after the painting, he stamped a small seal on the painting, the content of the seal was "Uncle Huan is not happy", he was indeed unhappy, but the boss who got this painting was really embarrassed, so he went to the door very politely and asked him to paint again, this time more politely, so Zhao Zhiqian painted another painting, and at the end, he stamped a small seal, and the seal was "Uncle Huan is happy." "Haha!
If we look at Zhao Zhiqian's inscription after Yang Xiaoting's portrait of Zhao Zhiqian, we can see the temperament of this great artist even more:
(Portrait of Zhao Zhiqian by Yang Xieting, engraved on the Xiling stele)
"The group destroyed it, did not destroy me, I will not report it." Or reputation, non-reputation also, I am not good. It is better to draw me than to look like me. Those who doubt me say that I listen to them and laugh. "You ruined me, I don't care, you can do whatever you want, I just laughed." Maverick artist temperament, highlighted.
Of course, Zhao Zhiqian is also lonely and depressed, not long ago, Mr. Zhang Tielin published his collection of Zhao Zhiqian's "On the Study of Congzha - To Hu Pei's Ruler", in which Zhao Zhiqian wrote: "To treat oneself, very rare, it takes one or two hundred years." (Book I, Second Circuit)
(To be a confidant, very little, it takes one or two hundred years)
Perhaps Zhao Zhiqian is only discussing with friends, but in the whole road of life, the entire field of art, the entire history of seal carving, Zhao Zhiqian has always been a lonely and proud person.
Outstanding people are lonely, especially those geniuses. For example, Nietzsche and Van Gogh.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Zhao Zhiqian's position as an altar</h1>
We say that Zhao Zhiqian is a genius, Zhao Zhiqian cattle, then, in the end, how good is Zhao Zhiqian, let's look at his experience in learning to seal and the status of the altar of printing:
Zhao Zhiqian is a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang, not far from Hangzhou, influenced by the region and the wind of the times, he learned seal carving naturally from the Zhejiang school, although when he first learned seal carving, Zhao Zhichen and Qian Song were still alive, but according to him when he was 36 years old, "Yu Shaoxue Mansheng, after a long time to know its wrong, then abandon it."
That is to say, he started to learn seal carving from Chen Mansheng (one of the "Eight Families of The Western Ling" of the Zhejiang Sect), but later found that the road was not right, it is likely that he found Deng Shiru's seal, and it is also likely that he traced it back to the Qin and Han seals, so he gave up Chen Mansheng. But Zhao Zhiqian's learning method has always been "abandonment", he gave up Chen Mansheng, but did not give up the Zhejiang school, because before the age of 34, we still see his Zhejiang school print style works. This was followed by some works of The Chinese Seal, followed by the works of Deng Shiru. In fact, when he came into contact with Deng Shiru's seal style, he had already straddled the two factions of Zhejiang and Anhui.
By 1862, Wei Xi had gone to Fuzhou to find him to collect the "Erjin Butterfly Hall" for him, and he had engraved "Wei XiZeng" and "Jia Sun" for Wei Xi when printing it, and he had already said in the side paragraph: "Jia Sun Mu is printed under Ding and Huang, or under Ding and above Huang." "As shown in the figure:
(Jiasun)
Ding Jing and Huang Yi, this is Wei Xizeng's evaluation, Zhao Zhiqian is not convinced, he believes that this fang work may not be as good as Ding Jing, but it has surpassed Huang Yi. Ding and Huang were both Zhejiang Sect masters, and Zhao Zhiqian was very proud of his Zhejiang Sect Kung Fu. Look at the side of "Zhao Zhiqian Seal":
(Zhao Zhiqianyin)
In the side paragraph, it is said: "Long Hong does not have this serenity, and The white does not have this essence." The implication is that ding jing and Deng Shiru, the masters of the two sects of Zhejiang and Anhui, he has surpassed them all. He went from learning Zhejiang to learning Anhui, jumping out of the Zhejiang school without forgetting his strengths, entering the Anhui school and not being confined, and finally the top masters of Zhejiang and Anhui were finally surpassed by him, and he became a comprehensive master who integrated the two schools, you know, at this time, Zhao Zhiqian was only 34 years old.
Speaking of Zhao Zhiqian's experience in learning to seal, perhaps the context recorded in Hu Shu's "Order of the Seal of the Second Golden Butterfly Hall" is more clear:
In the same year, my friend would audit Uncle Zhao, born with different talents, erudite and versatile, since his childhood, that is, good at engraving the seal, the first obedience to Long Hong, not only after learning Bai, but also he hui and Zhejiang two factions, and strive to pursue Qin and Han. Gradually, zhong ding stele, casting mirror statue, seal li true line, literary and rhetorical troubles, mo do not touch the hole, rush to the bottom of the wrist ... , its imitation casting chisel, than the three generations of Yi instruments, the two Han stele, the tile brick record, the spring mirror inscription, back to the xiang indulgence, but the change is appropriate, to have their own face, never to lean on.
Yes, he not only opened up the connection between various art disciplines, but also extended the scope of seal engraving to "outside india", he not only had such creative ideas, but also had outstanding works of successful experimentation. He is the founder and successful model of the real "India-foreign Search". He entered the printing with words such as the Warring States Spring Coin, the Qin and Han Tablets, the Quan Zhao, and the Mirror Inscription, which integrated and penetrated, and became its own appearance, opening the door of "outside india" for future generations of seal carving, and the vision of seal carving to obtain funds has since become more broad.
From the earliest "seeking printing in India", to Deng Shiru's "printing from the book", and then to Zhao Zhiqian's "seeking printing outside the printing", the art category of seal engraving is fully mature! It has become a major category of art that can express human emotions and social life.
Of course, Zhao Zhiqian was more aware of this, and when he carved the "Songjiang ShuYong Examination Seal", this master of art was ambitious, and carved in the side section that "take the law between the Qin Zhao Han lanterns, and set up a portal for the Six Hundred Years of Printing (G)" in the side section." "You see, domineering side leaks! You know, before that, seal engraving has always been regarded as a "carving insect skill", strictly speaking, after Zhao Zhiqian's words, seal engraving has become an independent art category along with books and paintings.
(Songjiang Shen Shu Yong Kao Zang Seal)
From this point of view, all those who love seal carving, learn seal carving, and even make a living from seal carving should thank Zhao Zhiqian.
When we think about Zhao Zhiqian's artistic achievements in seal carving, we will realize that perhaps it is the torture of life (small losers, the examination is not smooth), it is the suffering of life (wife and daughter are lost, the family is broken), forcing Zhao Zhiqian to have a desire to be suppressed and seek to turn over that ordinary people do not have, which has contributed to a certain degree of inferiority, pride, and self-madness of Zhao Zhiqian, and thus triggered this artistic genius to release unexpected and amazing energy, in fact, the door of modern seal engraving art, in the hands of Zhao Zhiqian, has been pushed open.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Zhao Zhiqian's outstanding contribution to seal engraving</h1>
Zhao Zhiqian's position in the history of Chinese seal engraving is lofty, why does he have such a high status? Because his contribution is so great, we can summarize it into the following three points, each of which is extremely important:
1. Seek printing outside india
Before Deng Shiru, from WuQiuyan and Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty to Wen Peng, He Zhen, Su Xuan, Zhu Jian, and Wang Guan of the Ming Dynasty, to Cheng Wei, Ba Weizu, Hu Tang, Sifeng And Eight Monsters of the Qing Dynasty, and then to Ding Jing of the Zhejiang School, the creative thinking of his seal carvings was basically "seeking india in india", they took funds from the ancient seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties, they took funds from the ancient seals of the pre-Qin Dynasty, and they took funds from the seals of the Tang and Song dynasties... In short, the formal language of seal engraving they use is what has appeared in the previous generation of seals, it is a ready-made seal engraving style, seal engraving words, and the overall seal engraving form is limited.
When Deng Shiru appeared, Master Deng began to introduce literati calligraphy into seal carving, from him, what kind of seal calligraphy the printers had, what kind of seal carving style, the Indians jumped out of the limitations of the ancient seal form language, and Deng Shiru's role was epoch-making.
Deng Shiru jumped out of the restriction of the ancient seal printing surface! This innovation was perfected by Emperor Huizong Wu Rangzhi and Subsequent Indians of Emperor Zhejiang, and "printing from books" became more and more perfect. The theory of "printing from the book" has actually jumped from the printing surface to the "printing outside the printing", which is already the beginning of the "printing outside the printing".
(Take the ancient jingming's "Shou ru jin shi jia and good xi")
To Zhao Zhiqian, he not only used his own calligraphy into the printing, but also found more foreign capital basis for the formal language of seal engraving, the Warring States Spring Coin, the Qin and Han Inscriptions, the Han Dynasty Lamp Inscription, the Qin Dynasty Quan, the "Indo-in" text in the edict plate and the "Indo-Indian" style were introduced into the seal engraving creation, the field of printing and using characters was greatly broadened, his creation not only had theory, but also had successful works, after Zhao Zhiqian, the Indians' vision was wide open, Wu Changshuo cast his eyes on the stone drum text, sealing mud, Huang Mufu turned his eyes to the Zhongding script, Each becomes a master.
(From the Six Kingdoms coin to ask for the Chinese seal: Uncle Zhao)
2. Anhui-Zhejiang Heng station
Zhao Zhiqian learned to print first Zhejiang and then Anhui, but in the end he broke through the restrictions of the two factions, integrated the two sects, and walked alone in the altar of printing.
The Zhejiang school emphasizes the embodiment of the knife method, and the Anhui school emphasizes calligraphy freehand. The earliest seal engraver in the history of seal engraving to explicitly emphasize the equal emphasis on both sword and pen is Zhao Zhiqian, specifically seeing his name seal "Julu Wei Clan". As shown in the figure:
(Julu Wei)
The text in the side paragraph is:
Ancient prints have pens and ink, but today's people have knives and stones. This meaning is not that I have not passed on, and this principle is not spoken of. I know that I can't carve it, and I can't carve it in my heart. Before seeing the calligraphy and painting, it is difficult to blame others for their own sake. The old generations are suddenly decaying, and the carving insects are not small skills. Zhejiang and Anhui two can be counted, Ding Huang Deng Jiang Ba Hu Chen (Man Sheng). There is still Wu Xizai in Yangzhou, the middle-aged boss of the poor guest South. I regret that Lai Jun has a printed book, and shen Junchu is even more shen junchu. Shi Jiaoduo has a scab addiction, and I don't cut the knife. Sending Jun only says my disciples, the road is unforgettable Qian and Zhu.
The most important thing in this side section is that "the ancient seal has pen and ink, but the present people have knives and stones", this sentence is essentially against the Zhejiang faction's blind emphasis on "knife love stone fun" at that time, Zhao Zhiqian came into contact with the Anhui school Deng Shiru "printing from the book" theory, and added an investigation of the qin and Han printing pen and ink meaning, he realized that a good seal, not only to have the interest of the knife and stone, but also to have the meaning of pen and ink. When this theory matured and achieved practical success, Zhao Zhiqian became a great master who essentially spanned the two schools of Anhui and Zhejiang. In his seal, we can see both the pen and ink affection and the knife mark calendar. For example, this side of the "season of joy":
(Ji Huan)
In the side paragraph, it is said that it is "Deng Guanbai Method", which is actually printed from the book, and the writing meaning is obvious, but when Zhao Zhiqian completed the printing surface, he used the Zhejiang school knife method with obvious knife marks, and the final result was both ancient and full of literati pen and ink interest. Such works, in Zhao Zhiqian's already few works, abound, and his later mature works take this route.
3. Pursue the original face of Hanyin
After the erosion and grinding of the Hanyin over the years, the face will appear mottled and vast, as shown in the picture:
(What hanyin looks like after years)
Of course, it will also cause the printed text on the printing surface to show the characteristics of being vast, simple and mottled, as shown in the figure:
(Chinese seal object)
Zhao Zhiqian realized that the Qin and Han ancient seal seals in the Qin and Han seals seen by later generations were eroded over the years, and they were not the original appearance of the Han seal, so in the seal carving creation, did the posterity imitate the existing appearance of the Han seal, or its original appearance, and the thick atmosphere of the Han seal came from the mottled, or from the Han seal itself? And how to present it with a knife on the stone surface? Zhao Zhiqian made a choice, and he said in the side paragraph of the famous "He Chuansu Seal":
(He Chuansu Yin)
"The magic of the Han copper seal is not mottled but thick. Learning thick is full of wrist strength, stone is brittle, the force is everywhere, should be dropped, the more clumsy the more ancient, seemingly unremarkable, but not easy. It seems that this matter is related to the comrades, And Hangzhou Qian Shugai is only one person. Shu Gai takes the position of light action, and gives the task as a deep method, but it is slightly different, and its achievements are also the same. However, it is not easy to engrave for people, so that there are few reasons. ”
It is not easy for one side of the seal to keep the original appearance of the Han seal, because once the knife goes down, the stone will collapse, so how to imitate the thick atmosphere of the Chinese seal on the stone has become the most important problem to be solved by the seal carving. Therefore, he is deeply aware of the difficulty of sealing the seal carving to complete the printing surface (which is one of the reasons why he does not easily engrave with people).
Zhao Zhiqian's idea of pursuing the original face of the Han Seal profoundly influenced the later famous Indians such as Huang Mufu and Zhao Shuru. The works we see now along the way are mostly based on this creative idea.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
In the entire history of art in the late Qing Dynasty, Zhao Zhiqian is undoubtedly one of the most important artists.
In terms of painting, he was the pioneer of the "Maritime School of Painting" and the advocate of the "Golden Stone Painting Style"; in terms of calligraphy, he was the most powerful practitioner of the theory of epigraphy in the Qing Dynasty, and it was also he who further perfected the technical system of the Stele School; in terms of seal engraving, he was the pioneer of "Seeking Printing Outside india", and he creatively inherited Deng Shiru's creative mode of "printing from books", expanding the scope of taking the law beyond traditional seals and literati calligraphy.
Compared with other artists of the same era, his all-round ability is exceptionally prominent, and he is a real "four masters" of poetry, books, paintings and printing, and has achieved outstanding achievements in various fields of art. He used books to enter the print, with books and prints into the paintings, books, paintings, and prints were seamlessly integrated, and it was on the basis of him that the later generations of Wu Changshuo, Huang Mufu, Qi Baishi and others borrowed their strength. In the history of the development of painting, calligraphy and seal engraving in the Qing Dynasty, he was a crucial figure in any aspect.
([Zero Basic Science Seal Engraving] No. 26, some pictures quoted from the Internet, copyright belongs to the original author)