Sketch —— The Origin of Xu Wei and Taoist Culture

In the history of painting, Xu Wei has always been regarded as a representative painter of cursive script, and his flower-and-bird painting is second to none in the history of flower-and-bird painting in China. Generally speaking, Xu Wei's pen is superb in the thickness and speed of lines and the weight of brushwork. And with the ever-changing method of using ink, the rhythm of using pen in the picture changes, which is his most remarkable feature. Xu Wei said in the book "The Old Couple Draws Fish to Make This": "Yuan Zhen made ink bamboo and painted it at will. Who is the man in the picture, or reed or hemp? I used to draw a ruler, and people asked what kind of fish it was. I can't answer either. Zhang is a cursive script. " This clarified his intention of painting with cursive script.

The origin of cursive script is represented by cursive script, which has a simple special code of correcting errors. With the development of cursive script, the frequency and degree of simplification and connection are getting higher and higher, and cursive script is a further simplification and connection of ancient Li. By the time the cursive script was formed, the development of simplicity and connectivity of cursive script was close to the extreme. To sum up, it can be said that it is very common to regard Cao Li as the predecessor of cursive script.

The early Taoist symbols were basically formed on the basis of official script, which was a combination of several official script fonts in Han Dynasty. Later, in order to strengthen the mystery, Taoism boldly deformed Chinese characters, broke through the shackles of fonts and strokes, absorbed the writing methods of ancient fonts, especially cursive writing methods, and created an illegible text.

Wei and Jin Dynasties were the peak periods for the development of cursive script and Taoism, and Taoist symbols, calligraphy and Taoist cosmology had an important influence on literati's calligraphy creation. Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, as a Taoist believer at that time, said in "Mr. Baiyun's Book Decision": "The green top is really stomach, although the child has arrived, it is not finished. The spirit of the book must reach Tao, which is the same as the mixed theory. Seven precious, can be famous through the ages. " This shows that his calligraphy art has been influenced by Taoist thought. Tao Hongjing, the founder of Maoshan School of Taoism, is also an artist who spreads Taoist thoughts through calligraphy. In Biography of the Immortal, he said that the main characteristics of family calligraphy are "the emptiness in reality, the presence in qi, and the absence of image in China", which is the embodiment of Lao Zi's "Tao" in calligraphy.

Taoist calligraphy had a more direct influence on cursive script in Tang Dynasty, and Zhang Xu's cursive script art benefited from Taoist cosmology and Taoist runes. The calligraphy art of famous calligraphers Su Shi and Huang Tingjian in Song Dynasty was also inspired by Taoism. Generally speaking, the Taoist view of the universe and the celestial realm roaming in the universe have changed the way of thinking of calligraphers and played an important role in breaking the traditional artistic mode of calligraphy and creating new artistic expression methods. This is the dynamic style of Xu Wei's sketches in Ming Dynasty. Of course, this is inseparable from the development of flower-and-bird painting in the whole Ming Dynasty, and Xu Wei's predecessors paved the way for this. Starting from Shen Zhou, Chen Chun, the successor, inherited most of the themes of broken branches and flowers and the technique of boneless sentence breaking in his works. Xu Wei, on the other hand, inherited Chen Chun's ink painting method (tapping the tip of a pen), removed its complicated crochet and boneless form, and added splash ink to form a capitalized style of ink painting blending and venting. All this stems from the fact that monks who study Buddhism in China often send it. The frequent flower-and-bird paintings are influenced by the artistic style of Zen forest, and the painting style is free and elegant. Generally speaking, Shen Zhou and Dharma often absorbed Zen with the thoughts of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, forming a free and easy style, which was inherited by Xu Wei. It must be said that Xu Wei and Taoism have a long history and close ties.

References:

1.？ Study on the Rheology of Li Yongzhong Cursive Script 2003.5. 1

2.？ Qi Fengshan's Taoist Symbols and Calligraphy Art, China Taoism, April 30, 2004 P40-4 1

3.？ The Origin, Evolution and Consciousness of Wang Haojun's Calligraphy Art, Beauty and Times (Middle) 2012.6.15p104-105.

4.？ Xie Qian's Artistic Wandering —— Wei Xu's Artistic Spirit Journal of Sichuan University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition) 2002-07-28 P82-86