Calligraphy appreciation activities can be roughly divided into several steps.

Steps and methods of calligraphy appreciation (1) Grasp the whole. We quoted a sentence from Mr. Bai Jiao earlier, "The standard of learning is the standard of appreciation." Learning calligraphy starts with basic stippling, then learning structure, and then regular layout. Appreciating calligraphy works, contrary to creation, must start from the whole, then to the part, and then to the core. Just like watching a person, when you meet him, "you don't have to look at his eyes, ears, hands, feet and head, but at his manners, laughter and spiritual expression." It mainly refers to "spirit" here. Wang Sengqian said: "The wonderful way of books lies in the supremacy of spirit, followed by form and quality, both of which can be described by the ancients." After observing the spirit, we should focus on the form and quality, which is the secret of appreciating calligraphy, but it is difficult for a painter to get its true meaning. An excellent calligraphy work should first be able to infect the whole audience. If you lose the beauty of the whole, the local "beauty" will lose its meaning. And show the failure of this work. To grasp the whole, we must keep a certain distance from the work, and the overall layout and significance of the work will flash out at a certain spatial distance. In some works, the strokes and structure of each word are not bad, and even there are some skills, but the whole is still quite chaotic, just like the actors in the chorus, no matter whether they are high, middle or low, they all sing an octave at their throats. No matter how high and beautiful everyone's voice is, it loses its melody and the beauty of harmonious timbre. The overall beauty of calligraphy works is the beauty of composition and layout of a work. Set points are drawn into words, set words into rows, and rows are connected to form a composition. Whether the rules and regulations are balanced and coordinated, and whether the care is rigorous, such as organized and disciplined soldiers; Or scattered like stars, dense, flashing in the night sky; Or the left and right thick stripes between lines, or the space that echoes up and down. Composition and layout are important factors for the success of a work. Although composition is an independent part of calligraphy techniques, it is closely related to the rhythm of writing, changes in Mo Yun, brushwork and momentum, structure and artistic conception. A work is a whole, which is combined into a balanced and unified whole through the changes of font size, length, expansion, opening and closing, pen weight and ink color. For example, Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, the last article looks around and echoes from beginning to end, as if it were a relief. Blood ties are linked, and a hundred calls should be made. Therefore, the layout has achieved the artistic effect of undertaking from top to bottom, echoing from left to right and linking up from front to back. The beauty of composition and layout lies in conforming to the laws of natural beauty, and the beauty lies in its proper place. For example, Su Dongpo's cold food stickers are vague in structure, size, length and density, showing an unpretentious interest intentionally or unintentionally. On the contrary, too neat, uniform and unchangeable, chaotic and unattractive, as well as some rules that are too restrictive or too scattered, will not give people a beautiful enjoyment. (2) The local analysis of composition is to look at the impression and effect of calligraphy works as a whole. Including the text and inscription of calligraphy works, branching and printing, inscription and how to appreciate calligraphy works (part two). After several changes of Chinese characters in China, all kinds of calligraphy styles have their own rules of structure, and calligraphers in past dynasties have discussed the structure. As calligraphy appreciators, we should learn and master these laws. Only by applying these laws can we make a correct evaluation of calligraphy works. For example, regular script, including Ou Yangxun's Thirty-six Chinese Characters Method in Tang Dynasty, Li Chunjin's Eighty-four Chinese Characters Method in Ming Dynasty, and Huang Ziyuan's Ninety-two Regular Script Frame Structure Method in Qing Dynasty, are all good reference materials for study. Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting is an excellent model for studying the structure of running script. Song of Grass Rhyme written by Song people is also widely circulated by later generations. Generally speaking, there are more elements of "violation" in cursive script and more elements of "harmony" in Kaili seal script. However, we cannot generalize. In modern times, some people emphasized "expressing feelings and aspirations" with grass method, which greatly reduced the composition of "harmony" and had the characteristics of the times. The so-called "it is not easy to use a pen through the ages, and a thousand words are handed down from generation to generation." The so-called "ugly book" in the modern "popular book style" also pursues a word-formation skill of "seeking unity from various contradictions and creating certain contradictions from unity", with various artistic forms and rich word-formation changes, which makes the works present new visual effects. Although there has been endless debate so far, as an attempt, we might as well let the appreciator make a choice in the debate instead of killing him with a stick. When we appreciate it, we should examine and evaluate it from many angles, so as to enrich and improve our appreciation skills. 2. brushwork. Literally, it is a kind of brushwork. From the perspective of calligraphy appreciation, it should be to write standard stippling with the right pen. Stippling naturally changes with the style of the book. However, all the book reviews through the ages believe that "any pen (line or stippling) that can give people aesthetic feeling should be powerful". This power is called "brushwork" in traditional calligraphy. Judging whether stippling has "pen power"-that is, the aesthetic conditions of calligraphy lines-is mainly based on "roundness" and "astringency". A circle is a three-dimensional concept, not a plane. The rounded lines are full and powerful, with a sense of relief, which can show the power of full and rounded power. The round line is the result of using the pen in the center, that is, the strokes written by the ancients that "make the pen heart move in stippling and make the pen heart emerge from stippling". "Looking at the sun, there is a thick ink in it." That is, the ancient metaphor of "broken hairpin", "cone painting sand" and "Yin Yinni" is this effect. If the pen is tilted to one side (pointing to the end), the lines (stippling) written are flat and thin, floating and light, and there is no beauty at all. Let's talk about "astringency". It's not slippery or slippery. The pen for writing is an artistic effect that lines break through the resistance of paper and strive for progress. The pen tip encountered obstacles and resistance on paper, but the pen moved slowly. The more fully obstacles and counter-obstacles are displayed, the more lines can show their sense of strength. As the predecessors said, "leak mark" is not only round, but also astringent. Because the water leaked from the house flows down the wall (earth wall), it is not like there is no resistance on flat and smooth glass, but there is resistance of sand and ash on the rough wall, which makes the downstream waterline produce water marks that are straight to the left or right and in the middle, which seems to be stagnant, just in line with the performance of calligraphy lines. "Round" and "astringent" are also intrinsically related. The circle is the pen used in the center, and the astringency also requires the nib to stand upright, artificially creating a contrarian astringency. The ancients said that "horizontal scales are vertical", which means that writing horizontal scales will produce certain resistance like scraping fish scales in turn; It is an advantage to write a portrait of riding a horse and struggling forward, but controlled by reins. Liu Xizai said: "You have to do something. If you refuse, you try your best to argue with it, and the result is unexpectedly embarrassing." Such lines are not slippery or dull, but have a calm, dignified, vigorous and old-fashioned effect. In addition, the rhythm of calligraphy lines is also one of the important conditions for evaluating and appreciating works. The rhythm of calligraphy lines, like the length and speed of notes in music, cannot be directly described. It is reflected in calligraphy, not only in the length and thickness of lines, but also in the speed of strokes. No matter what kind of writing style, raising a pen is not a "uniform" action, but the speed of raising a pen is adjusted according to the requirements of the artistic conception and composition of the book, so that the viewer is infected by the artistic conception of the book. Of course, all kinds of books have their own specific rules and standards. As "Book Score" said, "Truth takes the form of stippling to make it emotional; Grass takes stippling as its emotional essence and transforms it into form. " Whether learning or appreciating calligraphy, we should learn and master these standards and laws. You should not only distinguish between priorities, but also be able to use them flexibly in order to enter the hall of calligraphy appreciation. 3. ink method. Ink painting is the skill of using ink. It is an important subject in the art form of calligraphy. "Scripts and pens are made of ink", "Meat is made of ink, and blood is made of water". Without the change and coordination of ink color, the effect of using a pen is difficult to achieve. Words lack flesh and blood and have no life. Therefore, Bao in Qing Dynasty said: "Calligraphy is based on calligraphy, and calligraphy is a key to calligraphy." . Tang Sunguo Ting said, "If it is dry, it will dry up." He also pointed out the main points of using ink. Dry, moist, thick and dry are contradictory laws. Don't use too dry ink, too many dry pens will dry; Don't have too much water, too much humidity will make you fat and muddy. Du Fu's poems say that "ink is dripping" is an ideal ink. Even after many years, it seems that it has just been written, and its vitality is indelible. "If you don't use ink well, it is easy to dry up when it is thick, and it is nearly thin when it is light. They have been flooded and lifeless in a few years. " Ink can be roughly divided into five types: thick, light, dry, wet and burnt, but there is no big difference. It is the ideal ink to write the characteristics that make people feel extremely rich and keep "moist" in the seemingly unchanged ink color. Third, several specific problems in calligraphy appreciation As a calligraphy appreciation, in addition to the above, we should also pay attention to several specific problems, which are summarized as follows: (1) We should give full play to the role of "attention" in stabilizing calligraphy appreciation. "Attention" is to put the will on a certain aspect, and it is the direction and focus of psychological activities on certain things. When people concentrate, they can clearly observe and reflect what they are pursuing and stay away from other things, which is a positive state of psychological activity. It is restricted by people's personality, interests and beliefs. When appreciating calligraphy, a series of psychological activities, such as feeling, thinking, understanding and imagination, must be concentrated on the work in order to maintain the stability of attention. We can glance at any work and even comment on it, but this is not real appreciation. Art appreciation needs a period of feeling, thinking and understanding, so as to speed up the operation of psychological activities, especially works with great artistic capacity, which need to be watched and pondered repeatedly to gain something. It is recorded in the Song Dynasty's "Continued Book Break" that once Ou Yangxun traveled to read the inscription written by Suo Jing, the first time he read it roughly, and the second time it was out of date. First of all, he sat down and tasted it carefully, and the more he looked, the more delicious he felt. He simply settled down and stayed by the monument for three days and nights before he was willing to leave. This is enough to show that a good work can only appreciate its profound artistic connotation if it is carefully watched and tasted. This story is also an excellent example of "stabilizing attention". (2) Appreciate the original works, explore the beauty of calligraphy and improve the appreciation level. Be sure to read more original works, because most printed works are reduced from large original works, and works of one meter or several meters are reduced to the size of only a dozen centimeters or several centimeters, which is often distorted. Just like the comparison of photos of real scenes and landscapes, it is impossible to experience the feeling of walking into real mountains and rivers from a photo of landscapes. In the face of the original calligraphy, we can not only observe it from a distance, but also appreciate it carefully, and the changes of ink color in brushwork can be clearly displayed in front of us. (3) Reading more books to improve the level of calligraphy appreciation is inseparable from the improvement of knowledge and experience. If you want to improve the level and level of appreciation, you must have the support of learning in many aspects, such as philosophy, literature, history, aesthetics, music, dance, painting and so on. Because calligraphy is not only profound in content, but also interlinked with the aesthetic principles of other art categories. The so-called "outside the word", "outside the painting" and "Kung Fu is outside the book", among which reading more is very important. (4) Calligraphy creation practice should be able to appreciate calligraphy, not only to learn calligraphy, but also to practice calligraphy creation in person. Only calligraphers can keenly feel the implicit beauty in calligraphy works, just as only poets can feel the unspeakable and shocking subtlety in poetry. Without profound creative experience, it is difficult to get the most profound meaning in the book. The above is only about the basic laws and methods of several main aspects of calligraphy appreciation, aiming at providing some reference for friends who study calligraphy. These so-called method laws are very specific, but they are abstract principles in essence. It doesn't have specific tools and means like the quality inspection standard of industrial products, which is also determined by the characteristics of calligraphy art (2) The partial analysis of composition is to look at the impression and effect of calligraphy works as a whole. Including the relationship between the text of calligraphy works and inscriptions, branches and cloth, inscriptions and seals. But on the whole, the effect is composed of local and single words and lines. If the words and lines of a single part are not beautiful, then the beauty of the whole is impossible. It should be said that "a single line is beautiful, and if it is well combined, it will achieve higher beauty." This paper discusses "local analysis" from three aspects: character division, brushwork, ink method: 1 and word method. The method of writing is the structural arrangement of words, that is, "drawing words by dots" It is an ideal Chinese character method to form a beautiful Chinese character form through the treatment of violating harmony, orthography, density, increase and decrease, front and back, tightness, smoothing danger and avoiding defecation. Calligraphers have always listed the structure of words as the most important factor in calligraphy skills. Because no matter how beautiful the composition is, it is only a matter of form. If the text structure is not good, it is difficult to call it a good work. Sun in the Tang Dynasty said: "If several paintings are applied at the same time, the shapes will be different;" All the points are listed together as good bodies and good children. " One point is the rule of centralized management, and centralized management is the final rule. If you violate it, don't commit it. Harmony is different. "The subtlety is that every word must follow a rule: that is," violation "and" harmony. " "Violation" means change, and "harmony" means combination. We should seek the unity of the whole in the complex changes. (4) Calligraphy creation practice should be able to appreciate calligraphy, not only to learn calligraphy, but also to practice calligraphy creation in person. Only calligraphers can keenly feel the implicit beauty in calligraphy works, just as only poets can feel the unspeakable and shocking subtlety in poetry. Without profound creative experience, it is difficult to get the most profound meaning in the book. The above is only about the basic laws and methods of several main aspects of calligraphy appreciation, aiming at providing some reference for friends who study calligraphy. These so-called method laws are very specific, but they are abstract principles in essence. It doesn't have specific tools and means like the quality inspection standard of industrial products, which is also determined by the characteristics of calligraphy art. Therefore, the understanding and mastery of this evaluation and appreciation standard is related to the depth of the viewer's contact and understanding of calligraphy, to his calligraphy attainments, and to his knowledge cultivation and personality temperament outside the words. As for the deeper appreciation of calligraphy, further discussion and research are needed.