Gao Xian's Artistic Features

Gao Xian's cursive script Qian Zi Wen has 52 lines and 243 words, which is the second half of Qian Zi Wen and is now in Shanghai Museum. His calligraphy style belongs to the category of modern cursive script. Modern grass is the symmetry of ancient grass (Cao Zhang) and a new grass style derived from Cao Zhangfa (including regular script style). Its characteristics are: the meaning of Cao Zhang is omitted, the knot tends to be long and narrow from the flat side, the strokes are simpler, the entanglement is increased, and some strokes have new changes. At the same time, it breaks the differences and laws of Cao Zhang's characters, and the size, weight and inclination are the same, paying attention to the meaning between the upper and lower characters. This grass is more beautiful and convenient to write than Cao Zhang's. In Gao Xian's cursive script, some words are flat and some words are long and narrow, which forms the contrast of font changes, that is, on the basis of Cao Zhang and regular script. Although the brushstrokes are varied, some stippling still retains the brushstrokes of Cao Zhang and regular script. Every word has a steady shelf, vigorous brushwork, especially the shadow of regular script is clear. Although its writing is very different from that of "Two Kings", it is indeed an ever-changing and unique modern grass. Based on the ingenious and dense forms of official script and the charming and vigorous running script, the grass "Two Kings" shows strong compromise and ever-changing. Gao Xian cursive script runs through the "two kings". He laid the foundation stone with official script first, and then sought nature, which was rich in variety and thick. Su Yue said, "Calligraphy is prepared in the right book and overflows in the grass. If you can't write a book, but you can do grass, you still haven't heard Zhuang language, but you can't say it. " Explain that you must write a book before writing a cursive script. Since Gao Xian lived in the Tang Dynasty, regular script has always been used as a tool. In the history of calligraphy in China, no dynasty can compare with the achievements of regular script in the Tang Dynasty, and the regular script handed down by Ou Yangxun and Yan Zhenqing became the highest peak that nobody climbed later. Gao Xian is at the peak of regular script, and regular script is also very good. Unfortunately, Gao Xian's regular script has not been handed down. However, we can still appreciate Gao Xian's skill in regular script from his cursive script. Because Gao Xian's cursive script has a heavy and steady side, to do this, we must have a solid foundation in orthography. Su Shi also said: "True calligraphy (regular script) is difficult to fly, and cursive script is difficult to correct." Real books are not elegant and rigid, and cursive scripts are not serious and smooth. To be as true as grass, as true as grass can save these two disadvantages. Therefore, it is necessary to be true and good at grass in order to be true and beautiful. Gao Xian, who is good at using white silk as real grass, can see from the elegant and steady connotation of his cursive script "Thousands of Literatures" that it is really beautiful.

The pen used by Gao Xian to write thousands of words should be a double-brush bucket pen, made of wolf hair and wool, with both soft and hard strokes and flexible strokes. As we all know, in Four Treasures of the Study, the study of calligraphy art, the pen is in the first place. Create a pen image with a pen, seek a pen image, and have a brushwork. The brushwork not only ensures the standardization of writing, but also aims to make full use of the physiological mechanism, give full play to the tool effect, create a beautiful stroke image, and create colorful stippling to express the inner spirit and skill cultivation, which has great material potential in pinning people's emotions and interests in the form of calligraphy. "Operator originated from nature, established naturally, and born of yin and yang. Yin and yang are born, and the situation is out. Hiding the head and protecting the tail, the strength lies in the words. If you write hard, your skin will look good ... but if you write soft text, it will be strange. " A soft and elastic pen can show its shape and potential, create the power of life and have the beauty of skin. Gao Xian's cursive script is a pioneering work in itself, which contradicts the tradition of using dragons and phoenixes in Zhang Xu and Huai Su. In this way, he distanced himself from his predecessors in tools, and the effect of writing was of course different. Gao Xian's good and true books are excellent, so it is naturally more handy and easy to use when writing cursive with the clever pen of photo books. The words written by the short front and thick pen are full and full of vitality, and have a beautiful feeling of a delicate girl. In Gao Xian's hands, "this brush is not only a practical tool, but more importantly, it has wonderful expressive force and can be used to create art that reflects the subject's mind. Moreover, this kind of art can reflect the national cultural spirit and philosophy-aesthetic thought; Through the calligrapher's sway, we can make full use of the principle of contradiction and create a vivid artistic image of calligraphy with its materiality. " Gao Xian's calligraphy pays attention to imposing manner, "the imposing manner must be deep and unstoppable". Look around, the procedure is not revealed, the point painting hides the front, the round pen belongs to paper, the middle walk, the potential is exhausted. As Wei Shuo said in Pen Array, its "horizontal" is like a thousand miles of clouds, its "points" are like peaks and falling rocks, its "skimming" is like the horn of a rhinoceros, its "vertical" is like a dead vine, its "hook" is like a huge wave, its "vertical hook" is like a crossbow, and its constantly rotating pen tip is like a crashing wave, its sound is like thunder, and its crossbow body is stiff. Calligraphy principles such as "learning from others' inspiration" and "making great achievements" are fully reflected in Gao Xian's works.

Gao Xian's thousands of books is coherent, harmonious and unified. The layout is clear vertically, unclear horizontally and integrated. Both neat and free, vertical and horizontal opening and closing, left calling and right responding. Especially between words, it takes into account the convergence and divergence of the left and right, the difference between the whole word and Mo Yun, and strives for unity in change, harmony in contrast and stability in flow, showing dry and wet shades, light and heavy black and white, free and straightforward, changeable and unconventional. The management of the composition depends on the calligrapher's aesthetic taste, which embodies the artistic style of the works. Sun's "Book Score" said: "If several paintings are applied at the same time, their shapes are different; All the points are on the same line, which is good for each other. A word is a rule, and a word is the last rule. If you violate it, you will not commit it, and it will be different. " It specifically and generally explains the main laws of formal beauty and composition of calligraphy. Gao Xian's cursive script achieved the unity of "violation" and "harmony". Words are true, words are true, and harmony is different. Every word in every line of the whole article is "against harmony" and "each goes its own way, each goes its own way", but it is not chaotic or chaotic. Gao Xian's cursive script is free and easy, which is a natural expression of profound skill. His books are free and easy, leisurely but not slippery, relaxed and rigorous, and freely show his personality. It is reflected in using the pen casually and not deliberately asking for work. It's hard to say which relationship is dominant. Everything seems to be based on faith. Swim runs faster, and the "meaning" in the swing is the main thing, not the "precision". Ink color is rich in layers and varied. Without a trace of specially arranged layout, it is natural and natural, and it is considered as "unintentional Yoga Yu". Gao Xian's cursive script also shows his cheerful personality. Gao Xian smiles at life and sees through the world of mortals. Later, he returned to Buddhism and became a smiling monk. As a generation of celebrities, he has no intention of career, but he loves calligraphy. For him, calligraphy is a necessity of life, not the capital of fame. Therefore, his books are neither anonymous nor depressing, giving people an extremely relaxed and elegant feeling. However, his book looks elegant, but it is solemn. Gao Xian's pursuit is to write a cursive script that is subtle but not stagnant, casual but not floating, with elegant rhyme and a real calligraphy foundation. The moral of Gao Xian, which is as steady as Mount Tai and as elegant as a fairy, should be a lofty realm in calligraphy art, so it can be juxtaposed with the "Zhangdian madness" in the history of cursive writing in China.