What is a "sage of grass"

Cao Sheng

Cao Sheng Zhang Xu

Zhang Xu (date of birth and death unknown), a native of Suzhou, is a commandant of Changshu County. Great calligrapher of Tang Dynasty. It is famous for cursive writing. Tang Wenzong once issued a rare imperial edict to the whole country: Li Bai's poems and songs, Zhang Xu's cursive script and Fei Min's sword dance can become the "three wonders" in the world.

As soon as the imperial edict arrived in Luoyang, it immediately caused a sensation among those knowledgeable people. They congratulated Zhang Xu on winning the highest prize for his outstanding efforts. Zhang Xu bowed and thanked them one by one, and hosted a banquet for Luoyang celebrities. At the banquet, someone suggested that Zhang Xu talk about the secret of cursive script, but Zhang Xu politely declined. He said modestly, "You laughed. I know I am humble. The emperor gave me something, and I feel guilty about it. When it comes to secrets, it is nothing more than the word' intention'. "

Zhang Xu thought for a moment. He remembered Du Shaoling's poem "Watching Gong Sundaniang's Disciples Dance Sword" and said: "Shaoling once wrote a poem about Gong Sundaniang's sword dance, four of which were as fierce as shooting for nine days, and the wings of a flying dragon were as swift as angels; She started like a thunderbolt, venting its anger, and ended like a shiny and calm river and sea, you must know. In Yexian, I was lucky enough to see Gong Sundaniang's dance. Every time I look at it, it reminds me: she waved her left hand and I immediately felt what this gesture looked like; He jumped up and spun. I think the gallop of the' turn' pen in cursive script should be like this! His whole dance and voice inspired me with a comprehensive cursive structure. "

Sanyuan caojian

There were two grass saints in China in the 20th century, one was Yu Youren and the other was Lin Sanzhi. Yu Youren's calligraphy has gone through four different stages. The first stage was that he went to his hometown in Shanghai to study and engaged in anti-Qing activities in his early years. He wrote fluent (Zhao Page: Fu) running script and regular script. Yu Youren won Zhao Shu's heart. During this period, he occasionally used cursive script to make screen couplets, but he was not familiar with cursive script and skills. Many words are made up, which is against the rules. The second stage is from Zhao Shu to Weibei. He took the shape of Wei Bei's oblique triangle, and Zhao Ti's calligraphy was free and easy, forming a unique Wei Bei. The third stage was in the early 1930s. Inspired by Cao Zhang of Wang Shitang, he began to learn cursive script from Wei Tixing and regular script. Since ancient times, writing cursive script mostly started from Wang Xizhi, while Yu Xiansheng started from Cao Zhang and went straight to Zhang Xu and Huai Su in the Tang Dynasty, forming Cao Zhang, near grass and wild grass in one furnace.

The cursive axis of Mr. You Ren introduced here is his masterpiece in the third stage. Yu Xiansheng often uses the method of "reverse knotting" to make grass. For example, those who write words are always high on the left and low on the right, but Yu Xiansheng makes the center of words sink and turn right.

Ancient cursive writers often used the lines connected between words to make cursive scripts have ups and downs and a sense of escape, and rarely used the font itself to make cursive scripts have a sense of escape. Throughout the cursive script, no word is connected, and each word has its own potential, which is obviously a unique law of Cao Zhang. But Yu Xiansheng can borrow the past to open up the present, which makes us feel that it is not loose but distinct. I think the most striking feature of this cursive script is the use of a pen. The author's brushwork looks casual, but careful analysis has great aesthetic feeling. Directly start writing quickly, without feeling late. The pen is naturally collected, and some strokes are wood-like, without modification. For example, the strength of the pen is not the speed of the pen, but the power it contains. It is really naive to read the word "You Ren", which makes people feel besieged.

It is said that Yu Xiansheng writes casually. While greeting guests, I put pen to paper, my eyes are not in front of the paper, but my wrists are measured. My handwriting is quite satisfactory, without losing my statutes. This is really amazing, amazing. I remember that Mr. Xiao Xian once praised Mr. You Ren's calligraphy skills with the couplets of "Masters of Grassroots Sages from the Three Sides of the Taiwan Straits". Jin Quan used this language as the title of Xiaowen.