Wen Zhiming can be listed as one of the four great talents by later generations, which is the result of his efforts. Unlike Tang Bohu, Zhu Zhishan and Xu Zhenqing, Wen Zhiming was born stupid and not as talented as the other three. However, Wen Zhiming was very persistent in calligraphy and painting, and made great efforts in copying calligraphy. Others can finish it once, but he needs three or even ten times to finish it.
It was also Wen Zhiming's persistent spirit that gave him some insight into calligraphy. In his later years, calligraphy reached the realm of old people and old books, especially at the age of 89, he copied the preface to Lanting, with delicate brushwork and became a family of his own. Although it is an imitation of Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, it is very different from the original post in terms of font style, with strong brushwork and no sense of weakness.
Words are at arm's length. Although some words have no connected strokes, they have a sense of connection, which reflects Wen Zhiming's delicate brushwork. Since ancient times, many calligraphers have copied the Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, but not many like Wen Zhiming. Take the charm of calligraphers, not bound by fonts, and the whole calligraphy is relaxed and sophisticated.
In the second half of the original work, Wang Xizhi's composition is compact, while Wen Zhiming has always shown a sense of leisure, which has a lot to do with his open-minded attitude. An 89-year-old artist looks at calligraphy from a literati's point of view, so he writes a carefree feeling.
Although Wen Zhiming is not famous for his calligraphy, his calligraphy is praised by later generations. At the age of 89, he can meticulously write Preface to Lanting Collection, which is rare in the whole history of calligraphy. Wen Zhiming became more free to write in his later years, but because of his statutes, he became calm and sophisticated.
As can be seen from the works, every word is gentle and elegant, and the pen is delicate and smooth, with a soft aesthetic feeling in rigidity and a smart feeling in rigor. He wrote Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting in his own style. This time, Wen Zhiming broke through the limitation of Wang Xizhi's five copies of the original post, mastered the whole calligraphy freely, and showed superb pen skills and aesthetic style, which made his calligraphy step into a very high realm.
Therefore, later generations say that Wen Zhiming is the dumbest of the four gifted scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, but he is an artist with excellent calligraphy and painting. Although he is not as talented as Tang Bohu, his calligraphy attainments are higher than Tang Bohu's. Some calligraphers evaluate their own calligraphy. Tang Bohu's calligraphy is the best of many schools and has a deep foundation. However, compared with Wen Zhiming, Wen Zhiming adopted the method of Jin and Tang Dynasties, slightly better than Tang Bohu.
As a matter of fact, Wen Zhiming not only has profound attainments in running script, but also can be regarded as a master of founding schools in lower case. His calligraphy is second to none not only in the Ming dynasty, but also in the whole book world, and such calligraphy is also a leader. Later artists such as Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi praised his calligraphy.
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