Although Su Shi's remarks are aimed at some "big mistakes", they are full of Su Shi's profound knowledge and understanding of calligraphy art, a systematic project.
First, regular script is the basic skill of calligraphy art, and learning calligraphy should start with regular script. As an art, it goes without saying that it is profound and profound, and it is not easy to know and master it, which requires a process of knowing, understanding, deepening and mastering. Art itself has its inherent laws of emergence and development. If you want to master it, you must understand this law, follow this law, and study and explore from the outside to the inside. Calligraphy art is no exception. We know that regular script is based on integrity and solemnity, and its structure and brushwork combine the advantages of seal script, official script and cursive script. Taking brushwork as an example, it has evolved from the hidden front of seal script, the wave of official script and the hook of cursive script to the form of skimming, pressing, pointing, hooking and picking. The font is beautiful and easy to identify, which is beneficial to practical use. Therefore, regular script has become a common standard font as soon as it appears. We know that no matter what we want to accomplish, we must first lay a good foundation and practice basic skills. Modern people should learn calligraphy from a practical point of view, starting with a relatively simple basic skill-regular script. This can avoid detours and directly achieve the goal, which is conducive to future development. Just like a person learning to walk, he must first learn to stand and be able to stand steadily, and then he can learn to walk and run. If a person can't even stand up, isn't walking or running a joke? The truth of life and the truth of art are interlinked. Learning calligraphy should start with basic skills, or regular script, which is also closely related to the structural characteristics of Chinese characters themselves. Chinese characters are composed of basic strokes such as stippling and different changes of strokes, and their external shape is also square, showing the characteristics of uniform stippling, reasonable layout, horizontal and vertical, stable center of gravity and left-right symmetry, among which regular script is the most obvious. Moreover, as an important part of Chinese characters, radicals appear repeatedly in a large number of Chinese characters. The composition characteristics of these Chinese characters determine that learning calligraphy must first master the most basic and necessary basic techniques, write regular script well, and then practice to make perfect progress to running script and cursive script. The development experience of calligraphy art and the fame process of famous calligraphers also fully illustrate this point. Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion is regarded as the best running script in the world, and Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, regards it as a treasure and copies it day and night. After his death, he also made the original preface to Lanting a martyr, but his running script achievement was based on his solid basic skills of regular script. Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice to a Nephew" is known as the second running script in the world because of its bold brushwork and momentum, which is closely related to his solid basic skills of "Yan Ti". Especially Zhang Xu, the master of wild grass, whose cursive script is so bold and magnificent that his name is almost equal to "wild grass". However, Zhang Xu's outstanding achievements in cursive script also benefited from his solid foundation in regular script. There are eighteen clouds in the Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Shupu": "Its name is based on cursive script, and as for cursive script in lower case, it is still wonderful. Although there are many strange cursive scripts, there is nothing wrong with them, or Zhang Dian is not arrogant. "
In addition, from the relationship between the inheritance and development of art, regular script is the basis of the formation of calligraphy art, because the emergence and development of any art are closely related to reality (or practicality), so the most important feature of regular script is practicality. Running script and cursive script are the climax of new development or development on the basis of regular script when the society develops to a certain stage. Therefore, running script and cursive script can't be separated from regular script as their matrix, and only by inheriting fine traditions on the basis of matrix art can we innovate. In history, many world-renowned great calligraphers absorbed nutrition from their predecessors' calligraphy and made innovations, which made great achievements in calligraphy.
Second, as a calligraphy art that stands out from Chinese characters, different calligraphy styles present different visual images and give people different aesthetic feelings. China's traditional calligraphy art has long been praised by people all over the world, mainly because of its strong aesthetic charm. Some famous aestheticians in the West also admit that China's calligraphy is a rare oriental art and a dazzling flower in the world art treasure house. The aesthetic value of calligraphy is mainly reflected in the overall setting of calligraphy art and the best combination of points and lines. An excellent calligraphy work gives people the greatest shock, first of all, it is reflected in the vision, which requires stippling the texture. The line posture, font structure, spatial format, font size layout and momentum of English inscriptions are harmonious and natural, which makes people feel an extraordinary aesthetic pleasure through the contrast between simple lines and black and white.
In the process of its own evolution and development, different calligraphy styles are gradually formed and perfected on a long road through inheritance and innovation. Regular script is characterized by practicality. After the unremitting efforts of several generations of calligraphers. It also gradually transits to beauty and elegance, elegance and charming artistry. However, its fundamental attribute is still based on practicality, so clarity, popularization and standardization should be its first need. When we appreciate regular script, we should first see whether it gives people a sense of correctness and solemnity, looks like a "stand upright as loose" person, and gives people a sense of calmness. Su Shi's "truth as standing" refers to the visual image given by regular script. People stand in a relatively static state, so "standing" is based on "stability". Therefore, regular script is based on stability and correctness, and it can't swing from side to side, so it should give people a clear impression. And "line" is relative to the static "standing". The line here is walking, which is relative to static and dynamic, and it is also the dynamic effect of running calligraphy in human vision. Running script is characterized by fluency, which is a kind of calligraphy between regular script and cursive script. Compared with regular script, it is simple and indulgent, but convergent and easy to distinguish. If regular script focuses on practicality, then running script is an important step for Chinese characters to move towards art. Running script strives to get rid of the practical characteristics of regular script, but it does not completely get rid of the shackles of practicality, and of course it can't get rid of reality. It's like it's easy to walk forward when a person is standing, but it's relatively difficult to run suddenly when standing. However, walking is not static after all, but dynamic and static in people's vision, just like running script and regular script give people the same impression. As for "grass is like a line", cursive script gives people the feeling of flying like a fast runner. Cursive script has a prominent feature, that is, unrestrained. It completely breaks through the format of regular script, and is more free and lively than running script. It is a sign that calligraphy art has full decorative and aesthetic significance. Its "motion" is not the "motion" of running script, but changes in motion, which is unpredictable. Just as the frequency and amplitude of people in flight are much larger than those in walking.
Yan Zhenqing was the pioneer of new book style in Tang Dynasty. His regular script is broad and magnificent. In his calligraphy, "cultivating cattle and benefiting the people" summarizes the characteristics of Yan-style regular script from a practical point of view through feelings and visual images. Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion changes vertically and horizontally, with more than 20 characters, but different characters and subtle changes in brushwork structure. Li Shimin, King of the Tang Dynasty, commented on Wang Xizhi's biography: "Look at slow work and fine work. Smoke dew knot, if broken if connected; The phoenix is like a dragon, and the trend is oblique and straight. " Zhang Xu's cursive brushwork is swift and bold, and its structure is simple and bizarre. This is inseparable from Zhang Xu's beautiful sword dance and his ability to comprehend the sword dance in his brushwork.
The lines themselves are static, but different styles of books give people such a great feeling of "both dynamic and static". This is also the charm of calligraphy art.
Third, different books have different characteristics of pen-lifting, and the speed and rhythm of pen-lifting are different. Artistic creation is endless, and the understanding of art is not intuitive. Su Shi's exposition of "truth as standing, line as walking, grass as walking" also vividly shows the change of speed and rhythm of three different calligraphy styles: "opening, walking and grass".
Regular script is a kind of regular character with square shape, drawn bit by bit and meticulous brushwork. The speed and rhythm are relatively slow in the process of pen transportation, so it is required that every painting should start and close properly, draw in place and explain clearly. Among them, the variation of the same stroke also needs to be changed, but this change is small and does not affect the change of speed and rhythm. For example, "point" basically takes advantage of "edge", and its variants are mostly changes in direction. Such as upper point, lower point, left point, right point, upper left point, upper right point, lower left point and lower right point. The pen is mainly composed and powerful, with slow speed and slow rhythm. "Horizontal" is based on fairness, and the "eight-character method" is called "Le", which means that writing a horizontal stroke is the same as controlling a horse that wants to run forward, pulling the reins of the horse to prevent it from moving forward quickly. The long strokes of the eight-character method are also called "grazing" and the short strokes are also called "pecking". It is also based on the speed and rhythm of regular script, which means that writing long strokes should be as neat and slow as combing long hair with a comb. Write short strokes like birds eat food, and write faster and more powerfully. As for the writing of "four", the eight-character method is called "qi", which emphasizes the leisurely side of this stroke, meaning that writing "four" should contain a deep internal force like cutting meat with a knife.
Comparatively speaking, the running script is fluent, paying attention to gaining momentum vertically, taking beauty horizontally, radiating from all sides, combining reality with reality, and breaking the meaning. In the process of running calligraphy, we should not only pay attention to the use of regular script and posture, but also pay attention to the reference of ellipsis and turning point in cursive script. Running script is not as steady, slow and rhythmic as regular script, nor as unrestrained and casual as cursive script. Running script is basically a stroke while thinking, the frequency of strokes is increasing, and the thickness of lines changes obviously, just like people walking "leisurely" and "flowing", which has a sense of ups and downs and rhythm.
The emergence of cursive script, according to Liang Wudi and Xiao Yan in "Cursive Script", is that "the princes of Qin Dynasty fought for the length, which was passed down from generation to generation, hoping to go to court, but because it was difficult to seal the official seal, they could not save speed, so they pretended to be in a hurry and built it into a cursive script today". It can be seen that the emergence and application of cursive script is not accidental, but is based on the practical needs of social development. With the rapid development of society, the use of corresponding characters will inevitably change. Of course, this change includes both content and form. Xiao Yan's "difficulty of official seal" not only refers to the difficulty of official seal identification, but also refers to the difficulty and slow speed of writing. This obviously contradicts the needs of reality. The speed and rhythm of cursive writing cater to people's psychological understanding of social development, and they form a similarity, which lays the foundation for the development of cursive writing. The evolution of calligraphy art from seal script, official script, regular script to running script and cursive script is also an important symbol of Chinese characters moving from practicality to art step by step. When art develops to a certain stage (especially calligraphy art), the importance of formal factors becomes more and more obvious. Cursive script has got rid of the stability of regular script, so running script can't be put out. He is good at being capable and comfortable, rather than being bound by formats and frameworks. Huai Su's cursive script is full of rhyme, just like the surging waves of the Yangtze River, which has a trend of thousands of miles a day. The cursive script commented by General Manager Tang Lu in the book review continued as "Help me turn on the power supply and change it at will"; Xuanhe Pu Shu called the cursive script "flying every word, beautiful as a god".
In short, no matter what we want to accomplish, there must always be a gradual process. We should study, understand and master an art in a down-to-earth manner, and study, deeply understand and study this art in order to truly understand this art and then master this art. Our knowledge and understanding of Su Shi's exposition of "truth is like standing, action is like walking, grass is like walking" should not be based on the surface or a certain angle, but should be placed in the artistic background to fully and deeply explore all its ideological connotations. Only in this way can we truly appreciate the greatness of Su Shi and the profoundness of China's traditional calligraphy art.