Wang Xizhi has seven sons and one daughter, and the youngest Wang Xianzhi and Wang Xizhi are both called "two kings". Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy is beautiful and unique, and its influence even surpassed that of Wang Xizhi for a time.
On the road of Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy, his father, Wang Xizhi, put forward many suggestions and guidance, among which "On Calligraphy" is regarded as the standard for people who have no math books in ancient and modern times.
This famous learning book, Artifact, was originally written by Wang Xizhi for his youngest son, Wang Xianzhi, and warned his son that "hide it, don't broadcast it outside, don't tell anyone, and don't show friends". Even his classmates have heard of such a strange article and want to borrow it. Wang Xizhi lied to him that he had lost it.
This "panacea" is so cherished by a generation of book sage Wang Xizhi. It must be that he has no reservations about his son in the article and gave everything he earned in his life. So how amazing is this "private secret recipe"?
"Gesture Theory" consists of twelve chapters, including the "five-copy method" which is familiar to learners:
"At the beginning of the book, I didn't try my best to correct my hands and feet once, but I had two rare situations. Three times I looked a little like this, four times I added it to my face, and five times I added it to my face. If it is raw, you can rest, two lines and three lines, but it must be smooth and healthy, and you can't count it several times. "
Learning books is not accomplished overnight, and the understanding of strokes is also gradual, and you can't master them well at first. Therefore, according to his own experience and sentiment, Wang Xizhi summed up five steps for Wang Xianzhi to stick to his post, and told him to practice according to this order and requirements.
Some people understand "hands and feet upright" as basic actions such as standardizing sitting posture and writing, but its meaning may be more than that. What Wang Xizhi wants to emphasize more is to carefully observe the writing characteristics of a calligrapher, divide and observe the shape of each stroke, try to figure out the direction of writing, and learn strokes according to these characteristics, lay a good foundation and form habits.
When observing, we can understand the images of some strokes, such as "ancient hairpin feet" and "missing marks", which are all image metaphors of vertical painting. The so-called "ancient hairpin foot" is a metaphor for drawing seal script vertically with a round pen, which is like an ancient hairpin foot; The so-called "leakage mark" means that the cursive pen is not straight, like a water mark leaking from the roof winding down the wall. When learning books, you can also visualize the strokes according to your own imagination, which is easy to understand and imitate.
The brush is too soft, and for modern people who are used to writing hard pens, the metropolis finds it difficult to control them. After seeing the direction of strokes clearly, how to send the pen tip to the place where you want to go and grasp the direction, strength and change of the pen tip is the problem to be solved in the first post.
After the first stippling exercise, I got a preliminary understanding of the basic characteristics of the strokes in this post. The next step is to combine the prepared stippling "parts" into a complete text. At this point, the word is no longer a scattered stroke in the eyes, but a whole. If the first time is "demolition", then the second time is "closure".
Different calligraphers have different font characteristics, which is what Wang Xizhi said. For example, the strokes of Yan Jin and Liu Gu are quite different. The same handwriting and the same stippling will produce different aesthetic effects due to the different structure, shape and position of handwriting. To learn calligraphers' calligraphy, we should further ponder the structure, shape and trend on the basis of practicing stippling, which is the so-called "less affection"
At this stage of reading, I am often confused. Looking at each stroke alone, it seems that there is little difference from the original post, but why is this word just not like it? If you look closely, you will find that perhaps the horizontal painting is shorter, the stippling is bigger, the left angle is smaller, and the horizontal painting interval is larger. Maybe it's just a little difference, a tiny difference, a thousand miles away. The second time, it is to solve the overall layout and structure of stippling.
This time, it is to strive for "writing like" and achieve a somewhat similar shape. This needs to be further considered on the basis of "less cases". Calligraphy is rhythmic, just like music. To "write like", we must understand the rhythm of the word on the basis of being familiar with the shape of the word, and write according to the ups and downs of the rhythm of the word, so as to achieve "slightly like this".
This requires us to constantly observe and not miss every detail of the word, such as the length, thickness, hidden front or exposed front, whether the turning point is square or round, the distance between strokes, whether it is interspersed and so on. Every time a detail is missed, the gap between the word and the original post increases by one point. Keep all the details of the words posted on the book in mind, so that when writing, you can concentrate on your own words and realize the unity of heart and hand.
When you are learning to paste books, don't think that the word is "like" with the mentality of "almost enough", even if you have finished learning this word. Maybe we have learned it many times, and it won't be very similar. Few people can write exactly the same as the original post, but we still have to try to write exactly the same as the original post, "Know what not to do." Only by "putting law first" can what Wang Xizhi said be "just like this" be realized.
After several refresher courses, I gradually deepened my understanding of book stickers, and now I can basically "write like". But it is not enough to just understand the book stickers and just "write like". Just "writing". "Calligraphy" also needs to be "polished", and it also needs to be written with strength, charm and tolerance on the basis of being basically similar to the original post, which is a higher requirement for the post.
Different calligraphers have different moods when writing, and even the same calligrapher has different moods when writing in different periods, thus creating the history of calligraphy in various ways. To achieve "embellishment", it is necessary to understand the calligrapher and his life background, his experience in writing this work, and put this work in the situation at that time, so as to better understand the calligrapher's brushwork, structure and true feelings, and to write truly textured words.
In order to "embellish it", the similarity of glyphs is not enough. When writing a word, there are paper movements such as lifting and stopping the pen, as well as air movements such as turning the front and lifting the pen. Every action is related to whether the words are as fluent as the original. Only by really picking up his pen and "talking" with the person sitting on the other side of the text can we really understand this calligraphy work.
The book "Theory of Gestures" revolves around how to truly understand the author's writing style. This "stroke" is not the font of a single word, but the same feature of a certain style of writing. For example, Europeans are slim, tall and slender, with tight uterus, such as round body appearance and well-developed internal bones and muscles.
Different styles of calligraphy are naturally written by calligraphers following certain rules, and the same rule can be reflected in different words, which is the "brush gesture". "Adding painting" is to extract the rules of a certain style, summarize the characteristics of a certain style, classify pointillism and architecture, and comprehensively analyze the characteristics of the whole work.
If the first four times were "posted", then this last time was "posted". If you want to "post", you must make the original post have its charm. Only by "painting" can we achieve mastery in writing, truly understand the essence of the work, and truly turn temporary learning over and over again into our own writing memory.
Wang Xizhi said that this "gesture theory" was given to a willing heart, and its results can be seen in two months. Even if it is given to people without spiritual understanding, the mystery can be discovered within one hundred days. So, strictly following these five steps is enough? Not exactly. Wang Xizhi also added: "If you are born, it is not convenient to rest, two lines and three lines, but you should be healthy and not allowed to count the times." If you still feel raw after reviewing a certain step of the course, you can't go to the next stage, but you should go back to the review course until you are proficient. It should not be limited to the number of times, but should take flexibility as the highest standard.
No matter how effective the "panacea" is, it needs to be taken reasonably, and it can only exert its magical effect after being digested and absorbed by itself. The same is true of the "five-posting method".