Calligraphy is a wonderful work of classical art in China. There are no other characters in the world, just like the writing of Chinese characters, which has a long history. At present, it has not lost its charm with the progress of modern science and technology, especially the popularization of computers and the decrease of handwriting, but still maintains a strong development momentum and becomes one of the most popular art forms in contemporary China.
Liang Qichao, a famous scholar in modern times, said: "If you can express your personality, this is the highest art, then writing is the highest among all kinds of arts." Mr. Zong Baihua, an aesthetician, said: "China's music declined, but calligraphy took its place and became a national art that expressed the highest artistic conception and sentiment." Lin Yutang said: "Calligraphy provides basic aesthetics for the people of China, and it is through calligraphy that the people of China learned the basic concepts of lines and shapes. Therefore, if you don't know China's calligraphy and its artistic inspiration, you can't talk about China's art. ..... China's calligraphy is really unique in the history of world art. " Mr. Shen, a famous contemporary calligrapher, said: "It is universally acknowledged that China's calligraphy is the highest art", and Mr. Zong Baihua, an aesthetician and art historian, also thinks that "China's calligraphy is not only an art, but also a pure art and the highest realm of art". These views may be beautiful, but they also fully show how lofty China's calligraphy was once endowed by the former sages! These scholars have a profound understanding of China culture and even western culture and art. They have no reason to say so, but they always have their reasons. In a word, it can be considered that at least they think the importance of China's calligraphy in the whole cultural and artistic system of China deserves special attention.
As China people, learning to master a little basic knowledge of this ancient and vibrant art can not only improve and enrich their artistic aesthetic accomplishment, but also be an important way to understand and learn their own culture.
On the surface, China's calligraphy art is ordinary, but in fact, it is just writing Chinese characters on Xuan paper (of course, other writing carriers are sometimes used) with a brush dipped in ink. It seems that everyone can do it, and there is nothing mysterious and unique. But on the contrary, art that looks so simple in form is not easier to master and understand than those that look much more complicated in form.
Why is this happening?
The reason is that there is infinite richness in her superficial simplicity.
First of all, simple control is complicated.
The form of calligraphy art is the simplest-only Chinese characters, only the combination of black and white, plus the change of paper color and mounting form and the collocation of red seals at most. However, in this simplest form, it contains infinitely varied and infinitely rich forms.
First, the complexity of fonts. The historical forms of Chinese characters themselves are rich and colorful. From the initial Oracle Bone Inscriptions, to the bronze inscriptions in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, to the official script cursive script in Qin and Han Dynasties, and then to the running script after Han Dynasty, there are various transitional bodies among these forms. There are differences and connections between various historical forms and transitional bodies, and there is a great possibility of mutual communication. It can be said that there are many forests, which constitute a complex and changeable system. Calligraphy takes Chinese characters as the artistic creation material, which has a superior foundation and rich forms of expression. At this point, Japanese, Korean and linear western languages derived from Chinese characters are far behind.
Secondly, the plasticity of the structure. As a recording tool, Chinese characters have their basic requirements in configuration to ensure the accuracy of word meaning recognition. However, this requirement is not rigid. As long as the relationship between the dot and the structure is basically stable, skew, length, Fiona Fang, etc. There is great flexibility in operation. Therefore, specific to every writer's pen, the form of Chinese characters is always ever-changing rather than one-sided, even in the Qing Dynasty.
Third, the diversity of points and strokes. Each Chinese font has its own basic standard of stippling form. But this, like the structure, is not rigid. In the process of writing, its concrete form has great plasticity. The writing tool of China's calligraphy, the brush, has a superior performance in shaping the form of stippling. The combination of the two makes the image of stippling, the basic formal element of China calligraphy art, infinitely rich.
Finally, the comprehensiveness of this chapter. Chinese character texts composed of single words and words, like other texts, always have the possibility of infinite combination on the premise of conforming to grammar. However, the structure and punctuation of Chinese characters are changeable and complicated. After being combined into words, the relationships between them are more complicated than ordinary words.