The saying that "calligraphy and painting are of the same origin" has existed for a long time. According to "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties", words and paintings were originally created in the same body without distinction. Accordingly, the "source" of painting and calligraphy homology will be traced back to hieroglyphics. But "pictographic characters" is only one of the six books, and there are not many Chinese characters that really belong to "pictographic characters". Expand the concept of "homology of painting and calligraphy" and point to the tools, means of expression and artistic concepts of painting and calligraphy.
The "bone method" and "business position" in the "six methods" of painting are relative to the brushwork and structure of calligraphy. Zhang Yanyuan, a famous painter of past dynasties, also said that when Wang Xianzhi wrote a book, Lu Tanwei drew a stroke, "it is known that painting and calligraphy use one method", which brought the source of painting and calligraphy closer. Calligraphy is different from painting. It can be said that the former provides abstract aesthetic principles for the latter, and painting also enriches the aesthetic thought of calligraphy.
A painter once said to me: Why do you often talk about the influence of calligraphy on painting, rather than the influence of painting on calligraphy? I think it can be explained by the abstraction of calligraphy. But since it is "a book" and "a pen", it will definitely affect each other. The Badashanren Calligraphy Center uses a pen, and the composition is ethereal and empty, and the feelings are cold and detached. It is difficult to say where the interaction between painting and calligraphy begins and ends.
We can even appreciate the calligraphy of the Eighth National Congress as painting, or appreciate painting as calligraphy. There are also painters, such as Shi Tao and Xu Wei, who absorbed the friction between trees and stones and Zhu Lan's skimming in their calligraphy. Shi Tao's poem "Painting is related to calligraphy, but it is naive" is well said. The theory of "one painting" in Shi Tao's paintings covers calligraphy, and the so-called "self-integration, self-governance, ten percent secrecy, the best of the world".
Poetry, calligraphy and painting are integrated, and poetry comes first. From the visual image of the works, painting occupies the most important position. Poetry not only refers to drawing sentences, but more importantly, poetry. China traditional literati painting, if there is no poem, will feel something missing, but if there is poem, it is hard to say whether there is poem. And if there is a poem (through the carrier of calligraphy) but it is not poetic, it is hard to imagine that this painting is really poetic. From a certain aspect of poetry, books and paintings, we can see the author's comprehensive cultivation.
"There is a picture in poetry and a poem in painting" is a realm. "The smoke in the desert is straight, and the long river sets the yen", and the reader enjoys the realm of painting while reciting poetry. "Two orioles sing green willows and a row of egrets fly to the sky" also has vivid pictures. Looking at these two sentences alone, it seems that there is only "painting" without "poetry". The last two sentences of the poem "The window contains autumn snow in Xiling, and the door is parked in Wan Li, Wu Dong", which greatly broadens the time and space. "Window", "ridge", "snow", "door" and "boat" all resort to vision, but they are not limited to visual senses, and vision expands imagination. There are paintings in poetry, not just paintings. It should be said that painting is "meaning", and further, it is "poetry". Poetry originates from "painting", and painting sublimates into poetry.
If painting stays in the visual appearance, it will lose its artistic significance, not to mention poetry. We appreciate a painting and say it is full of meaning. The meaning here is largely poetic. Western aestheticians said that all arts tend to be poetry, and Huang Tingjian also said that "all calligraphy and painting should be regarded as rhyme". Although "rhyme" exists in all arts, it is the first feature of poetry. Therefore, we can regard poetry and painting as a universal requirement.
As for the meaning of painting in poetry, it depends on visual clues, not just vision. Not all the visual images in poetry can be expressed poetically in painting. If the painter does not give full play to his imagination and develop his personality, it will be difficult to reflect the artistic conception of the poem. He should not only appreciate the original work of the poet Du Fu, but also have the unique creation of the painter, who should exert his unique imagination. I have seen a picture in which a candle is crying, a silkworm is spinning, and there is an inscription: "The silkworm in spring will weave until it dies, and the candle will cry the wick every night." The painter doesn't know that famous sentences like Li Shangyin are difficult to reproduce with paintings. The visualized words such as silkworm and wax torch in the poem are symbolic metaphors and simplified visual representations, which lose the artistic conception of the poem, and the painting just becomes a picture, while the picture loses the essence of the painting.
Our understanding of poetry is not limited to the examples often quoted by the ancients. The combination of poetry, calligraphy and painting can and should achieve new creation on a new basis.
Painting appeals to vision, while poetry gallops imagination with language. The two combine, promote each other and complement each other. The carrier of painting and poetry is so different, and painting and calligraphy all resort to vision, so it is easy to accept the mention of "painting and calligraphy are of the same origin" The integration of calligraphy and painting is accumulated in a profound aesthetic tradition.
The difference between calligraphy and painting may be less involved. Here I want to talk about whether there is "content" in calligraphy and what it is if there is. The art of calligraphy is dominated by ink lines, and forms a structure according to specific characters, from one painting, two paintings, three paintings ... to ten thousand paintings. The form of calligraphy can be said to be the whole of calligraphy. But according to the dialectical relationship between form and content, in any case, there is no content without form, and there is no content without form. The "shape" of calligraphy also has content.
It is almost the most common misunderstanding to regard the "material" of writing as the content of calligraphy works. For example, when a calligrapher writes a poem or an article, the poem or article is regarded as the "content" of a calligraphy work. But poetry and prose do not directly correspond to the "form" of calligraphy, but only the "materials" used in writing. Since calligraphy is an independent art, it should take its own form and content as a dual category.
If only the written words are the content, isn't calligraphy just a shape? Isn't that a pure tool? Calligraphers can express "content" with their own "technology". Where is the independence of calligraphy art? Where is the ontology of calligraphy?
We feel the lack of calligraphy itself. No matter what economic and cultural needs, social and political activities, calligraphers can complete the task with a stroke of a pen, and there is "calligraphy". Calligraphers don't seem to need to think independently and stick to the position of artistic noumenon. Of course, I don't advocate that calligraphers stay out of society, just as no one can leave society; Artists should be particularly sensitive to social trends. However, as long as we admit that calligraphy is an independent art and the calligrapher's pen is an individual existence, we should not simply regard the calligrapher as a "pen", but should give full play to our strengths according to the laws of art itself. Liang Qichao once said: "All kinds of art can be used to express personality ... but the most intimate and authentic performance is nothing like writing." Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrificing a Nephew" and Su Shi's "Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry" are both based on true feelings, not for "cooperation", but they do have strong social and political significance. As far as calligraphy itself is concerned, they have reached a historical height. If the letters in Long Live Tang Motian's Children's Post are just words, an inappropriate metaphor is that they are similar to short messages on mobile phones today. The author never thought that they would be passed down from generation to generation, let alone become classics. The "material" of calligraphy and the art of calligraphy itself are from true feelings. Perhaps because of this, it has the possibility of handing down classics.
It is absurd in theory to regard the "material" of calligraphy as the "thing" of calligraphy art, and it is useless in practice. Our wise ancients have never confused this issue. Although "content" and "form" were not put forward as a pair of philosophical categories at that time, the basic concepts of the ancients were very clear. Regarding the "content" of calligraphy art, we look for inspiration from a large number of ancient Chinese characters. There are countless metaphors about the characteristics of calligraphy and the style of a certain school, and everything in the world is all-encompassing. Cai Yong's On Writing: "As the form of a book, it must enter its shape. If you sit if you walk, if you fly if you come, if you lie down if you are sad, if insects eat leaves of wood, if the sword is long, if the bow is strong, if it is hard, if it is fire and water, if it is like clouds, if it is like the sun and the moon, it can be called a book. "