Introduction:
Ancient Chinese calligraphy was developed by us working people through pictographic methods to record events due to the needs of practical life. It has gone through thousands of years of era changes and historical changes. Present calligraphy text.
The types of calligraphy include compiled script, official script, regular script, running script, and cursive script. Cursive script is a writing method that follows the interplay of virtuality and reality, intricate changes, continuous strokes, and simple structure. It is formed by breaking through the regular and regular writing method of official script. In the process of evolution, there have been three major stages: early cursive script, modern cursive script, and Zhang Cao script.
During this period, Kuangcao Huaisu and Zhang Xu in the Tang Dynasty were called "Bian Zhang Kuangsu" by people at that time. And his main representative work "Autobiography" is also very worthy of our study. Now, we will follow this "Autobiography" to experience the culture, art and splendor of the times. 1. The unique life experience created Huaisu's wild and unrestrained calligraphy skills
Huaisu, whose calligraphy is true, was famous for his wonderful "crazy calligraphy" in the Tang Dynasty. He loved Buddhism and became a monk since he was a child. In his spare time, he liked calligraphy, writing, and drinking. When he was drunk, he often left his masterpieces on temple walls, clothes, cassocks, and other utensils. People often Call him "crazy monk" and "drunken monk".
Because of his identity and the influence of Zen, his calligraphy is wild and graceful with a delicate and timeless look, wild and free and easy with a simple and solemn temperament. Huaisu's calligraphy is ever-changing and vigorous. Moving, it is as majestic and violent as a storm, and it is wild and carefree.
And his famous masterpiece "Self-narrative Notes" is written in wild cursive writing with bold and bold writing. The whole volume is continuous and graceful, round and elegant, and extremely dynamic. It can be regarded as the best cursive script in China. , is indeed a supreme masterpiece of great artistic value in the calligraphy world.
"Autobiography" was written in his later years when Huaisu knew his destiny. The whole article is divided into three parts:
First of all, Huaisu narrated his autobiography in about eighty words. He probably experienced many deeds in his life;
Then, he copied part of Yan Zhenqing's "Preface to Master Huaisu's Cursive Script Song". Through Yan Zhenqing's mouth, it shows Huaisu's heroic spirit, extraordinary character, and Cao Sheng. The images of everyone are about 250 words in length;
Finally, the essence of the poems donated by Qian Qi, Li Zhou, Yu Xiang, Xu Wei and others was divided into "narratives" based on the differences in content. The following are the four parts: "character", "foolish eyes", "similarity in description" and "quick speech".
The "narrative style" written in the post refers to the writing method, which is about a hundred words. The main idea is that his writing can surpass Zhang Xu, and has never been praised highly by anyone before. , such as "Yi Kuang succeeds Dian", "Wu Qun and Zhang Dian never met" are all praises of Huai Su's calligraphy;
The "stupid" in the post means self-effacement and humility. Words, for example, the poems show that Huaisu used arrogance to look down on the world, and got the true meaning while drunk. The adjectives such as "crazy" and "drunk" in these poems come from Qian Huaisu's "foolishness", but " How could the words "crazy" and "drunk" mean "foolish" to Huaisu.
At the end of the article, Huaisu was also worried that people who would later read the work would say that he used the praise and evaluation of important people to praise his own excellence. He also specifically added, "It is not a weak point." If you dare to take responsibility, it will only increase your shame and fear." 2. The calligraphy art of "Autobiography": the essence of Kuangcao is vividly interpreted
Huaisu's "Autobiography" is full of turbulence, soothing and elegant, with the strokes in the center, the strokes round and smooth, and the strokes closed. Taking the lead perfectly interprets the "iron painting and silver hook". The whole work has continuous cursive writing, ups and downs, left and right changes, up and down flips, quick and fast, light and heavy interaction, pen breaks and meanings, endless, clear rhythm and very dynamic , echoing each other between the lines.
Throughout the whole article, the rules and regulations, the turbulent expressions, and the strange changes, really bring the art of cursive writing to the extreme; moreover, the whole article is magnificent, crazy and full of wind and rain. The flying trend is as powerful as a critical shot, without any sluggishness, and the lines are also very precise and concise, which is beyond the control of ordinary people with ordinary calligraphy skills.
Let’s appreciate the beauty of this copybook through a few simple aspects:
(1) Regular and orderly rhythmic changes
Huaisu’s The rhyme changes in the words and sentences in "Zi Xu Tie" are regular and orderly. Huaisu is very careful in arranging the writing of the article. The self-contained phrases are connected one after another, and the phrases are grouped into connected phrases, and even consecutive sentences are used as connected words. The continuous strokes from one stroke to the next clearly reflect the structure of short sentences in grammar. In the words and sentences, the intricate writing methods of large and small and borrowed pens and threads are also used to continuously reflect the words.
For example: "Current" and "Youji", the last stroke of the word "电" in the word "Current" is an upward hook. It is not convenient to use the downward stroke to pull the thread. A little bit towards the first leftmost stroke of the word "Liu", so simply turn the stroke to the left to connect with the first stroke of the word "Liu";
And "Youji" simply borrows The strokes connect the dot of the character "You" and the horizontal stroke on the left side of the first stroke of the character "ji" behind it. Although there is a certain distance between the two characters, a long diagonal line is still drawn. Use the gestures of the pen to pull the thread; these even strokes echo the grammatical structure of the article.
(2) Unique brushwork and line structure
The brushwork and line structure throughout Huai Su's "Autobiography" is different from ordinary cursive script. The line structure and speed of the entire work are unprecedented, and the structure The changes are unpredictable, combined with the brushwork of seal script, breaking the conventional rules, using turbulent and fast lines to create a new style of cursive script creation.
Huaisu occasionally makes simplified twists throughout the text, mostly using a simple stroke technique with no mention of the center and the center, sacrificing the rich and diverse forms of cursive writing, but using a method that is different from ordinary people. The writing speed and unpredictable line structure changes.
The author does not mind that the simplified writing method may not be recognized by readers. He uses turbulent, fast and free lines to get rid of the constraints of habit and use his own writing to express the artistic conception of the work. The speed changes in "Autobiography" are more complex. There are few, and the changes in line structure are very eye-catching, which enhances the relative organizational status of the whole article.
(3) The changes in structure are round and smooth.
The changes in structure of Huai Su's "Zi Xu Tie" are round and smooth, breaking the previous structure methods and not sticking to established methods. The pen moves the dragon and the snake, the lightning rushes the thunder, and the victory is won by danger. His calligraphy copybooks are famous for their wild cursive writing, not only using round lines and round pens, but also writing circular characters. Historically, Chinese characters were all square, seal script was mostly rectangular, official script was wide and short and square, regular script was mostly square, and cursive script was long and flat.
Huaisu's romantic exaggerated writing combined with the gradual acceleration of the writing speed in the later period, and the strokes became more and more economical, breaking the usual square appearance and getting closer to the circle, using the circle to break the square. Leading the times and giving people a refreshing and unique feeling.
In Huaisu's "Autobiography", the fonts without outer frames were all shaped into circular fonts. This was unprecedented in Huaisu's new creations at the time, whether it was a combined character or an individual character. The characters, no matter how uneven, dense, or long the stipples change, remain the same. There is a circle within a square, and a square within a circle. They tolerate and transform each other, and are interdependent.
Because his fonts are mostly circular, Huaisu is particularly good at using the curved pen-turning method, which is versatile, vertical and horizontal, with appropriate tightness between the lines, and the back-stroke rotation is strong and light, creating a new style of cursive writing. .
Just like the "Ji Qie" and "Solid Feixu" in the article, the round pen trend rotates, straightens and twists like a steel wire. Although it is thin, it is actually very full, and its jump with the pen The flipping is really varied according to the situation, and has reached the superb state of wild grass, which does not disgrace the respect given to him by the world.
(4) Breaking the conventional font layout
Furthermore, Huaisu’s font layout, with words between lines, top, bottom, left and right, staggered and intricate, made Wang Xianzhi at that time Breaking the shackles of his father Wang Xizhi's old white cloth and flat and square cursive writing methods, he created the broken body calligraphy that broke the white cloth and flat square shape again and adopted the writing method of disintegrated script.
In other words, Huaisu broke the rules and no longer adopted the structure and formation methods of his predecessors. He integrated cursive script, running script, regular script, official script and seal script into one, creating his own unique new style. The cursive script structure was later called Kuang Cao.
(5) Writing layout that wins in danger
Huaisu's writing layout is even more successful in danger. He uses various rich artistic techniques and boldly goes beyond writing rules, but still succeeds in writing layout. He went out of his way to follow the rules and made great achievements.
As Mr. Sun Guoting said in "Shu Pu": Break the big and establish the big, break the peace and then establish the new, win in danger and show infinite scenery. The layout of the layout is sparse and dense. Huaisu has very careful consideration. For example: in the four characters "Zui Lai Xin Shou", the upright stroke of "Lai" is extremely long, which is sparse, but the other three characters follow. He occupies the same space for great secrets. The combination of virtual and real complements each other.
(6) The layout of the whole article changes and is unified.
The layout of the whole article changes and is unified, and the meaning of "moving Qi" is consistent between the lines. It can not only connect the previous and the following, but also fly in succession. In other words, there is its own vitality running through each line, and each line has its own finishing touch.
In addition, Huaisu's round fonts are exaggerated and deformed, extremely varied, competing in various forms, intricate in size, and very different. The various changes during this period are just like the characters in "Drunk Letter Hand" The word "Lai" is very big, and the words "Zui" and "Xinshou" are very small. They also carry self-contained harmony and unity, forming a harmonious and unified yet ever-changing visual sense. Conclusion:
Combined with the structural changes in layout and fonts in Huai Su's "Autobiography", the unprecedented use of uneven oblique and uneven sizes, echoes of large and small, and text between the lines are often tilted with the central axis as the center. It fell out, forming a strange and dangerous trend with ups and downs, breaking the conventional solid fonts of the predecessors, and the hard and thin font image was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Create a set of unique fonts, graceful and beautiful, to create a new cursive writing style, with uniform line thickness, softness and hardness, using various changes between lines and points to create a new style of cursive writing. The borrowed strokes between the words echo the grammatical structure of the article. The musical rhythm gives the reader a sense of excitement and demonstrates Huai Su's good intentions.
It is the wild art of classical romanticism that is intoxicating. Huaisu's work is written in one breath, brilliant and straightforward, and has been admired by people for thousands of years.
Thanks for reading
References: "Tang Huaisu's Autobiography", "Zen Master Huaisu - Crazy Monk Kuangcao", "Cursive Script Master Monk Huaisu"
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