Mr. Zhai is an all-round calligrapher who is good at calligraphy theory studies and calligraphy creation. He has high attainments in brick carving, seal cutting, official script and cursive script, especially in oracle calligraphy. This paper only tries to analyze Mr. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's calligraphy and explore his creative methods and artistic achievements.
The discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions from 65438 to 0899 provided extremely valuable first-hand information for the study of the history, writing language and calligraphy art of Shang Dynasty in China. In the past century, people's research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions has been limited to history and philology. During this period, although there were some scattered comments and studies on oracle calligraphy, they were not systematic and misunderstood. Oracle calligraphy's creation only stays in the initial exploration stage, and there is no breakthrough. Even in today's calligraphy craze and the voice of innovation is endless, few people are engaged in oracle calligraphy's creation, and even fewer are successful. Why did oracle calligraphy get such a cold shoulder? Because the writers who have been engaged in oracle calligraphy's creation for a hundred years are mainly philologists, and because of their prestige in academic circles, the methods and concepts adopted, whether correct or not, often have authoritative effect and become the standard for judging latecomers. Previous studies of oracle calligraphy's works mainly copied Oracle Bone Inscriptions's lines or borrowed Xiao Zhuan's brushwork. These methods lead to oracle calligraphy's method is dead, rather than broad and smooth. Therefore, to create oracle calligraphy, we must first break through the shadow of predecessors' authority. Secondly, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's difficulty in reading and interpreting also brought great limitations to his calligraphy creation. Third, unlike other books, oracle calligraphy's works have ready-made classic works to learn directly, and there is no ready-made concept consciousness to learn from. Therefore, oracle calligraphy's creation needs not only a profound understanding and inheritance of traditional calligraphy, but also a profound understanding of calligraphy theory and the history of calligraphy development. In today's impetuous psychology, faced with low success rate and high risk, few people are willing and dare to set foot in oracle calligraphy's creative field. In his youth, Mr Zhai chose oracle calligraphy for research and creation. After more than 20 years of painstaking research, he built a pyramid in his own calligraphy art field. In view of the common phenomenon of forging ancient Chinese characters in contemporary calligraphy creation, Mr. Wang made up his mind to resolutely put an end to this phenomenon in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's creation. He spent a lot of energy to break through the barrier of ancient Chinese characters, starting with Shuo Wen Jie Zi. In order to achieve an accurate understanding of seal script and use it freely in calligraphy creation practice, we often read Shuowen Jiezi. In order to study Shuowen Jiezi more deeply, we studied Shuowen Jiezi under Mr. He Jiuying, and spent five or six years studying and studying Shuowen Jiezi. Then I went back to the study of bronze inscriptions, and carefully studied the bronze inscriptions on Shang and Zhou bronzes, such as General Theory of Ancient Chinese Characters by Gao Ming and Selected Works of Shang and Zhou Dynasties compiled by Ma Chengyuan. After that, I began to study and study Oracle Bone Inscriptions. On the one hand, I copied the tortoise edition for a long time; On the other hand, it makes a comparative study on the achievements of predecessors in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's textual research and application, and finds out some misunderstandings and mistakes, thus deepening the research on Oracle Bone Inscriptions. To create oracle calligraphy, we should not only copy the contents of the tortoise version, but also create Oracle Bone Inscriptions's single words into literary works, because the remains of the Yin people only retain the practical literature of which era, but do not solve the literary content that our contemporary people need. This is one of the most difficult problems in oracle calligraphy's creation. In the past century, many famous Oracle Bone Inscriptions scholars did their best in this respect, but they did not fully meet the needs of our contemporary people. Compared with Luo Zhenyu's first couplet 80 years ago, contemporary people have little advantage in textual research and interpretation. Yu Xiansheng said in the preface to the interpretation of Oracle characters that "less than one-third of the characters (Oracle characters) have been confirmed. Although many unknown words are rare, the proportion of unknown words in common words is still quite large. ..... Therefore, compared with the era of Luo (Jin Woo) and Wang (Guo Wei), the research and interpretation of Oracle inscriptions at present has made some progress, but the progress is limited. " "What he said 20 years ago still applies today, so it is difficult for Oracle Bone Inscriptions to interpret it. Some people claim that it is unbelievable how many words will be released in a short time "(Li Xueqin). It is very difficult to carry out this work, just like walking on a slender wire rope. Most people are afraid of difficulties, but in order to gain freedom in oracle calligraphy's creation, we must solve the problem of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's transformation from divination literature to literary language. Mr. Wang, not afraid of difficulties, resolutely embarked on this slender wire rope. Starting with Selected Poems, Mr. Wang strictly follows the text that has been verified and explained in philology, and never makes it up. At the same time, he insists that the creation of artistic conception will not be reduced because of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's interpretation and reading restrictions. He spent 20 years collecting 300 poems, and the currently published Collection of Wan Yi and Miracle has collected 100 poems. These couplets and poems are neat and meaningful, which are deeply loved by local scholars and provide an excellent model for oracle calligraphy's creation in today's book world. It is only the first step for oracle calligraphy to get rid of the restriction of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's difficulty in interpretation and reading. What is more difficult is to make achievements in oracle calligraphy's creation, which needs to charge Oracle Bone Inscriptions's brushwork and composition. This is an expansion of the field of calligraphy and an original innovation. Faced with this difficulty, we can't achieve it through long-term replication. It is necessary to have a profound knowledge of calligraphy theory and a profound understanding of the history of calligraphy development, as well as a grasp of calligraphy philosophy and keen insight. After decades of assiduous research on China culture and calligraphy theory, Mr. Wang has formed a calligraphy thought with modern artistic concept, which enables Mr. Wang to cut into the essence of calligraphy when studying oracle calligraphy and look at Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the perspective of culture and art and the current era. After more than 20 years' efforts, Mr. Wang's innovation in oracle calligraphy has been successful and recognized by the society. He has formed his own calligraphy language, which embodies a style of "seal meaning and grass feeling". A careful analysis of Mr. Zhai's oracle calligraphy has broken through the predecessors in the following aspects. First, the expansion of oracle calligraphy's legal scope and perspective has broken through the narrow concept that predecessors only look at oracle calligraphy with Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The predecessors' choice of oracle calligraphy was very limited, limited to Oracle Bone Inscriptions itself, and aimed at restoring the original appearance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which led to the narrowing of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's choice. When modern people create oracle calligraphy, they often step on the footprints of their predecessors and are unable to move. They are at a loss and have to give up when there is no way out. Because of Mr. Wang's profound understanding of the history of calligraphy development and his grasp of calligraphy philosophy, when studying oracle calligraphy, he can not only be rooted in the environment of Yin, Shang and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, but also take care of oracle calligraphy in the way of thinking of a sage. He also put oracle calligraphy in the context of the history of calligraphy, thought and examined it from the perspective of great calligraphy, closely linked with the 3,000-year history of China culture and calligraphy development, and sought new nutrition within the scope of three generations of culture and Han and Tang cultures. Then, the materials of Chu bamboo slips are melted into oracle calligraphy by adopting the method of making the bamboo slips bigger than the grass, so as to appreciate the difference from Oracle Bone Inscriptions in terms of the relaxation of ink color, the weight of pen diameter and the speed of pen, so as to enhance the vitality of Oracle Bone Inscriptions lines; Appreciate the change of pen and ink from the grass, and enhance the movement of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's lines. Looking for complementarity from inscriptions on bronze horizontally, absorbing the embellishment of inscriptions on bronze and making up for the deficiency of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Therefore, Mr. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's calligraphy has great richness. This kind of enrichment is by no means a simple addition or subtraction of a certain school or that kind of calligraphy and inscriptions, but an inevitable result after digesting tradition. Therefore, Mr. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's calligraphy does not repeat the ancients, but also can be rooted in tradition. Mr. Wang broke the previous narrow scope of oracle calligraphy's creation and calligraphy, expanded the scope of oracle calligraphy's calligraphy, and provided a new concept of calligraphy for the development of today's calligraphy. Oracle calligraphy's brushwork has two main ways. First, faithfully copy Oracle Bone Inscriptions's lines and pursue the similarity with Oracle Bone Inscriptions's original lines. The other is to use the seal script of Qing Dynasty. These two methods gradually lead oracle calligraphy's pen to a dead end, and it is a dead end to continue the previous understanding of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's lines. However, in order to get out of the predicament, we must grasp oracle calligraphy as a new book style independent of other styles, and maintain the degree of Oracle Bone Inscriptions characteristics in brushwork. Without the characteristics of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's brushwork, if we only use Oracle Bone Inscriptions and completely borrow the brushwork of seal script or Han bamboo slips, we can't call it oracle calligraphy. Therefore, we must re-understand Oracle Bone Inscriptions's original lines. Mr. Wang got rid of the interference of some wrong views of modern times and modern people, and used contemporary scientific and technological means to examine Oracle Bone Inscriptions from a modern and historical perspective. Through the analysis of the writing subject, use and people's concept of Oracle bone inscriptions at that time, it is pointed out that when Zhen people carved Oracle bone inscriptions, people were as familiar with paper as tortoise shells, and with every word and sentence, so the lines they portrayed should not be unfamiliar. He found that there are a lot of arcs and circles in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and the brush strokes also have ups and downs. They are not rigid and straight lines, but lines full of emotion and life, which show the painter's conscious pursuit of beauty.
After a comprehensive and detailed investigation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's lines, I opened my eyes to draw nutrition from the brushstrokes of Chu Zhushu, bronze inscriptions and cursive scripts, absorbed the natural agility of Chu Zhushu, the rigidity and texture of bronze inscriptions, and the flying and fluency of cursive scripts, and formed the concept of "writing with meaning". The richness of pens also provides Mr. Wang with a lot of room for further development, unlike today's calligraphers who want to build a shack for themselves as soon as possible. Appreciating Mr. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's calligraphy, we will find a kind of pen fusion, which is not at the expense of abandoning Oracle Bone Inscriptions's original pen. Third, the breakthrough of using ink. Mr. Lin Sanzhi once said: "There are thousands of words in ancient times, nothing more than pen and ink." The vitality of calligraphy works comes from ink, which is the source of vitality of calligraphy works. In calligraphy creation, there is not only the innovation of pen, but also the innovation of ink. However, oracle calligraphy's previous works didn't change much in pen and ink, and were not as rich as other books. They only focused on thick ink to enhance the strength of lines and pursue the spirit of stone. In the creation of modern Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Mr. Zhai broke the use of seal script, but adopted two tones, which is not only reflected in the tone of ink used in the whole work, but also in each stroke, showing the effect of alternating shades, combining shades, distinguishing shades, and drying and wetting at will. More importantly, the method of using ink as grass is applied to oracle calligraphy. Combined with the method of using water, the ink color is moist and vivid, and it can be used freely, sometimes as expensive as gold and sometimes as broken as water. The content of pen and ink moves in a curve in the whole writing process, and the ink color develops with the writing process, changes with the changes of stippling, font and composition, and participates in the expression of the overall rhythm, so that the work has a strong musical effect. Fourth, the breakthrough of composition. Because there are few explicable characters in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the creation of calligraphy requires literary creation. At present, Mr Zhai mainly collects poems and couplets, but most of them are couplets. If he only writes couplets, the composition is obviously monotonous, and oracle calligraphy can't fully express it. Mr. Wang wrote couplets in the form of bucket, fan, nave and horizontal comment. And rely on tortoise bligh to eliminate the framed border. Blocks use each other, and the words are naturally arranged. Characters, inscriptions and seals are organically combined to form an inseparable whole, which makes oracle calligraphy form a dynamic and balanced tension in composition, showing great richness and fully demonstrating Oracle Bone Inscriptions's original spiritual temperament. Although Mr Zhai has made a great breakthrough in the application of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's composition, he is not satisfied with it. "I still instinctively inherited the arrangement form of calligraphy classics after Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and did not approach Wen Jia's rich composition, which is the content of future assignments." This kind of "introspection" shows Mr. Wang's insatiable pursuit of art, as well as his sincerity and self-confidence. I believe Mr. Wang will make a greater breakthrough in the study of oracle calligraphy's composition. Mr. Zhai made a breakthrough in oracle calligraphy's methods, brushwork and composition, which made up for the lack of originality in today's calligraphy world and provided a brand-new concept for today's calligraphy creation. However, Mr. Wang's pursuit does not stop there. He deeply felt that the present situation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's creation was insufficient. He hopes that through his efforts, he can turn the previous research into practical application and compile a book "Oracle Bone Inscriptions Rhyme", which will really open a way for the application of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and expand the application scope of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, so that oracle calligraphy will not only form a prosperity comparable to other calligraphy styles, but also penetrate into contemporary people's lives. Mr. Wang is at the peak of his creation. I believe he will make greater achievements in oracle calligraphy's creation and will certainly make greater contributions to the development of oracle calligraphy. Huang was published in China Calligraphy in 2004 (1 1).
There are generally two ways to learn books by yourself all the time. One is to collect extensively, or visit hundreds of historical sites, or visit many places. That is, from the vertical reverse source to explore the current, but also from the horizontal reference, continuous learning, continuous accumulation, continuous absorption of the strengths of various schools, and constantly clear their own aesthetic orientation and artistic personality, and gradually form their own calligraphy art style. Second, do what you like, specialize in one family, deepen, refine and evolve constantly, make use of your academic qualifications and talents, publicize your own personality, give play to your own specialties, and gradually form your own face. In the history of calligraphy, there are many people who have made achievements through these two ways. Because they have their own strengths, as long as they can be integrated into their hearts, they will all gain something.
Mr. Zhai's love for seal script is Oracle bones, and he has worked tirelessly for more than 20 years. I read his Collection of Wan Yi and Miracle, which contains nearly 100 self-created poems and couplets, all of which are included in deeds. This first requires him to have a certain foundation and talent in the creation of poetry couplets and the cultivation of classical literature, because it will never be as easy as copying ancient poetry couplets at will. Secondly, the number of words used by Oracle Bone Inscriptions is limited, and those that cannot be verified cannot be fabricated at will. If we change words into words, it will be convenient, but it will also be easily influenced by the meaning of words, so we are in a dilemma. The third is that Oracle bones are simple in shape, so a large collection can be completed, and the variety is too single. The fourth is that most of the nearly hundred works are conjunctions. If you don't emphasize the changes in form and composition, it will be monotonous. It can be seen that this kind of collection is not only calligraphy, but also requires the author to have a good writing skills, so it is not easy.
However, as far as calligraphy is concerned, most of the remains of Wen Qi we see are engraved with knives, which are sharp and hard-edged, and the printed fonts are small. Due to the limitation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's inscriptions and functions, although he can show cool, concise, clear and orderly interests, and his shapes, words and lines are not very rich, Mr. Zhai Wanyi has fully played the special role of writing brush, cigarette ink and rice paper. There are some changes in form, such as couplets, round fans, folding fans, squares, banners, nave, banners, etc. This layout arrangement can avoid boredom caused by singleness. In the layout of rules and regulations, or regular, or scattered, or sparse ranks, or dense, or large areas of blank space, or suitable for cursive script, so that a monotonous book presents various forms. Although faithful to the original script, it has been vividly exaggerated and distorted in terms of density, length, Fiona Fang, straightness, singularity and expansibility. In the aspect of pen ink and paper, the soft ink effect on various kinds of Xuan paper is used to strengthen the dry and wet shades, rigid and soft thickness, the turning point of pen writing and the spreading pressure, so that the traces are clear and the sense of movement is strong, and people feel the elegance of the author. This kind of work that expresses temperament through pen and ink is unrestrained and enjoyable. It can be said that he took the interest of pen and ink as the basic starting point of writing contracts, and thus completed different artistic states with a variety of calligraphy vocabulary, which made people get rich, novel and different artistic feelings. Therefore, it is not so much that the author is writing poetry couplets, but rather that the author is writing with the contract as the carrier, expressing his aesthetic interest and the realm of book meaning through writing. Compared with the little Oracle Bone Inscriptions carved by the knife, it presents us with another look, another form, another feeling and another context, which can also be said to be the result of his in-depth and continuous evolution, and finally formed his personal style.