In 2000, the famous Mr. Bo Xun (pen name Liu Weng) was studying books, which was the heyday of calligraphy of steles. This situation, as Kang Nanhai said, "If you want to respect calligraphy today, you must first respect the monument." In addition, the writing characteristics of the calligraphy of inscriptions, especially the calligraphy of the Northern Wei Dynasty, just catered to the self-improvement and self-improvement advocated by the society in the early years of the Republic of China. Under such a cultural background, it is inevitable that stele calligraphy will be in full swing. Of course, the real origin and cause of formation of calligraphy on steles are directly related to the vigorous rise and in-depth development of Ganjia School in the middle of Qing Dynasty and the extensive use of calligraphy as a reference.
According to the article "The Shepherd's Self-Report" by Yu Youren, in the Enlightenment era, he already liked the inscription on the tomb tablet, which was vigorous and vigorous. In other words, Yu's interest in calligraphy began with the angular body of the Northern Wei Dynasty. However, not long after, when he entered a private school to study Confucian classics and poetry, he was directly influenced by the teacher who originally preferred the "two kings" style and later liked to write calligraphy. Since then, these two kinds of calligraphy have become the main contents of copying the mind method in the future. But after all, because of his personality, until middle age, Yu Youren's greatest effort was actually the integration of calligraphy in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
From 65438 to 0909, Yu Youren, who had political aspirations, presided over the establishment of "People Calling Newspaper", "People Calling Newspaper" and "People Collecting Newspaper" in Shanghai.
And take this opportunity to call for equality and petition for the people. At that time, Yu was in his prime, full of energy and high morale. At the same time, it was also the most diligent period when he began to work hard day and night in the field of Wei sports calligraphy. He once spent a lot of energy copying a considerable number of inscriptions in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Influenced by the custom of visiting steles in the former Qing Dynasty, during this period, Yu Youren's interest in finding steles was unprecedentedly high. He painstakingly collected and bought the remains of ancient calligraphy, such as the inscriptions of the Six Dynasties, and repeatedly tried how to use the pen. Among them, winning the General Guangwu Monument is my favorite. Yes, the stone tablet is the stone tablet of the former Qin Dynasty, and the Tang Taiwei temple tablet that Wu Dacheng has been looking for can be said to be the only two famous stone tablets left at that time. In order to commemorate this great achievement, Yu recorded the happy mood at that time with poetry: "The scale of the monument began in the Six Dynasties, and the price of the world was' two'. Unearthed for more than a hundred years, epigraphy scholars have a keen eye. It's still a treasure hidden in the mountains, and the light unearthed in the Millennium is soaring ... "With the continuous expansion of vision, Yu Youren's enthusiasm for this kind of work is increasing. As for the period when Shi was in charge of Jing Guojun, his total collection was close to 300, and there were as many as 85 epitaphs in the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Inscription calligraphy includes inscriptions, cliffs, statues and epitaphs, and the three main writing forms are original works, official scripts and seal scripts. Among them, seal script was the main body in Qin and Han Dynasties. Similar to most scholars, Yu's books have been scribbled before, although they are close to Zhao Mengfu's regular script or calligraphy. But since he loved to carve traces of books, the style of books has also changed. As mentioned earlier, Yu Youren's early works are mainly rooted in the calligraphy of steles. Accurately speaking, this situation is reflected in his calligraphy creation with the basic style of imitating the regular script of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
There are three works that can be verified: Four Screens of Huqing by Yu Youren 192 1 and Tombstone of Zou Rong and Epitaph of Zhang Qinghe by 1924, which can be roughly attributed to the early works that simulated the North Monument at that time, but have not yet formed a personal style. Among them, the former is the ink of Yu. Looking closely, although its structure is still a legacy of the Jin and Tang dynasties, the pen in the tablet reveals a distinct and smooth seal cutting meaning. Seeing the Gong Li of the latter, it is obvious that this method is based on the interest in carving Zhang Menglong Monument and Longmen Twenty Statues. It is true that the final formation of Yu's personal style is likely to be more closely related to his original personality, age growth and skill accumulation. The above works are only part of the record of his whole process of learning books.
As for Yu Youren's regular script creation, some researchers think that his expression mode of euphemism first and then boldness is an effective learning mode based on strictly following the epitaphs of the Six Dynasties, and then spread to the cliff tablet. This statement has its own basis. Judging from his early works, whether he uses a pen or a knot, people feel the distinct influence of Pu Taiyuan's Epitaph of the Black Woman in the Northern Wei Dynasty, which is rich and unique. This phenomenon even continued to Yu Youren's regular script creation mode in various periods. In addition, from Yu's Book Trace at that time, we can also see that his unconventional and uncoordinated writing situation stems from his various methods. Although his books are usually chronological, this does not prevent people from distinguishing his various characteristics from his brushwork, structure and payment habits. Therefore, Yu Youren's specific way of experiencing the legacy of the ancients in practice is a cross-activity that does not depend on time sequence, text form or even font type. In other words, when Yu diligently wrote Epitaph of Black Women, he must have begun to study many famous or unknown inscriptions he liked, which may help us find information from his handed down works.
Wang Shitang, a Guinness calligrapher, who was praised by Yu Youren as "Suo Jing of ancient Zhang Zhijin, three hundred years later", was the great Cao Zhang of that generation. Under its direct influence, after middle age, Yu Youren turned his interest in writing to the field of cursive script, and gradually shifted from Suo Jing's Yue Yi Tie and Ode to a Master to Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting. In order to deeply explore the source of cursive art and creation and make it familiar to the majority of fans, Yu Youren led the establishment of the Standard Cursive Society in 193 1.
The whole process of Yu Youren's practical research and practice of cursive script art can be said to have continued until his later years. During these 30 years, Yu traveled to Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, and sought help from theoretical innovation. During Lin Chi's decades of career, due to Yu's profound experience, the book Running Grass, which was compiled and revised by him, was published nine times in the 22 years from 1936 to 1958! Today, the older generation in Shanghai can still produce several versions of the standard cursive script from time to time.
However, if we change our usual position and perspective and observe Yu Youren's whole calligraphy creation calmly and objectively, people may not reject another aesthetic concept.
As mentioned earlier, when Yu Youren was in middle age, his Wei calligraphy creation had reached the point of perfection. If this happens, then with the growth of age and the deepening of knowledge, Yu's calligraphy style will inevitably become more and more mature and show his personal style more and more without deviation in his creative ideas. However, Yu's strong interest in cursive script was born and put into practice at that time, which destroyed this possibility.
In my humble opinion, the books of the Northern Wei Dynasty belong to the system of stele study, while the cursive script originated from the "two kings" belongs to the post-study system. There are great differences between them in technical reference and aesthetic form. Therefore, from the perspective of the objective laws of calligraphy, the inscriptions are different from those of Wei and Jin Dynasties. From this point of view, once creative activities are involved, there will inevitably be various contradictions brought about by the creative process itself, such as using a pen and knotting, which are contrary to the original technical elements, and hinder the development of creative work.
The highest ideal of calligraphy has always been to be good at expressing one's own writing style, but the ultimate realization of this realm is actually closely related to the author's techniques such as using a pen and tying knots and his creative way under personalized aesthetic thinking. The calligraphy creation of the above four schools really has its own characteristics. Their artistic practice also tells people that the style difference of the so-called "North Monument and South Post" lies in the fundamental difference between brushwork and calligraphy, that is, the former presents the square meaning when it opens in Jun Fang, while the latter presents the round meaning through integration. From the aesthetic point of view, the seemingly different shapes of south, north and circle are actually essential differences. Especially in cursive script, which seems to have no obvious difference in pen characteristics, epigraphy calligraphers who are used to extending brushwork show twists and turns in the silver hook tail. Calligraphers who make good use of the infighting method deliberately show each other in one go.
If Yu Youren continues to deepen the calligraphy of inscriptions, and if Yu Youren never touches the "standard cursive script" that does not conform to his creative personality, then his future achievements will be beyond doubt. The fact is, after middle age, when he entered the cursive writing stage, Yu's original profound knowledge of Northern Wei calligraphy and the resulting habit of using pens became the fetters that he could not reach the ideal realm, which made him often hesitate and be in a dilemma when trying to further deepen the traditional cursive writing. Moreover, the older you get, the weaker your breath becomes, and even the disadvantages of mixed words and poor breath appear. This phenomenon is embodied in the author's hesitation to put pen to paper because of the difference between North and South brushwork, and the popularity of long-term immersion in the structural characteristics of standard cursive script, which also objectively restricts Yu's calligraphy creation style. In this way, Yu Caoshu's creative style can only be shaped on the cognitive level of skillful brushwork and simple structure. Although Yu's creation of Standard Cursive Script and Standard Cursive Script Society has made great contributions to the spread of cursive script norms, it is definitely different from the artistic level that belongs to the category of personalized creation. What's more, the highest realm of artistic creation is to express personal feelings and reflect one's own aesthetic thoughts. Although there is a practical side, it is not practical after all.
At that time, deeply influenced by society, Kang Youwei of Nanhai strongly advocated calligraphy of inscriptions, and spared no effort in theory and practice. Kang Youwei and Yu Youren are quite similar in character and experience, and they also have similarities and differences in cursive writing techniques. Kang didn't know it because he ignored the cursive classics of the Tang Dynasty, and even took paper as the leading factor, that is, the so-called style was not completed, which was even worse than that. People are no strangers to this topic of discussing the characteristics of pens.
"Four-body Almighty Theory" is actually an ideal pursuit that is only technical in content, but it is always difficult to go to extremes in artistic conception.
In the history of calligraphy in China, Mr. Yu Youren is undoubtedly a beacon of the times. Like many calligraphers in past dynasties, Yu's creation has its limitations, but the lofty status and extensive influence given to him by history are irreplaceable.