In a word, bookish spirit is aimed at the whole calligraphy work, not at the specific details such as brushwork, structure and composition.
Similarly, these three words can also be used to praise a person. Well, to understand the bookish spirit of calligraphy, let's compare it first. What is the bookishness of people? Bookish, as the name implies, this person has read a lot of books, so the content of reading poetry books will be unconsciously revealed. Then we say this person is bookish?
Obviously not. Of course, people's book temperament is related to reading poems and books, but reading more books is not the only reason that determines temperament. A person's temperament is a comprehensive representation of rationality, sensibility and intellectuality in his spiritual world. Reading poetry books fully only provides a lot of materials for reason, and the ability to use these materials comes from his intellectuality, or understanding. High understanding, will use knowledge wisely; Low understanding, no matter how many books you read, is just a moth to the fire or a bookworm. Another very important part is human sensibility, which is the original motive force of artistic expression. Understanding and grasping one's own sensibility determines one's temperament. For example, a person has a bad temper, but through shrewd introspection and rational control, his words and deeds have a reasonable measure, which makes his external temperament gentle and sincere.
Therefore, we can see that a person comes from the harmony of sensibility, rationality and intellectuality, and the final temperament, like a carefully cooked dish, contains the good taste he needs as a chef. Ok, let's go back to calligraphy.
Any calligraphy work comes from the person who wrote it, because of the interaction of intellectuality, rationality and sensibility in his spiritual world. So this work should reflect the so-called bookishness, does it completely correspond to people's bookishness? Obviously not. So how do you understand the bookishness of calligraphy?
First of all, what is calligraphy writing? As an art, writing is just a representation. Through words to express the artist's temperament and artistic concept, the combination of the two will eventually make the atmosphere presented by the work give people a gentle and gentle feeling, which is bookish.
All characters are abstract symbols. As the art of calligraphy, the most taboo is to write the words in a very standard and neat way. On the contrary, how can calligraphers endow this symbol with artistic temperament in the process of writing?
If we listen to a story with relish, what makes our mood fluctuate? Obviously, it is the ups and downs in the story and the rebirth of contradictions. Either contradictions arise and contradictions are resolved; Either the intensification of contradictions has not been resolved, which is nothing more than this process and result; In fact, writing, as a calligrapher's creative or artistic expression, is actually a matter of creating contradictions and then solving them; Or finally can't solve the contradiction between such a process and the result.
If there is a contradiction, solve it, OK. The work will be vivid and complete; Furthermore, if more than N very sharp contradictions are created and skillfully solved, it is a wonderful work of art. On the contrary, if a contradiction is created and not completely solved, it will tend to be paranoid, so some works show hostility, banditry, filth, laziness and weakness.
For example, write a horizontal line Is it horizontal? It's still tilted, absolutely horizontal, which is printed, but if the tilt angle is too large, the words will stand unsteadily, so we should find a suitable angle to express a horizontal position, which will neither fall nor be stable. Well, we created the first contradiction and solved it. For another example, should all strokes be the same thickness? Obviously not. Shouldn't all strokes be the same thickness? Obviously not, so by adjusting the relative thickness of some strokes, the whole picture will be vivid and varied without dazzling, thus obtaining a comfortable feeling; On the contrary. All strokes have the same thickness and feel like a board; All the strokes are different, which means it's messy, so we come to the second conclusion that if the thickness changes too much, you can't finish. In the end, the whole work will give people a messy feeling. On the contrary, if the strokes are too uniform, it will give people a dull feeling. Only when the thickness is properly matched, it will give people a pleasant and harmonious feeling, similar to people's adjustment of their own temperament, which is also the origin of bookishness.
The writer's artistic concept based on understanding uses reason to control sensibility, which makes the controlled creative results present a harmonious atmosphere of unexcited, elegant and silent, which can be described as bookish. Simply put, it is the pleasant and harmonious atmosphere brought to people after the contradictions in the writing process are completely solved.