Huang Tingjian is an outstanding poet, poet and calligrapher who rose up in the literary world of the Northern Song Dynasty. Huang Tingjian's calligraphy is a link between the past and the future, which is unique and has great influence on that time and later generations. In the Northern Song Dynasty and hundreds of years after that, many calligraphers and critics praised Huang Tingjian's unique style and artistic achievements, and gave Huang Shu a high evaluation. "Biography of Huang Tingjian in Song Dynasty" says: "Gu is good at cursive writing, and he has his own home when he practices law." Song Huizong said, "Huang Shu, like a Taoist, is riding high in chariots and horses and fighting for the pliers." Chen Shidao, a poet in the Song Dynasty, praised in one of He Langzhong's four cursive scripts of Huang Gong: "The dragons and snakes rise and fall in the world, and Jianghan Yuan is more brilliant. Good things don't need rewards, and collectors don't have to pass them on. " York (the grandson of Yue Fei) wrote in Biography of Fan Pang in the Valley: "The Valley is in Yizhou, and I have read Biography of Fan Pang, a masterpiece of the later Han Dynasty. The word diameter is several inches, and the pen gesture is fluttering. " Dong Shi's Biography of Mr. yu zhang says: "Gongxin is elegant and charming, and it is a family of its own. You visit Jingzhou and get an ancient Lanting. You like to play, but don't want to do it, because you realize that the ancients used fine print. Said,' One day someone will know me.' The cursive script is You Qiwei. After Gong died, people rushed to buy it, and a piece of paper was worth 1000 yuan. As can be seen from the above comments, Huang Tingjian is proficient in cursive script, running script, regular script and big and small characters, and can be described as an all-rounder in calligraphy art.
Generally speaking, Huang Tingjian's calligraphy can be divided into two stages. In the previous stage, that is, before the eighth year of Song Zhezong and Yuan You (1093), this stage was mainly to inherit the tradition and learn from others. He studied the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi, Yan Suiliang, Yan Zhenqing, Li Beihai, Yang Ningshi and Zhou Yue. He is very dissatisfied with the calligraphy at this stage, and thinks that "Yuan You's calligraphy style is dull and he doesn't use many pens." Huang Tingjian doesn't like his books because of his modesty and strict demands on himself. In fact, before and between Yuan You, he became a family and made great achievements in calligraphy. For example, in the fifth year of Song Shenzong Yuanfeng (1082), we can get a glimpse of it in his book "Jie Ming" and "Wen Fu" written by Taihe. Zhou Bida, a famous litterateur in the Song Dynasty, wrote in his book "Bagua Valley": "The beauty of this volume of calligraphy today is not diminished by the sages of Jin and Song Dynasties. Self-sufficiency and reputation. " Zhou also said in "The Duty of Bagua Valley": "This book is hidden in the home of Li Yan, the general of Heyang, and it is powerful and heavy, so it is called a walker. "Huang Tingjian's" Duty "was written by Yuan Feng in seven years, when he was forty years old. Naturally, it also belongs to his works before Yuan You.
He not only learned from the ancients, but also absorbed the essence of predecessors from ancient monuments and ancient posts. He is especially able to integrate his own ideas, strive to break through, and finally create his own unique style and become his own family. He described the process of learning books like this: "Yu Xueshu studied with Zhou Yue for 30 years, so he has been swearing for 20 years. Su Caiweng and Zi Mei's views on the books written by the ancients are late. Later, Zhang Changshi, Huai Su monk and Gao Xian's Mo Bao got a glimpse of the wonderful brushwork. " Huang Tingjian's calligraphy skills, learning from others' strong points, tracing back to the clock and the king, and benefiting from "Harmony and Ming" and "Shimen Ming", have formed his own unique style. He also learned from his contemporaries Zhou Yue and Su Shi, and was deeply influenced by Su Shi.
Huang Tingjian treats his calligraphy with a serious and sincere attitude from beginning to end, just like his poems, and he is a completely and thoroughly scholar and artist image. From his early pursuit to his later years, the word "earnest and sincere" runs through bamboo slips, manuscripts and long poems. Huang Tingjian not only teaches the ancients all the time, but also really exercises himself. From the ink of the draft epitaph, we can easily identify the style of Huangshu: the exquisite brushwork, the gesture of putting left and closing right, and the spirit of running like a thimble are all reflected in his calligraphy creation. However, some casual and slightly casual points are superficial and detached, and they are not out of date, which just proves that his book review concept of "respecting meaning" is well-informed and won the praise of calligraphy.