Comment on Zhang Jianhui's Calligraphy Works
Photo 1 Works of the 5th National Youth Exhibition in Zhang Jianhui (1993)
Yang Jiping commented.
(Vice President of Calligraphy College of Shanxi Normal University)
Director, Professor and Master Tutor of Calligraphy Institute)
Zhang Jianhui's official script gives people a vague impression, and it is difficult to have a deep memory, even a memory. Generally speaking, calligraphy works are hard to impress people, either because they are not strong in personality or far away from statutes. From a technical point of view, Mr. Zhang Jianhui's problem is not big, it should be something else.
Relatively speaking, the works exhibited by Zhang Jianhui (photo 1) in the 5th China Youth Exhibition are more eye-catching, with full ink color, heavy stippling, upright and rigorous structure, obvious printing flavor and natural structure. In addition to learning from Han Li, there is obviously Yi Bingshou's shadow and Wu Changshuo's demeanor. It can be said that the integration of this work is relatively successful, and it also has the opening and atmosphere of northern calligraphers. The shortcoming is the naivety and weakness of his signature draft.
Figure 2 Works of the 4th National Youth Exhibition in Zhang Jianhui (20 17)
The works of the 4th National Youth Exhibition (Figure 2) obviously promoted Zhang Jianhui's running script instead of his official script. Seeing the signature of this work, we can know the lack of his previous calligraphy cultivation. His running script has Mi Fei's rich freedom and Wang Xizhi's natural solemnity, and his aesthetic taste exceeds his official script.
However, his official script was deliberately changed, his writing style was indecisive, his words were neither fish nor fowl, and there was a lack of echo between stippling and painting, and even he was in danger of dying. Especially the active use of wings is almost unreasonable. It can be seen that Zhang Jianhui is deliberately pursuing roughness and naivety, but the result is neither fish nor fowl. Zhang Jianhui's problem is universal in most contemporary calligraphers. The fundamental reason is his cultural accomplishment, mainly philosophical accomplishment, which means that his aesthetic accomplishment is not enough.
Many people have written words, painted pictures and sang songs all their lives. They don't know what kind of words are good, what kind of paintings are good and what kind of songs are good. What a pity! Without an understanding of the essence of beauty, there can be no superb artistic thought. Without independent artistic thought, how can we have the ability to distinguish artistic beauty from ugliness? So for Mr. Zhang Jianhui, what is lacking is not the writing ability, but the understanding of calligraphy.
A few days ago, a disciple complained to Mr. Wei that it was unfair for the author to evaluate Mr. Liu as a "writer" because the importance of cultural accomplishment was mentioned in every speech. The author replied: Teacher Liu emphasized it, but how many books did he read? How many academic works are there? Does he have his own culture?
In the author's impression, Zhang Jianhui's lectures basically don't talk about culture, only about technology, only about pediatrics, not even as good as Liu Wenhua's, and the rest are out of the question. Some time ago, at an official calligraphy exhibition of China Calligraphy Association, Mr. Zhang Jianhui wrote "Cold Plum" as "Leng Hai", but he still had to write a couplet incorrectly, which showed his indifference to cultural literacy.