Liu Zhengcheng.
Theoretical misunderstanding of "line art"
A critic wrote a review article for my new calligraphy collection, entitled "Seeking the Innovation of Line Art", which was published in People's Daily. The article is well written, but I object to the title: Is it accurate to define calligraphy by "line art"? The theoretical circle has long defined calligraphy as line art, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s, which is a popular aesthetic. I think that defining the essential concept of calligraphy with "line art" not only involves aesthetic theory, but also directly affects the creative practice of calligraphy. What kind of words are good? How to write well? What are the basic technical characteristics of calligraphy aesthetics? The concept of "line art" may lead us into a theoretical misunderstanding.
The word "xing" does not exist in ancient Chinese, it is a modern Chinese vocabulary. The line we know first refers to the geometric line in mathematics. The lines of calligraphy art are definitely different from geometric lines. If calligraphy is understood as the writing of lines, where is the boundary between it and mathematical lines? In addition, there is another line-freehand brushwork line produced in western painting. Mathematical lines are regular and can be calculated; Freehand brushwork line is a kind of line in the middle of western painting, such as sketch, which is also used in western painting sketch and oil painting, even in Chinese painting. If we generally call calligraphy the art of line, then we may misunderstand whether this line is geometric or freehand. When Mr. Qiu Zhenzhong talked about the essence of calligraphy in the1980s, he thought that calligraphy was the art of writing with freehand lines. This line is not a regular geometric line, but a freehand line that can be written on paper with one's own image. This line concept ignores or even replaces the most important artistic phenomenon, that is, the stippling performance of calligraphy in Chinese characters. If freehand brushwork lines are used to obliterate the technical and technical characteristics of calligraphy art, calligraphy art will actually lose its place of existence. With the continuous expansion of the concept of line art, artists can easily break through the "bottom line" of Chinese characters and abandon calligraphy as the essential feature of artistic style. Since lines are written casually, we can get rid of everything that restricts the expression of lines, so there is "modern calligraphy" without Chinese characters-a new variety of abstract art. Therefore, since the 1990 s, as the mainstream concept in the field of calligraphy, the creative definition of "modern calligraphy" has put forward an innovative bottom line-Chinese characters are identifiable.
I analyzed some works in On Contemporary China's Calligraphy Creation. For example, Wang Dongling's Appreciating Picasso with Heart is a work of art with rich expressionism, which can be widely incorporated into the concept of "modern calligraphy". But I think it is closer to abstract painting, because this line is not completely consistent with the lines of calligraphy, nor is it a stippling expression in fonts, which jumps out of the scope of calligraphy. But this line is very similar to the line in the works of western abstract painters, and there is no essential difference. This is an abstract expression. Some western abstract painters think that calligraphy is abstract and the lines are close to calligraphy, but it is definitely not calligraphy. Qiu Zhenzhong's UFONo. 1 is a freehand line with dip pen or signature stroke, which is a very random line with no rhythm. If China's calligraphy takes lines to extremes and breaks through the concept of freehand brushwork to understand creation, it will inevitably enter the category of abstract painting.
Zhao Mengfu said in "Thirteen Prefaces to Lanting Collection": "Calligraphy is based on the use of pens, and writing is laborious." ④ Put forward the problems of "writing with pen" and "writing with characters", which are the most essential propositions of calligraphy art ... The misunderstanding of "line art" may obliterate the basic quality of calligraphy art, and calligraphy art has developed rapidly in the cultural exchange between China and the West. This proposition involves the creation and aesthetics of calligraphy. It is not only a primary proposition, but also an ultimate proposition. This ultimate does not mean the concern for life, but the essence of artistic form and artistic characteristics.
Let's trace back to the historical origin of China's calligraphy and writing.
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The second seal script: use a pen in the center to form a circle.
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The pen of the seal script is centered and tied into a circle. The seal script referred to here refers to all the ancient characters before the official script-Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Six Kingdoms, Shu, Dazhuan and Xiaozhuan. The basic characteristics of the pen for seal script are related to its appearance. The first seal script we saw was Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Before Wang discovered Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the earliest seal script was bronze inscriptions in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was carved on bones and tortoise shells with metal utensils, and the inscriptions on bronzes were cast. The writing tools used by Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen are hard metal objects. Some people speculate that the original Jin Gangzuan was used to carve Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The lines carved by the hardware are concave and made in the center. Therefore, the first characteristic of China's calligraphy pen is the center pen, which is closely related to the original state of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Therefore, the round pen in the center is the basic brushwork of seal script.
But there are exceptions, that is, the writing of bamboo slips. The era of bamboo slips coexisted with that of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In the 6th issue of China Calligraphy in 2002, Mr. Li Junming published an article "One Hundred Years of Bamboo Slips: A History of Recovery", saying: "Before the invention of paper, China had a" Bamboo Slips Age "of more than 1000 years. We know that the original paper recorded in history was invented in the Western Han Dynasty (BC 140-25), but modern archaeological discoveries also include paper from the Warring States period. The warring States period is around 300 BC, and the Shang dynasty is a thousand years ahead. The "more than one thousand years" that Teacher Li talked about can also be pushed to six thousand years before the invention of paper, because China characters have a history of nearly ten thousand years. Oracle Bone Inscriptions ⑥ unearthed from Huantai historical site is a kind of Yueshi culture. Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a historian, was 500 to 1000 years earlier than Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, about 4000 years ago. The earliest discovered Oracle Bone Inscriptions was unearthed in Jia Hu, Wuyang, Henan, from 7800 to 9000 years ago. Oracle Bone Inscriptions has the word "bamboo slips" in the middle. The word "bamboo slips" is a cognitive word, which means to string wooden slips or bamboo slips together with a rope. This can prove the existence of bamboo slips, and it can also prove that Oracle Bone Inscriptions's era is the era of bamboo slips, and even the era of bamboo slips may be earlier than that of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Because the word "bamboo slips" is recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bamboo slips may have been used in ancient documents before Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a written language used in prehistoric primitive religious sacrifices. Besides religious use, there are many things that need to be recorded and communicated in daily life, so bamboo slips may be used. If you write one line with bamboo, it is called Jane, and if you write more than two lines, it is called Xie. There are bamboo slips and wooden slips, which have been used in the west.
The era of bamboo slips is mainly the era of seal script. Bamboo slips are slightly different from Oracle bones and epigraphy, and the pen is also slightly sharp. Because the surfaces of bamboo slips and wooden slips are smooth, it is impossible to write with a brush. This is because of the change of tools, not intentionally. The fundamental requirement of seal script is to use a pen in the center.
The main aesthetic feature of seal script is circle. The writing of seal script can only be maintained by turning around. Sun's Book Score says: "Seal script is elegant and smooth." Wan: tactfully. Ancient calligraphy theorists defined a basic technical concept of seal script writing: center rotation. The center uses a pen to form a knot in the seal script circle. The carved symbols on ancient rock paintings are basically circular structures, including the words carved on ancient Egyptian temples. The word "〓" written by Jia Hu in Wuyang is close to the word "〓" written by Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen, and the lines are all round. The long-term development of China's calligraphy in prehistoric times is between the depiction of the circle center and the creation and aesthetic state of the circle structure of the center pen. China's calligraphy emphasizes that the use of pen in the center is the specific requirement when this art first appeared. To practice calligraphy, we should write both regular script and seal script, that is, to pursue the initial aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy, which is the most important initial stage in the history of calligraphy development in China. This stage has been nearly eight thousand years. If the history of China's calligraphy and writing is determined as 10,000 years, before 8,000 years, China's calligraphy was in a state of writing with a pen and a circular structure. This is the first stage of China's calligraphy aesthetic accumulation.
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Sanli Book: Write with a pen, with squares on the side.
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From 1800 to 2300 years ago, China's calligraphy experienced the second great evolution-a new official script style appeared. Lishu is characterized by a side pen and a square structure. Official script can't be carved on Oracle Bone Inscriptions or bronzes with sharp metal tools. It is said that it is the artistic feature of Lishu calligraphy because it has a "silkworm head and goose tail". This change between the beginning and the end of the "silkworm head and goose tail" can only be expressed by the side front, and it is accompanied by official script. Writing seal script on bamboo slips is sideways because of tools, not the original intention of writing, but the official script is intentional. "Meng Tian's Pen Making" and "Cai Lun's Paper Making" are both invention records in Qin and Han Dynasties. In fact, the application of paper and pen should be earlier than the Qin and Han Dynasties. With the development of the times and the widespread use of brush, people began to write on silk, even on paper, and the writing style and writing technology also changed. The overall structural requirements for writing a word on paper and silk are different from those for writing letters. This letter has only one line. If written as a circle, you can naturally handle the spatial relationship in a narrow vertical bar. If it is extended to a piece of paper, it is difficult for a round thing to handle the relationship between words and lines. The characters on bamboo slips are mostly two or three lines, with a maximum of five lines, which is still restricted by the long shape in dealing with the relationship between words and lines. If you enlarge the writing space, like Pan in the inscriptions on Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish his deeds. After the writing area is enlarged, the square is the most stable when dealing with the relationship between words and lines. Therefore, the use of paper and silks has promoted the transition from the simplification of round seal characters and ancient Chinese characters to the new style of square near-body characters.
After the formation of the square structure, the regularity of line writing and formation has changed. The turning point changed from a circle to a square. When turning, the center no longer turns round, but turns forward and folds out. When starting and closing a pen, there will inevitably be changes in strokes. When writing, the depiction of the beginning and the end formed a "silkworm head and goose tail". I have a point: the beginning of writing is the beginning of calligraphy. When the first man creates words, he wants to regard words as an abstract and beautiful symbol. This is a thinking of art genesis. When calligraphy developed into official script, when thinking about how to write words more beautifully, it is necessary to modify its strokes, so there is a profile of square characters. Profile is one of the most important stages in the history of China's calligraphy development. Without it, there would be no more brilliant China calligraphy. In the writing of official script, it is impossible to write a "silkworm head and goose tail" without a winger. If you are completely in the middle, just like Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen, the lines all start the same, thus losing their artistic expression. Although the center line of the circle has a beautiful creation in the middle of writing, its richness is qualitatively different from that of official script. We should look at the center and winger in the history of calligraphy development in China. These two technical aspects have been accompanied by the development of China's calligraphy for 8,000 years, which has contributed to the major technical and skill changes from center to winger. Only the side edge can describe the line itself more fully, which is an important stage in the mature process of calligraphy art caused by writing on paper and silk with a brush.
I once said in On the Artistic Tendency of China's Calligraphy (⑩) that the fundamental difference between the lines of China's calligraphy and those of painting is that the lines of painting depict concrete objects, while the lines of China's calligraphy depict themselves. Therefore, after the appearance of "silkworm head and goose tail" in official script, it is no longer a form to describe specific things like hieroglyphics in seal script, but to describe the lines themselves. Of course, the lines in China's freehand brushwork have independent aesthetic value, precisely because it absorbs the characteristics of calligraphy. It depicts itself and objects, through which we can know the artist's aesthetic image and emotional state. Therefore, Ren Bonian thought that Wu Changshuo could become a great painter just by drawing a few lines casually by Wu Changshuo. The rich expression of lines laid the foundation for freehand brushwork. Due to the use of center and winger, the lines are full of special expressive force. For example, the most important horizontal paintings in the middle of Lishu are hand in hand, thick waist, thin waist, and inclined up and down, with various forms of expression. All kinds of strokes show the rich treatment of lines by the ancients, and the treatment of these strokes is realized through the flank. If the pen is full of "Qi Li, ahead in China Bank", you can't write "Silkworm Head and Goose Tail".
It has been nearly 500 years since ancient times. At present, the most common official script is the standard tablet official script that appeared at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Calligraphy in Qin and Han Dynasties is divided into three parts: inscriptions, articles of association and calligraphy, which are cursive (1 1). In the next two thousand years, Li Shu wrote "Silkworm Head and Goose Tail" according to the book method. Since the Warring States period, there has been no obvious "silkworm head and goose tail" in Gu Li, because there is a process of artistic development. Finally, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, calligraphers represented by Cai Yong summarized the highest achievements of officials and formed standardized officials represented by Xiping Book of Songs.
The development of China's calligraphy from the circle of seal script to the square of official script, from the center to the side, is closely related to the development of writing style. The appearance of Chinese characters is the result of both writing and calligraphy. Square characters were formed from the end of the Warring States to the Han Dynasty. In order to facilitate reading and aesthetics, a stable square font is used to coordinate the whole text description. Long scrolls written in circular glyphs are bound to be unstable, resulting in chaotic flu and affecting aesthetic concentration. Jumping and stillness must complement each other in order to give people a sense of stability. With the development of writing practice and aesthetic concept, great breakthroughs have been made in writing and calligraphy.
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Four-line regular script: the combination of China and Fiona Fang
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From the 3rd century to the 4th century, China's calligraphy experienced the third great evolution-running script and regular script appeared. From Liu Desheng, Zhong You to Wang Xizhi, after about one hundred years, a new style of calligraphy appeared in China, which is the last two classic styles passed down to this day. This is the shortest of the three stages, but it is also the most important stage in the development of writing and calligraphy. Chinese characters are composed of eight kinds of basic stippling summarized by "Eight Methods of Permanent Characters". Now regular script is not described by the lines of seal script or official script, but by eight different stippling forms. The reason why Wang Qian is a "sage of calligraphy" is that the most important creation in the history of calligraphy in China is to finally establish and improve the "new style" of regular script and running script, and to create eight basic pointillism. Every stippling form of Chinese characters is different, and every stippling form must have its basic stipulation, which was determined during the hundred years from Zhong You to Wang Xizhi. Characters composed of stippling can be said to be square or round in shape. So, I think its ending is with Shi. We can write as many squares as Yan Zhenqing did, and eventually it will become a type printed by movable type, but as far as the characters themselves are concerned, they are both square and round. The basic characteristics of seal script and official script are very obvious. Seal script is round, official script is square. Regular script and running script are used by Fiona Fang, and there are no exact squares and circles. It is the eight forms of stippling and Fiona Fang's knot that become the most classic patterns in China's calligraphy. In the 1700 years after Wang Xizhi, the stippling of the Eight Laws of Yongzi only changed quantitatively, but not qualitatively.
I wonder how they learned line drawing and formed stippling from Zhong You to Wang Xizhi. So what does the center write? How to write flank? Chinese style and flank are the two most basic methods in calligraphy, but what about their technical practice? I personally understand that the method used by the center is to reverse. When writing, in order to keep the nib in the center of stippling, it is necessary to rotate the nib to handle it. In order to keep writing in the center at any time, it is necessary to twist the pen, including turning points, and adjust it at any time. The main method of sideslip is to raise the pressure. In the change of strokes, there are flanks and square folds. Therefore, twiddling has exhausted all the technical uses or procedures of brushwork in calligraphy. Reversion needs our hearts, and ascension needs our feelings. As far as contemporary calligraphy is concerned, there are many people who twist well, but relatively few people hold well. In the middle of the technical level of calligraphy, torsion is easy to handle, because it has a fulcrum to control the horizontal force; Lifting is difficult to handle because it is a vertical force control without fulcrum. Therefore, writing seal script and official script is simple, while writing running script and regular script is complicated. Why? Validity is one of the important characteristics of people's aesthetic psychology. The artistic development of China's calligraphy is definitely from simple to complex. It was the simplest for the ancients to write seal script, then official script developed further, and finally regular script. The technical difficulty is getting bigger and bigger, which makes art sublimate. The development of art is related to the maturity and complexity of technology. From twisting to lifting, the whole technological transformation process is accompanied by the history of calligraphy development.
Calligraphy has changed from lines carved in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze inscriptions to "Silkworm Head and Goose Tail" in official script, and then to stippling in regular script. Now every place has the characteristics of regular script, and you can't use the lines of seal script to characterize it at will. On the other hand, our handwriting is rough without stippling, and its expressive force is superficial and monotonous. The formation of stippling marks the maturity of China's calligraphy. There is a view that the formation and independence of China's calligraphy began in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties or Eastern Jin Dynasty. Why do you have this idea? Because in this period, China's writing became mature, China's calligraphy stippling and square characters were formed, and China's calligraphy reached the most mature state. However, I don't agree that the conscious history of China's calligraphy started from this period. I think: the beginning of calligraphy is the beginning of words, and the beginning of words is the beginning of calligraphy. The aesthetic creation of calligraphy reached its peak in the era of Wang Xizhi, but its aesthetic efforts began 10,000 years ago, and it took three stages to reach the most basic technical and technological principles of China's calligraphy: pointillism and Fiona Fang.
The most important aesthetic feature of the center is strength, and the most important aesthetic feature of the flank is charm. Mr. Zhou wrote "Autumn Beauty" (12), which is the highest standard of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Vigorous, that is, vigorous, refers to a kind of aesthetic feeling produced in the middle of running. Charm is charm. Make a beautiful speech. The two most important aesthetic categories of China's calligraphy are vigorous center, charming flank and vigorous charm. In his initial aesthetic works (13), Wang Guowei divided beauty into "magnificence" and "elegance". Tragedy belongs to magnificence. The five strong men of Langya Mountain jumped off the cliff and died heroically. This was originally a tragic life event, but it became an artistic beauty in works of art, which was called "magnificence". The lyrics describe that "I woke up easily in this spring morning, and birds were singing everywhere around me" is beautiful. It is Mr. Wang Guowei's point of view to divide "magnificent" and "graceful". I transplanted it to explain "autumn plum" and it tends to be magnificent and charming. In the era of Wang Xizhi, there was still a question of whether the past was beautiful (14). Sun Guoting thinks that Wang Xizhi is "ancient", Wang Xianzhi is "modern" and tends to be "autumn", while "gorgeous" tends to be "beautiful". Two generations separated by only twenty or thirty years also have the problem of "the past was beautiful". The lines of seal script describe the form of calligraphy, so calligraphy has "shape". Coupled with the depiction of silkworm head, goose tail and stippling, the "shape" is highlighted, and the characters naturally have a full posture. Chinese characters are an artistic existence with a graceful posture. Therefore, the process from the development of seal script to regular script can also be said to be the process of continuous transformation of "ancient quality and modern beauty". China's calligraphy has gone through such a long process from the vigorous center to the charming flank, and all the paintings are full of emotions. Mrs. Wei's brushwork (15) personifies stippling. She said that each line contains symbolic meaning, just like the soundtrack in the book said:
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Seeing the difference between the husband's needles and the dew, the wonder of rushing to the rocks, the amazing talents of flying beasts, the state of dancing snakes, the trend of landing on the shore, and the shape of being in danger; Or as heavy as a cloud or as light as a cicada; Tao is a spring note, and rice is a mountain guarantee. The first month is as thin as a cliff, among the stars. ( 16)
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This is an aesthetic imagination after stippling, and this is an artistic image with a blend of spirit and charm. Without charm, it is impossible to express the graceful posture of calligraphy; You can't write such beautiful words without wings. On the other hand, without a center, there would be no beauty and beauty in Gu Zhuo. Wang Xi is a book sage, because he has achieved the perfect combination of "ancient quality" and "present beauty" and "autumn" and "beauty". The aesthetic standard of Wang Xizhi's time was flattery, comparing Wang Xianzhi to "ancient quality" and Zhong You to "present beauty". -"Impartiality is not easy." (17) Therefore, he was honored as a "saint", a "truth" and "consciousness" on earth.
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Technology and technical characteristics of contemporary calligraphy creation
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The whole history of calligraphy is dealing with this problem, and every calligrapher in history is dealing with this problem. Judging from the development history of China's calligraphy, the 6,000-7,000-year history from Wuyang, Oracle bones, Oracle Bone Inscriptions to Wang Xizhi is constantly dealing with this problem; Now every artist is dealing with this problem when creating calligraphy. It can be said that our practice of calligraphy art today is faced with all the problems of techniques and techniques encountered in the whole history of calligraphy.
With the gradual development of seal script, official script and regular script, China's calligraphy art has matured. After maturity, a series of classic calligraphers and calligraphy traditions that we can inherit today appeared. We should treat every process in the history of calligraphy development dialectically; Only by mastering all the key points in the aesthetic and creative process can we realize the continuous new creation of calligraphy art. If you can only write seal script or official script, you can't be a calligrapher. Calligraphers must master the basic techniques and skills of seal script, official script, running script and official script, that is to say, they must have both styles. How can you be called a creative calligrapher if you can only write official script of silkworm head and goose tail without knowing the rich development of stippling? On the other hand, our calligraphy creation today is bound to use all the aesthetic experience accumulated by our predecessors. What are the historical features of China's calligraphy at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 20th century? It is a comprehensive inheritance of tradition by contemporary calligraphers. We should not only see the aesthetic process of seal script, official script and regular script, but also see all kinds of aesthetic information brought by various newly unearthed calligraphy materials. There have never been so many styles and schools of calligraphy in the history of China, which is the most important historical feature in the history of calligraphy in China. This feature will be more prominent in 200-300 years, which is unprecedented in any previous era. Where have people seen Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Tang Dynasty? People in the Eastern Jin Dynasty seldom saw bamboo slips. Although the chronicle of bamboo slips (18) was unearthed in the Western Jin Dynasty, everything in history will disappear in a blink of an eye. Xu Shen was a native of the early Western Han Dynasty. He has never read Ancient Chinese Classics of Six Kingdoms. In Shuo Wen Jie Zi, he regarded the weekend Warring States script as ancient prose, which reversed the relationship between ancient prose and Shu prose. This mistake was corrected by Wang Guowei in one of his papers "Ancient Chinese Classics Used in the Warring States Period" (19) more than two thousand years later. Xu Shen put the ancient prose of the Six Kingdoms before the essay, but it actually existed in parallel time periods. It took more than 2,000 years to correct this problem, because in Xu Shen's time, no six countries read his ancient prose 100 years ago. For example, people born after 80 may not have seen posters! Although posters were everywhere more than 20 years ago, how many people have never seen them in China's 9.6 million square kilometers of land, they can only be seen in libraries and movies now, and will disappear completely in the next 20 years. Therefore, in the process of calligraphy learning for two thousand years, many misunderstandings have arisen. For example, when writing official script, some calligraphers only know Li and Zhang Qian, but they don't know how to write Han bamboo slips and don't absorb new aesthetic materials. A major feature of contemporary official script and seal script is the absorption of the writings of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bamboo slips. Writing seal script is not restricted by the central pen like Mao and Pan. Writing official script has the flavor of Han bamboo slips like Mr. Qian Juntao, and even cursive script has the meaning of official script. Therefore, we should look at calligraphy with a macro historical concept in order to get a realistic concept of calligraphy development. Some people write official script, which may remain in a stable writing state for decades, and it will always be the pattern of writing with pens in the ritual tablet, and the artistic life will be solidified before it gets old. The development of contemporary calligraphy is not imaginary, but a summary of the tradition by the times and the most comprehensive inheritance of the tradition. The reality of many schools and different styles of contemporary calligraphy creation is by no means "guided" by some theorists, nor will it be changed by some artistic baton. The study of calligraphy history based on modern archaeological discoveries provides rich materials and enlightenment for contemporary calligraphy creation. With the unprecedented arrangement, research and summary of China's calligraphy history of nearly ten thousand years, contemporary calligraphers will draw more historical passion from it and create a new situation of creation. This is the conclusion of historical materialism and art history.