Liu Bingsen, a native of Wuqing, Tianjin, is a famous calligrapher in China. 1937 was born in Shanghai, and 1962 graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Institute of Art. After 1962, he worked as an assistant technician, assistant researcher, deputy research librarian and research librarian in the Palace Museum, enjoying special government allowance. He has been a member of all-china youth federation Standing Committee, China-Japan Friendship 2 1 Century Committee, vice chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, member of China Overseas Friendship Association, Chinese Buddhist Association and China Calligraphers Association. He is a member of the 7th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Committee and a member of the 8th, 9th and 10th Standing Committee. February, 2005 15, 4 am, died of lung cancer in Beijing at the age of 67.
Characteristics of official script
Official script is the best and the most difficult way to write. It is best to write because his strokes are the simplest; Writing well is the most difficult because its strokes are too simple. So some people learn to write official script in one day, but they can't write official script well all their lives. Perhaps it is for this reason that contemporary calligraphers seldom devote themselves to official script.
Liu Bingsen is the most famous official calligrapher and the most controversial calligrapher. The focus of controversy is the distinction between elegance and vulgarity in Liu Bingsen's official script. Mr Liu Bingsen has been involved in this argument ever since he became famous. This is of course a personal problem of calligraphers, but it is also a historical problem. Judging from the development of official script, this kind of writing is really closer to "vulgarity". First of all, the original official script was used for lower-level officials-or it can be directly called "vulgar officials"; Secondly, the stippling of official script is the simplest of the five general styles, and the style itself has the characteristics of "vulgarity"; Thirdly, the mature official script has secular aesthetic characteristics such as originality and beauty. From this, we can easily see that official script, as a kind of calligraphy, itself has the meaning of "vulgar", and to some extent, it is a kind of vulgar book.
The official script of the Han Dynasty was its extreme, and Han Li was divided into two stages: the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. The style of official script in the Western Han Dynasty is simple, and Shen Feng is close to seal script, which is more quaint. The official script of the Eastern Han Dynasty tends to be neat and beautiful, relatively "vulgar". Liu Bingsen's official script mainly adopts the methods of Huashan Temple tablet and Yiying tablet, which are very similar to these two tablets. Previous comments on the Huashan Temple Monument could not be consistent. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yizun said in the postscript of "Xiyue Huashan Temple Monument": "There are three kinds of Han monuments: one is square; A kind of beauty; A sense of strangeness. Wei's "Hua Yue Monument" has become a perfect combination, and it is all-encompassing, and it is the first product. " Liu Xizai said in "Introduction to Art" that "if the Huashan Temple monument is thin and sluggish, it is extremely infinite." Kang Youwei said: "Many people did well in the Han Dynasty. If "Huashan Temple Monument" is really a ride, the ancient spirits have gone out and there are not many wonderful postures. " In fact, it's just a ride, the breath of spring valley has gone out, and there are not many wonderful postures. Guo Zongchang wrote a postscript in Guang Yi and Zhou Shuang: "When you don't understand seal cutting, you won when you were alive, and the ancients are now, so you became a figurine in Sui and Tang Dynasties." Obviously, personal views on the same Han tablet are actually different. Aside from personal preference, we can see that the stippling of Huashan Temple Monument is wide and flat, the wave painting is clear, the structure is compact, the characters are symmetrical, and the composition is white (actually black), which is undoubtedly a standard official script that completely gets rid of seal script. Zhu Yizun's so-called "neatness" and "elegance" are quite successful, while "strangeness" is completely false. Kang Nanhai's "Spring Valley Qi has been extinguished" is quite to the point. Therefore, Huashan Temple Monument is a beautiful and gorgeous Han Monument, a mature masterpiece, and its style is almost sweet and vulgar. Another Han tablet that Mr. Liu loves is also a tablet, which has the same effect as the Huashan Temple tablet and is a supplement to its style. Although Liu Bingsen also studied other styles of Han steles, such as Zhang Qianbei and ode to Shimen, he was very careful to absorb them. He only studied Zhang Qianbei's method of overcoming Huashan Temple's floating monument. The purpose of studying Ode to Shimen is to overcome Zhang Qianbei's formalization. The front of Liu Bingsen Lishu is always not far from Huashan Temple Monument.
First of all, Mr. Liu pays attention to uniformity in the use of pens. It is difficult to see flying lines in Liu Bingsen's official script. He seems to be trying to avoid this kind of brushwork, but he has a deep preference for the moist and smooth lines (reminiscent of "cabinet style"). In the distribution of pen power, Mr. Liu also handled it very well: horizontal painting is always thick and vertical painting is always thin. Although this kind of brushwork looks very laborious, it does not show its due strength. The reason is mainly due to improper use of brushing and gathering. Expand to flatten the lines. Although this line shows a certain width, it loses its proper thickness and lacks three-dimensional sense, giving people the feeling of thin and flat things such as silk or cloth, and giving people the feeling that the pen always floats on the paper and cannot enter the paper. Nature is lack of strength. On the other hand, the lines written by Ju Hao show a certain three-dimensional sense, giving people a surprise aesthetic effect, penetrating the back of the paper. Ancient coin characters have this aesthetic taste. Supposedly, there is no difference between the two strokes, the key is how to use them. Teacher Liu uses Juhao in vertical painting and spreads it in horizontal painting, which is thick and thin, which aggravates the flat feeling of fonts and greatly weakens the sense of volume and appeal of books.
On the Chinese knot, Liu Bingsen's official script is full. Whether it's a multi-stroke word or a few-stroke word, Mr. Liu handles every word with four corners filled with color. For words with many strokes, it is easier to do so. For words with few strokes, the strokes should be bold, so that the size is even. For example, the ancients said that "big characters make the order small, and small characters make the order big", which gives people the feeling of "symbol" and lacks the atmosphere of change, vitality and liveliness.
In terms of composition, Liu Bingsen Lishu highlighted the word "human". His book, not only every word is covered with four corners, but also the four corners of the whole work are filled very firmly. Every word is straight and rigid, like a serious guard of honor! Mr. Liu almost turned a deaf ear to the ancient aesthetics of "taking white as black" and "taking virtual as reality" and adopted an exclusive attitude.
There is probably no second calligrapher in the contemporary calligraphy world who can write official script in such a standard, decent and rigorous way like Mr. Liu. Like Mr. Liu Bingsen, who has no impetuous spirit and inherits the traditional spirit deeply, almost all calligraphers need to study hard. But for Mr. Liu himself, he lacks a spirit of change. Sun said that there are three stages: righteousness, danger and righteousness. Although Liu Bingsen wrote official script, this kind of goodness still belongs to the first stage of justice. Perhaps it is because his official script has gained more recognition, and he is still intoxicated in the realm of "writing well". Although the official script is almost "vulgar", there are also many people who write lofty and quaint. We must make it clear that Liu Bingsen's official script is more recognized by secular society, or just completed the task of writing (or writing) perfectly. It is hard to say that his official script has reached the height of calligraphy art, so it is no wonder that some people say that Mr. Liu's official script is "official script".