First, cursive script
Cursive script is a font of Chinese characters, which can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. In a broad sense, regardless of the age, all scribbled words are regarded as cursive. Narrow sense, that is, as a specific font, was formed in the Han Dynasty and evolved on the basis of official script in order to write simply.
About from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in order to distinguish it from the new cursive script at that time. The cursive script of the Han Dynasty was called Cao Zhang. The new cursive script is relatively called today's grass, which is divided into big grass (also called crazy grass) and small grass. It feels beautiful in madness. As Li Zhimin said: "Close to the pool, consider the reason, get the heart from things, realize the image, and then enter the beauty of cursive script." Because cursive script is too simple and easy to be confused with each other, it can't replace official script, and it becomes the main font just like official script replaces seal script.
Second, the historical background
"Shuo Wen Jie Zi" says: "There are cursive scripts in Han Xing". The cursive script began in the early Han dynasty, and its characteristics are: keeping the outline of characters, damaging the official rules, rushing away and rushing away quickly. Because of the meaning of grass, it is called cursive script. Professor Peking University and pioneer Li Zhimin commented: "Zhang Zhi created the first peak since the cursive script came out, and being good at it is both good and good."
There are rules to follow in the changes of strokes, such as the urgent chapter of the Three Kingdoms Wu in Songjiang Edition. Today's grass is eclectic and fluent, and its representative works include Wang Xizhi's "The First Moon" and Jin Dynasty's "Getting Time".
Mad grass appeared in the Tang Dynasty, represented by Zhang Xu and Huai Su, and its brushwork was wild and uninhibited, which became an artistic creation completely divorced from practicality. From then on, cursive script was only the works of calligraphers imitating Cao Zhang, Cao Jin and Kuangcao. The representative works of Weeds, such as Abdominal Pain by Zhang Xu in the Tang Dynasty and Autobiographical Postscript by Huai Su, are all existing treasures.
Third, development.
From the development of cursive script, the development of cursive script can be divided into three stages: early cursive script, Cao Zhang cursive script and modern cursive script. Early cursive script and official script were parallel, generally called official script, but in fact some forms of seal script were mixed.
The early cursive script broke the strict rules of official script and was a hasty writing. It's called Cao Zhang. Cao Zhang is an elegant cursive style, which combines early cursive and Han Li. Its waves are distinct, the strokes are connected in waves, the characters are independent, the glyphs are all over the square, and the strokes are horizontal. Cao Zhang was the most popular in the Han and Wei Dynasties, but it was revived in the Yuan Dynasty and transformed into the Ming Dynasty.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Zhang was further "grassed" and the strokes of Lishu were removed. The upper and lower characters and strokes are connected, and the radicals are simplified and borrowed, which is called "modern grass". Jincao evolved from Cao Zhang, and its calligraphy style has been popular since Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of grass was described as "wild grass", also known as "big grass", with continuous strokes and changeable glyphs.
In modern times, the aesthetic value of cursive script far exceeds its practical value. Cursive script is to connect words with dots according to certain rules. It has a simple structure and is used while borrowing, not scribbling at will. One of the main features of cursive symbols is the linking of strokes, including up-and-down linking and left-and-right linking.
The lateral tendency of Li Hua's brushwork provides a foundation for the grass planting of the left and right hooks. Cao Zhang's brushwork is "I", while modern Cao Cao's brushwork is "S". This is the fundamental difference between the two. Indulge with a pen, draw messy, also called big grass or crazy grass.