Essays on Painting Zen Rooms is a theoretical work of calligraphy and painting in Ming Dynasty. By Dong Qichang. It is a book composed by Yang Bu, a painter in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, who collected Dong Qichang's essays that were not included in The Collection of Rong Tai. Volume 1 includes writing with a pen, calligraphy comments, postscript, comments on ancient posts and so on. The second volume includes painting strategies, painting sources, self-painting and comments on ancient painting. This book advocates the clever use of pen and ink, emphasizes the conclusion of words, pays attention to understanding its spirit when posting, and advocates "backing with meaning"; In terms of painting, he advocated literati painting and belittled "expert painting" with the theory of southern and northern sects as the core. In the development of painting, he praised the transformation from "work" to "shun" since the Tang Dynasty, and criticized the transformation of some painters from "shun" to "clumsy" in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It is advocated that painters should learn from thousands of books and follow Wan Li Road, and take life, beauty and truth as the ultimate artistic realm. Its main contents include using pen and telling stories. In the use of pen, it mainly discusses the use of pen, ink, structure and composition, of which the most important is the use of pen, and the word "Qiao" is the core of the discussion. Wen Zhiming, Zhao Mengfu, Su Dongpo and Mi Fei commented on their calligraphy origin, style characteristics, gains and losses, and mainly discussed the method of commenting on books in this paper.
In the method of storytelling, the main point expressed is that "Jin people take rhyme, Tang people take method and Song people take meaning." This is Dong Shi's definition of calligraphy aesthetics in Tang and Song Dynasties. It is the first time in the history book theory to define the three generations of calligraphy with the concepts of rhyme, dharma and meaning. Rhyme is the highest, and its connotation cannot be separated from law and meaning. The three complement each other. "Writing a book in Jin and Song Dynasties is not impossible to win by the wind, but the beauty is not in the law. For the Tang people, the method is the only method, which is very embarrassing. " The clues he observed were that Jin Yun was a sect, Tang Fa was a diameter and Yi Song was a new one.
Dong Qichang's calligraphy thought is mainly about using pen, ink, structure and composition. This paper mainly discusses its structure and composition.
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Dong Qichang advocated the principle of "taking the odd as the right". He believes that Wang Xizhi's works can best reach the realm of "being the same as others". He believes that the most taboo in writing calligraphy is that the position and size are the same, and every word should be collected and put away. "The ancients wrote a book, can't do positive games. The cover sees it as the front. This Zhao Wuxing did not enter the Jintang Gate Room. " Dong Qichang's idea of taking strangeness as the basis is different from Yuan and Ming's calligraphy concept of advocating regular posture, which embodies his aesthetic consciousness, and pursues the intricate changes of knot formation, alternating density and density, and avoiding straightness and neatness. He cited the example of calligraphy books of two kings to prove the change of Jin people's pursuit of knot words. Dong Qichang's calligraphy works are characterized by changeable structure and unique charm, all of which come from this.
The organization and structure of an article
In composition, Dong Qichang pays attention to reflection and care, and pursues the ingenious layout of composition. He said: "The ancients discussed books and thought that composition was a major event, and so did the so-called thick lines." It can be seen that the rules and regulations require that the size be changed at will and cannot be changed. Dong Shi's calligraphy is scattered and vivid, which shows his profound skill in composition.
Dong Qichang's calligraphy is plain and fresh, reflecting a light atmosphere. Dong Shi's prose also pays attention to lightness, which is superior to simplicity and simplicity, and expresses a natural, naive and elegant meaning. This aesthetic interest stems from his Zen thought, and his Zen prose theory is mainly manifested in worshipping God and emphasizing epiphany. Calligraphy theory's pursuit of the realm of calligraphy epiphany made the calligrapher's theme get rid of the dependence on the law, and reached the aesthetic realm of the integration of subject and object and the integration of things and me.
Dong Qichang's calligraphy was praised and criticized by later generations. Dong Qichang's success in official career is not comparable to that of calligraphers before the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi was highly respected and favored, and even personally copied Shu Dong, which was often listed on the right, and was watched in the morning and evening. Wang Wenzhi, a famous calligrapher in Qing Dynasty, once praised Dong Huating's calligraphy masterpiece as "ethereal work". There is no need to say yes except to avoid seats in the plain. "At that time, all literati learned the beauty and softness of Dong Qichang. In the early Qing Dynasty, the book circle was shrouded by Dong Qichang, and the book style went from bad to worse. It was really the sorrow of the book circle. Many people criticized Dong Qichang, especially Bao and Kang Youwei. Kang Youwei said in "Talk about Guang Yi and Zhou Shuang": "Xiangguang, despite its name, is still like a grain-cutting chief, cold and frugal. The general is in full swing, the barriers are towering, and the flags change color, so he will not dare to go down the mountain. "
Dong Qichang's calligraphy and painting creation emphasizes imitating the ancients, but it is not archaic, and emphasizes the liberation of individuality. When Dong Qichang was very young, he wanted to get rid of the influence of the popular style of Wu calligraphy at that time. At first, he borrowed the calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty and copied the calligraphy styles of Yan Zhenqing and Huai Su, and later he traced them back to the two kings. This will inevitably give people a misunderstanding that he is an imitator of the ancient school. In fact, he is learning the ancient school instead of mud, and he emphasizes the shape rather than the shape. His copying is actually a kind of re-creation, which pursues the effect of maturity first and then maturity in the use of pen and ink, showing the simple and naive personality in literati creation. "To sum up, Dong Qichang's calligraphy is characterized by its light pen, restrained structure and ethereal composition." Dong Qichang's pen is very light, almost written with a brush tip, and the pen and ink are light, which reflects Dong Qichang's aesthetic pursuit of "plain and naive".
Read this article. We should learn from several methods in his pen theory, learn from his calligraphy theory, appreciate his aesthetic thoughts, and make continuous progress on the basis of predecessors.