Why is Fan Ceng's calligraphy "the painter's character"?

Fan Ceng's calligraphy is different from other famous calligraphers, and the evaluation of it in the book circle is often polarized. Those who praise him think that his calligraphy is the first of its kind, while those who belittle him think that his calligraphy is "the character of a painter" rather than the character of a scholar. Netizens even dubbed Fan Ceng's calligraphy "dung beetle style", implying that his calligraphy always wobbles uncontrollably in the process of creation, deliberately making the lines look irregular. No matter what the outside world says, Fan Ceng's calligraphy has soared, and the price of flat feet is beyond our imagination. Strictly speaking, Fan Ceng's calligraphy is not "dung beetle style" as netizens said, but belongs to "painter's character". Why do you see it? In my opinion, the biggest problem with Fan Ceng's calligraphy is that his followers have their own forms, fighting in their own way and rarely echoing.

The Development and Foundation of Fan Ceng's Calligraphy

Fan Ceng's handwriting is highly recognizable. If you are interested, you can visit Zhang Xueliang's handsome mansion in the northeast. The plaque "Jong Shuai" hanging on the gate was inscribed by Fan Ceng. The high recognition of a calligrapher is a good thing in itself. Having said that, it takes a process to form a calligrapher's unique calligraphy style. Fan Ceng's calligraphy style clearly shows that there was a "ritual monument" in the Han Dynasty, and it was also incorporated into the "Zhang Hei Nv Monument" in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. From this point of view, Fan Ceng's calligraphy has not deviated, and still follows the traditional path of posting first and then self-innovation, which is not Jianghu calligraphy in essence.

There was a precipitation process in the early period of Fan Ceng's calligraphy. He did not specifically study which kind of calligraphy, but a comprehensive process. Fan Ceng highly recognized calligraphy because he was able to seek innovation on the basis of tradition. Fan Ceng combined some strokes of Chinese painting with calligraphy, forming a unique "Fan Ceng style". Even some friends with poor handwriting can basically recognize Fan Ceng's handwriting as Fan Ceng's.

Fan Ceng's Calligraphy: Struggle of Structure

Some netizens joked that there are two people on the Internet who can't beat Fan Ceng and Xifeng. In this article, the author introduces Fan Ceng's calligraphy in detail, and will not delve into his paintings. The core of Fan Ceng's calligraphy debate revolves around "the painter's style". In fact, Fan Ceng himself does not consider himself a calligrapher. Fan Ceng's official information does not show that he is a member of the China Book Association. In fact, the word Fan Ceng is the biggest signboard, and you don't need to beautify yourself with the name of a member of the China Book Association. Fan Ceng himself despises this false reputation and has been working hard according to his own calligraphy style.

The reason why Fan Ceng's calligraphy is "the painter's character" rather than "the scholar's character" is that Fan Ceng's calligraphy is sui generis, sui generis, and there is little echo between words. Just like the characters and characters in the above picture, we can clearly see that they are very uncoordinated and look unnatural. Friends who know calligraphy can see at a glance that this is not a literati role in the strict sense. Literati pay attention to the rigor of structure and the echo between words. As can be seen from the word "shore" in Fan Ceng's calligraphy works in the above picture, Fan Ceng doesn't pay much attention to structure. The word "shore" focuses on the top and the weight is below, which looks very uncoordinated.

This shore character is not enough to show that the structure of Fan Ceng's calligraphy has a shape, which can be felt by looking at the words written by Fan Ceng in the picture. In order to facilitate readers to appreciate Fan Ceng's calligraphy, the author made a simple "cross", which you can experience. Fan Ceng's font structure is not well grasped, which can be said to be formal without spirit. In other words, this is the problem with Fan Ceng's calligraphy, which looks unnatural. This also leads to a problem. Fan Ceng's words look like his paintings. When he looks at them as a whole, he always feels unnatural.

Fan Ceng's calligraphy can't be viewed only by the calligrapher's handwriting, but also by his identity as a painter. In the traditional culture of China, we pay attention to the homology of calligraphy and painting, which is more obvious in Fan Ceng. In view of Fan Ceng's status as a painter, his own calligraphy softened the brushwork of a large number of Chinese paintings, which also led to the emergence of Fan Ceng's calligraphy. Of course, Fan Ceng has formed his own family. As a calligraphy lover, imitation is absolutely impossible. After all, not everyone is as proficient in calligraphy as Fan Ceng. Therefore, calligraphy lovers should stick to their posts first, then enter the realm of ecstasy, and finally find out their own fonts.