Su Shi (1037-11year) is one of the few "generalists" in history. People call him "the first gifted scholar through the ages", and he is a first-class master in the creation of prose, poetry, calligraphy and painting. At the same time, he is also familiar with music, good at cooking, has certain research on Chinese medicine, and has also made significant contributions to his political achievements. Su Shi, who is so comprehensive, is hard to find a second one in the history of China for thousands of years.
Su Shi's calligraphy has its own system, and it is also called "Song Sijia" with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fei and Cai Xiang, ranking first in "Song Sijia". So far, there are three surviving works of Su Shi's calligraphy works: Fu on the Red Wall, Poems on Cold Food in Huangzhou and Poems in Sacrifice to the Yellow River.
If Su Shi's works are compared with those of the other three people, it is not difficult to find that Su Shi's calligraphy is gentle, unpretentious and lacks strong personality compared with Huang Tingjian's. Compared with Mi Fei, Su Shi's calligraphy seems to have a little less change in brushwork and composition.
Then, why is Shi ranked first, and where is the value of his calligraphy?
To understand this problem, we must start with the cultural orientation of the Song Dynasty and the overall aesthetic taste of calligraphy in the Song Dynasty, so as to find the answer.
From the perspective of cultural orientation, the whole Song Dynasty is a very "literary" era.
Song people saw the prevalence of "selecting scholars by poetry" in the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, which created a prosperous situation of poetry, so they followed suit. In the period of Song Zhezong, it was changed to poetry and righteousness. Later, although some rules were changed, they remained unchanged. If a scholar wants to enter the official career, he must have the ability to write poetry, composition and even painting, otherwise he will not enter the official career.
Under such cultural guidance, people in the Song Dynasty, from emperors to generals to ordinary people, had a very strong atmosphere of "Chongwen". Three or five friends sit together to drink and chat. If a person can't sing a few poems and write a good word, he will be considered unsociable.
Therefore, most emperors in the Song Dynasty can write good paintings. For example, Evonne in Song Huizong, Zhao Gou in Song Gaozong, Zhao Shen in Song Xiaozong and Zhao Dun in Song Guangzong are all masters of calligraphy in history.
Ouyang Xiu, Mei, Sima Guang, Su Shi, Cai Xiang, Mi Fei, Huang Tingjian and other officials can write good paintings.
Judging from the overall aesthetic taste of calligraphy, although the calligraphy of Song Dynasty is different from the rhyme of Jin Dynasty and the method of Tang Dynasty, its achievements are not inferior to those of predecessors.
The "respect for meaning" of calligraphy in Song Dynasty is mainly reflected in two levels.
One is to advocate that calligraphers should naturally show interest in their own creation.
Second, it is advocated that calligraphers should show a certain artistic conception in calligraphy, leaving room for the viewer to remember.
It can be seen that it is unrealistic to express the interest and artistic conception in calligraphy simply by writing, and calligraphy must be combined with other art forms to achieve it, which forces calligraphers to improve their self-cultivation and become literate people proficient in several arts in order to complete the mission of "respecting meaning".
Su Shi was an excellent "all-rounder" in the Song Dynasty, which laid a solid foundation for him to gallop freely in various arts and learn from others.
As far as calligraphy creation is concerned, Su Shi's calligraphy has three characteristics, which are the value of his calligraphy.
First, the unique form and distinctive personality.
Morphology refers to the stable appearance and posture of an object under certain conditions. Calligraphy form refers to the uniqueness and uniqueness of the fonts written by calligraphers. Even if there is no inscription, the audience can understand who wrote it just by looking at the font.
In the history of calligraphy, excellent calligraphers have created their own calligraphy forms, and Su Shi is no exception.
Su Shi's calligraphy forms are mainly reflected in: the font is to the right, the knot is flat, the lines are thick, it looks fleshy, and there is a rich and atmospheric beauty.
Su Shi's calligraphy shows such a shape because he has a special liking for the calligraphy style of the Tang Dynasty, and this is closely related to his writing posture. Su Shi likes to "lie on his side" when writing, and puts his writing brush in the tiger's mouth, much like modern people writing with a pen. The pen tip is not perpendicular to the paper, but forms an acute angle with the paper. The pen belly produces more ink on the paper, so he can write wide, fat and flat fonts.
Second, the changeable style.
The second feature of Su Shi's calligraphy is that he dares to break through and subvert his early calligraphy style.
Su Shi's early calligraphy masterpiece is Zhi Ping Tie, with delicate strokes and elegant fonts. Obviously, his early calligraphy was greatly influenced by Wang Xizhi.
In the middle period, Su Shi's calligraphy was represented by Huangzhou cold food poems, with simple and dignified fonts, varied brushwork and full of charm. This is because his middle-term running script was deeply influenced by Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice to My Nephew".
Su Shi's masterpiece in his later years is "Ode to Dongting Spring", which has compact font structure, rich brushstrokes and ever-changing forms, and incorporates a simple flavor on the basis of broadness.
Huang Tingjian is also a teacher and friend of Su Shi, and he knows Su Shi's calligraphy very well. He once commented that Dongpo's calligraphy was charming in his early years, mellow in his middle years and calm in his later years. The evaluation of these dozens of words is considered to be the most accurate evaluation of Su Shi's calligraphy in history.
Third, the mutual unity of emotion, content and motivation.
All Su Shi's calligraphy is actually his literary works written with emotion, and his calligraphy and literature are integrated. In the process of his calligraphy creation, he is actually creating poetry or prose.
Known as the "third running script in the world", Huangzhou's cold food poems are two five-character poems written by Su Shi when he relegated Huangzhou (now Huanggang City, Hubei Province) in 1082.
Su Shi combines narration, explanation and lyricism in his poems, and his emotions wander freely between heaviness, sadness and openness with the change of poetic context.
In calligraphy, Su Shi completely complied with the changes of poetic context and personal mood.
When the mood is heavy and sad, such as writing "a cabin is like a fishing boat, in a misty water cloud", it is deep and dignified in the use of pen and ink, giving people a feeling of depression and frustration.
At the beginning of the sentence, "I came to Huangzhou and have eaten cold food three times." I want to cherish spring every year, and spring is not a pity. "It is mainly narrative and explanation. Su Shi's mood is relatively relaxed, and his pen and ink are light. It can be seen that he is optimistic at the moment.
It is the most important value of Su Shi's calligraphy to be good at capturing his emotional situation with words and brushwork, completely unifying emotion, content and momentum, and artificially creating the ups and downs of charm and beauty.