Appreciation of Fuzi Regular Script Works II
Appreciation of Fu-character regular script works III
Introduction to regular script method
Regular script occupies a very important position in the history of calligraphy in China. It not only maintains the development process of calligraphy art, but also carries the function of continuing Chinese civilization. Lower case is an artistic expression in the art of regular script, which exists independently and is closely connected with other fonts. Therefore, understanding the formation and development of lower case art is of great significance for us to systematically explore the regularity of calligraphy art. The emergence, development and formation of China characters have gone through five stages: seal script, official script, cursive script, running script and regular script. The stereotype of regular script not only ends the long evolution of Chinese characters, but also makes Chinese characters break away from practical functions and become a pure artistic expression.
Lower case first appeared in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and was formed and perfected in Wei and Jin Dynasties. It evolved from Han Li, a popular character at that time, and later appeared in Cao Zhang, and showed the characteristics of regular script more and more in use. There are two outstanding aspects: first, the structure of Han Li and Cao Zhang has changed from a long square to a square, and then to a square, and the character structure has also been tightened from diversification to a relatively unified middle palace, opening from left to right; Second, the typical forms of Han Libo and picking strokes are gradually weakening and gradually forming new forms of expression. In particular, the emergence of two new forms of strokes, hook and left, is far from the hook and left of official script. The appearance of these two phenomena reflects the development law of Chinese characters from complexity to simplicity, indicating that its use function is an inevitable trend to promote the development of Chinese characters. Therefore, we can think that the requirement of simplifying Chinese characters is brewing a new writing style, such as official script, cursive script, Cao Zhang and lower case. This is the inevitable result of the evolution of China characters. We can also illustrate this point through examples. After the founding of New China, a large number of bamboo slips and wooden slips of the Eastern Han Dynasty were unearthed one after another, as well as the stone carving Gulangbei in the first year of the Three Kingdoms (AD 272). There are many similarities between the structure or pen and the later regular script, which has very typical regular script characteristics.
It was Zhong You in the Three Kingdoms period that perfected the lower case letters and pushed them to a new height. Zhong You (15 1 ~ 230) was born in Yingchuan Changshe (now Changge, Henan). In the Han Dynasty, the official minister was shot, and he was waiting in Wu Dongting. Zhong You is an important figure in promoting the transformation from official script to regular script. His regular script directly absorbed some popular writing methods of official script in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and concentrated on some straight, simple and easy characters, which were different from Han Li's norms. On the basis of keeping the writing method of changing seal script into easy writing, he creatively transformed Han Li's writing method of "Silkworm Head Swallowtail", which promoted the clarity of horizontal and horizontal strokes of regular script, thus making the shape of regular script clear. His representative works "Four Seasons Recommendation List" and "Declaration List" are flat in structure, rigorous and natural, and basically divorced from Han Li's form except for a little accident in brushwork. Zhong You's regular script reform not only created the style of calligraphy in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but also had a great influence on the formation of the calligraphy style of the "two kings" in later generations, so he was honored as the "originator of regular script" by later generations.
Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty inherited and developed Zhong You's calligraphy style. Wang Xizhi (307 ~ 365), a native of Linyi, was called "Wang Youjun" in history. His calligraphy is excellent and original in all aspects. He is a master of all ages and is known as the "sage of books". The lower case is one of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy achievements, and his representative works include Le Yi Lun and Huang Ting Jing. Both the expression of free and easy manner and the pursuit of vigorous brushwork are obviously permeated with the mellow, Gu Zhuo and simple atmosphere of Zhong You's calligraphy. What is more valuable is that he takes the method from the clock, which is different from the clock. Compared with Zhong You, Wang Xizhi's regular script brushwork is more expressive, more stable and mature in structure and more prominent in personal style. Wang Xianzhi is also a pioneering calligrapher. Although his calligraphy is not as influential as his father's, his innovative spirit has always inspired future generations and been respected by generation after generation. Wang Xianzhi's achievements in calligraphy are basically the same as his father's, one is regular script and the other is running script. As far as regular script is concerned, he can avoid the influence of his father's calligraphy style and Gu Zhuo's calligraphy style at that time, and create a new regular script style, such as his masterpiece "Thirteen Lines of Luo Shenfu". The performances of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi's father and son pushed the lower case calligraphy to a new height. Since the "two kings" father and son, although the lower case calligraphy has gone through more than a thousand years, its inheritance and innovation are basically unparalleled.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of epitaphs and statues with the function of keeping records appeared, which promoted the further development and perfection of regular script. Regular script in this period is not only large in quantity, but also high in quality and diverse in style. At the same time, in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the small print was gradually enlarged and became the expression form of large, medium and small elements. It can be said that the Northern and Southern Dynasties are the watershed between small capital letters and large and medium capital letters. Since then, the art of calligraphy in small letters has been separated from large and medium letters and has become an independent artistic expression.
The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of regular script. The achievements of regular script are mainly reflected in Chinese and big characters. Although a generation of regular script masters such as Ou Yangxun and Yan Zhenqing have appeared, their achievements in regular script are not in fine print. During this period, in addition to some folk epitaphs, some small-block calligraphy was preserved, the most famous of which was Shao Jing's small-block Ling Fei Classic.
From the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, lower case letters have not been paid due attention by calligraphers. During this period, calligraphers came forth in large numbers, such as Yang Ningshi, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fei. Their achievements in calligraphy are either running script or cursive script, that is, there are only two types of regular script, and the influence of small script in society is far less than that of other characters. There are many reasons, but one thing is certain. In the performance-oriented era, the expressive power of lowercase letters is still limited. In Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Meng was famous for his Japanese calligraphy, and there were many representative works in small letters, among which Biography of Ji An was the most famous. Zhao tried to restore the ancient law, thus enlivened the artistic creation of lower case letters in Ming Dynasty and made the calligraphy art of lower case letters glow with new vitality.
Ming Dynasty is an era when the art of lower case letters can shine brilliantly, that is to say, from Wei and Jin Dynasties to Ming Dynasty, there appeared a creative peak in lower case letters. The influential calligraphers in this period were basically outstanding in small letters. Such as Wang Chong, Wen Zhiming, Zhu Yunming and Huang Daozhou. Their small letters, each with its own personality, greatly expanded the expressive force of the art of small letters, and made the art of small letters shine brilliantly in pen, posture and structure, surpassing the past and having a far-reaching influence on the future creation of small letters until today.
The formation and development of the art of lower case letters have gone through a long process. The style of lower case letters created by calligraphers in past dynasties has provided us with an inexhaustible source of art. Today, we are in an era of unprecedented prosperity and development of calligraphy art, and it is of great significance to explore and study the art of lower case letters for our time.