The number of people who became famous in Wei Bei when studying calligraphy is very small compared to those who studied Tang Kaili and Er Wang. This fact is enough to show how difficult it is to learn Wei Bei!
The rise of Wei stele is not far away. Starting from Bao Shichen, Ruan Yuan, Kang Youwei, to Zhao Zhiqian, Yu Youren and then to today's Sun Boxiang, in just one or two hundred years, there has been an obvious change in style. Before Sun Boxiang, the strokes were written casually, and more emphasis was placed on the connotation, charm, and spirit of the Wei stele. To Sun Boxiang, the spirit and charm connotation were present, but the pen imitated the knife in writing, and the description was serious and slightly artificial. In physical comparison, of course Sun Boxiang is more like him! The Wei steles after Sun Boxiang are probably superior in form, and their spiritual connotation is slightly inferior to Sun's. Compared with Yu Youren, Kang Youwei and other sages, they are clearly superior and inferior, and there is no need to say more.
Why is Wei Bei difficult to learn? I think there are three points.
1. The stroke form is difficult to learn. Wei Bei mainly uses square brushes, which have sharp edges and corners. It is very difficult to express them with brushes. Tracing is the most convenient, but tracing is not allowed in calligraphy, so it is extremely difficult to complete writing in one stroke. Under normal circumstances, it needs to be completed in one stroke. There is only one writing method, which is to reveal the edge of the pen. Invert the pen barrel, twist the barrel to adjust the front, and use these several actions back and forth. But it’s hard to be clear-cut and domineering like this.
2. The external structure is difficult to learn. Anyone who studies the Wei stele knows that the structure of the Wei stele is not easy to remember. The imposition is better, but the detachment is completely invisible. Generally speaking, firstly, it is not easy to see, and it is different from common character structures, so it is not easy to remember. Secondly, the same character can have completely different forms, which is also inconsistent with memory habits. Compared to Tang Kai, it is much more difficult. Mr. Qi Gong said that He Shaoji, a great calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty, was very skilled in writing "Zhang Xuan's Epitaph", and his writing skills were almost unreal. However, when He Shaoji wrote freely, there was no trace of Zhang Xuan's epitaph. For such a great calligrapher to do this, it can be seen that the structure of the Wei stele is unique. Disaster.
3. The inner spirit is difficult to learn. Generally speaking, Wei stele is famous for its simplicity, strength, solemnity, and grandeur. Today, many people who imitate Wei stele only use the form of strokes, resulting in dull and lifeless writing. It’s not just modern people either. When Mr. Qi Gong talked about the Wei stele, he said that Bao Shichen had been writing "Zheng Wengong's stele" for the longest time. When you enlarge the small characters, you can see that they are very similar, but they don't have the honest, simple and grand opening and closing momentum of Zheng Wengong's stele. The reason why Sun Boxiang stands out on the Wei stele is that in addition to the environment of the times, he wrote the spirit of the Wei stele. Although his characters are thick and messy, they are all like grasshoppers and heroes, with majestic faces.