Everyone must be very familiar with Wang Xizhi. He is a god-like existence in the calligraphy world.
Although everyone knows it, in order to make up the word count, I still have to elaborate on this great god here. Wang Xizhi, also known as Yi Shao, was a famous calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was known as the "Sage of Calligraphy". A native of Langya (now Linyi, Shandong), he later moved to Shanyin, Huiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and served as General You, known as "Wang Youjun".
Everyone has to look at it from the A and B sides. Wang Dashen’s status in the calligraphy world is unique. More than a thousand years have passed, and no one can surpass it. However, Wang Dashen was born in a noble family and was a proud second-generation official. At that time, children from such a family could not even become an official if they wanted to. Therefore, although Wang Dashen is an official, his political achievements and abilities are really not high.
Wang Dashen’s seventh son Wang Xianzhi is also well-known in the calligraphy circle. He is often compared to his father and is nicknamed "Two Kings". But on the road to becoming an official, he has to compete with his father. Of course, this is a family matter, and being an official is just a pastime. Students who want to know more about this period of history can search online.
(2)
In other artistic fields, poetry includes Du Fu and Li Bai, ancient prose includes the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and classical novels include Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong. But from ancient times to the present, the first person who comes to mind when mentioning calligraphy is Wang Xizhi.
So the question is, why is this?
Is it true that modern people cannot write calligraphy that surpasses "Lanting Preface"? "Lanting Preface" is all good, but why is it so good? This is also my confusion all the time.
I found some information. Let’s take a look at what others say directly (the information comes from the Internet):
First, Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy, especially his running script, such as " "Lanting Preface", "Kuai Xue Shi Qing Tie", etc., their brushstrokes are the most delicate and precise.
Second, Wang Xizhi is somewhere between ancient and modern times. The richness of his calligraphy is unparalleled in terms of both brushwork and modeling.
Third, the writing methods, writing tools, and work forms of Wang Xizhi's era were all in a transitional period, which determined that many of the characteristics of his calligraphy were difficult for future generations to achieve.
Fourth, Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy is a very personalized art. This personal Chinese artistic style is the product of a specific era. People from other eras can only imitate it and cannot get its essence and flavor. From Wang Xizhi's personality, we can see that he is different from later bureaucratic literati calligraphers such as Yan Zhenqing, Su Shi, Zhao Mengfu, and Dong Qichang. "The king and his horse rule the world." Wang Xizhi's arrogance in his bones is unimaginable to future generations. of.
Fifth, to surpass Wang Xizhi, you must know how high Wang Xizhi’s level is. No one knows where the most important authentic copy of the "Lanting Preface" is. At that time, Li Shimin, a fan of Wang Xizhi, tried his best to get the original "Lanting Preface". He was very happy. He wanted the world to experience his idol's calligraphy, and immediately ordered People were asked to copy the Orchid Pavilion Preface. The people who copied it include: Chu Suiliang, Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Zhao Mo, Zhuge Zhen, Han Daozheng, Tang Puche, and Feng Chengsu (in no particular order). The Lanting Preface that has been circulated now is all copied. , the most similar copy is the Shenlong version (also called the Feng version, which was copied by Feng Chengsu). After all, Feng Chengsu was a professional copyer at that time.
In history, none of these eight people surpassed Wang Xizhi. If modern people want to surpass Wang Xizhi, they must first surpass them. Each of these eight people are BOSS-level figures. If someone claims to be superior to Ouyang Xun, Chu Suiliang, etc., regardless of their level, there will definitely be no less than one group of people criticizing him. This is the trend of the times, and it is a bit difficult to judge from the trend of "the highest award for modern calligraphy".
(3)
Through the analysis of these five points, we can easily find that Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy achievements benefited from the favorable weather, place, and people. "Tianshi" means that Wang Xizhi was in a transitional stage of a great change in calligraphy (the development of official script to regular script and running script), and he also played a promoting role in it; "geographical convenience" is the appreciation and praise of his fan Li Shimin, who praised him in one fell swoop To the altar; the most important thing is "humanity", that is, Wang Xizhi's own superb attainments in calligraphy.
Many people have given their own opinions on how Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy works. In summary, it lies in the structure of the characters, the use of the pen, and the overall grasp. To the extreme.
To give a well-known example, the word "Zhi" in "Lanting Preface" is not the same among the twenty-odd characters in the whole text. Only Wang Xizhi can do this in history. This kind of skill makes "Lanting Preface" a pinnacle work of art, not just a calligraphy work.
This is the reason why "Lanting Preface" has gone through thousands of years and no one can surpass it. It is precisely because of this that no one can shake Wang Xizhi's status as a god.
(4)
Finally, by the way, in order to write this article, I looked up information on the Internet, and an interesting thing happened.
As shown in the picture:
360 Encyclopedia actually told me that this is an authentic work by Wang Xizhi! ! My entire cognitive system was overturned... The original version of "Lanting Preface" still exists! ? I was so scared that I quickly went to Baidu to search:
We criticize Baidu every day, but in this matter, Baidu is still reliable.
Everyone knows that after Li Shimin died, Lan Tingxu was buried with him, and his whereabouts are unknown since then.
However, later generations have several theories about the whereabouts of "Lanting Preface": Some say that there is no "Lanting Preface" on the list of treasures unearthed by Wen Tao, so it may not have been unearthed. Some people say that the "Lanting Preface" was not buried with Li Shimin in the Zhaoling Mausoleum, but was buried in the mausoleum of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi; others say that when the "Lanting Preface" was buried with Tang Taizong, he The sisters used fake copies to wrap it up, but the original work still remains in the world... There are various theories.
Even if 360 and Baidu did not select the same copy of "Lanting Preface", what is certain is that what we see now is definitely not the original. Even junior high school students know this, but I don’t know why 360 made such a low-level error.
Bad review! ! !