(1) Calligraphy and Calligraphy Aesthetics in Early Tang Dynasty: Taking Wang Xizhi as a model.
In the early Tang Dynasty, calligraphy was outstanding, and reached a new height on the basis of inheriting the previous generation, resulting in four great calligraphers: Ou, Yu, Chu and Xue. The regular script of these four calligraphers indicates that an era of strict statutes is coming. In fact, seeking dharma appeared in the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty ruled China for a short time, only 37 years (AD 58 1-6 17). In this short period, it is impossible to form an obvious era calligraphy style, but it inherited the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and inspired Li Tang. His calligraphy and calligraphy theory are the natural development of calligraphy in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and calligraphy theory, and they are also pioneers of Li Tang's calligraphy and calligraphy theory, and they advocate the fruit of wisdom "praise from the heart". The appearance of Ode to the Heart heralds an era in which the original intention is artificial law, but in the end, due to the persistent pursuit and excessive emphasis on law, calligraphy has moved towards an era in which strict law is beautiful. Although the tablet of Longzang Temple in Sui Dynasty is simpler than Tang Kai's tablet of Longzang Temple, it is a book with strict laws and regulations compared with Weibei. As we know, it is the source of Chu books. The study of technical aesthetics in Sui Dynasty is also the premise for Europe, Yu and Xue to mature in law.
Although Ou Yangxun, as a calligrapher, was the first person to achieve strict statutes, and his technical theories such as "36-knot method" and "8-law method" were handed down from generation to generation, it was Li Shimin (599-649 AD) who was the key figure that led to the calligraphy style of "respecting laws" in the Tang Dynasty. As a generation of emperors, Li Shimin had a great and far-reaching influence on the calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty. It was he who promoted the historical wheel of summarizing the achievements of calligraphy in Wei and Jin Dynasties from the perspective of utility. Li Shimin loves calligraphy and prefers Wang Xizhi. He personally wrote Wang Xizhi's Biography. In Wang Xizhi's On Biography, he criticized Zhong You, Wang Xianzhi and other calligraphers fiercely, but he praised Wang Xizhi to the highest position.
"Ancient and modern so look closely, research fine seal, li, seal perfect, its only Wang Yi less? Look at the dragged work, beautifully cut, the smoke is exposed, and it will be connected if it is broken; Phoenix is like a dragon, and the situation is oblique. I don't feel tired when I play, and I don't know its ending when I look at it. "
By his own admission, Wang Xizhi's authentic books can compete with Zhong You's, and cursive scripts can draw with Zhang Zhi. Li Shimin thinks that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy achievement is higher than that of all calligraphers. Zhong You, Zhang Zhi and Wang Xizhi have their own styles and achievements in calligraphy. They denied the achievements of other calligraphers and only said that Wang Xizhi was "perfect", which can be described as "ousting a hundred schools of thought and worshiping Wang Shu alone". This is undoubtedly not an objective and fair view, but a strong sense of feudal hierarchy. Li Shimin was deeply influenced by the Confucian doctrine of the mean, which found a meeting point in Wang Xizhi's calligraphy "Peace of mind, no stimulation, no stimulation". It is an inevitable result that he established Confucian philosophy and respected the golden mean, but there is a more important reason why he established the king, that is, as the founding king, he has a spirit of inheriting the past and creating the world. It is at this point that he affirmed Wang Xizhi's calligraphy spirit and achievements, and hoped that this spirit could be carried forward in his own time. Because of his advocacy, it opened the prelude to summing up the calligraphy experience of the previous generation, especially the Jin Dynasty, from the perspective of "law". As a result, a group of calligraphy masters such as Ou Yangxun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji have created regular script with strict laws and regulations, and summed up a series of methods and principles of writing with a pen, among which there are many insights. Although Chu Suiliang writes freely with his pen, and his European and European calligraphy are too stylized and almost rigid, their works are full of personal characteristics, and as a diligent calligraphy, they are very beneficial to beginners, so they are highly valued by the world.
Sun is a master of calligraphy thought in the early Tang Dynasty. He inherited Li Shimin's viewpoint, took Wang Xizhi's calligraphy as the basis, took orthography, calligraphy and cursive script as the research objects, and expounded the creative rules and aesthetic principles of calligraphy with the complementary aesthetic spirit of Confucianism and Taoism, aiming at advocating a calligraphy model with unified literary quality and suitable for the aesthetic ideal of the early Tang Dynasty. Among calligraphy theory in the early Tang Dynasty, Sun's Book Score is the most systematic work. Standing at the commanding height of calligraphy theory in the early Tang Dynasty, it showed us the height that calligraphy aesthetic thought could reach in this period, and also showed us the limitations of calligraphy aesthetic thought in this period. From this book, we can see that in the early Tang Dynasty, while emphasizing statutes, calligraphers were required to express their feelings and aspirations, and their calligraphy creation was based on the heart of heaven and earth. However, they did not ignore the understanding and expression of emotion and sex, and thought that calligraphy was the expression of nature, the expression of feelings, and it was "like the beauty of nature". However, the only mode of calligraphy research was limited to worshipping the king, which fully explained the contradiction between calligraphy theory and practice in the early Tang Dynasty.
(2) Calligraphy and calligraphy aesthetics in the prosperous Tang Dynasty: the third way of "learning from nature instead of the ancients"
Since Zhenguan, calligraphy has been popularized in the whole society in accordance with the aesthetic thought represented by Emperor Taizong, based on practicality, with the ideal of peace and Wang Xizhi as a model. Calligraphy has entered a new era, with the emergence of calligraphers such as Ouyang Tong, Yan Shigu, Wang Zhijing, Wang Xingman and Zhong Shaojing. Under the guidance of Emperor Taizong, calligraphy became single and modular (everyone learned the king), and its achievements were not as good as those of the four masters in the early Tang Dynasty. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Xuanzong advocated Taoism, which provided an opportunity for the revival of calligraphy. Poets, scholars and artists advocate Taoist thought, and "clear water produces hibiscus and natural carving" has become the highest realm pursued by artists. Sensitive artists began to use cursive script in the early Tang Dynasty and created crazy cursive script. This art form was quickly recognized by all walks of life. In particular, the artistic sensitive poets eulogized this art form with great enthusiasm, which aroused calligraphy theory's reflection. Li Yong's calligraphy changed the style of "peace of mind without excitement" in the early Tang Dynasty and began to pursue greatness. All these indicate that the wind has begun to turn.
Zhang Huai, the greatest calligraphy theorist in this period, was the most speculative theorist in the Tang Dynasty. There are quite a number of calligraphy works, including Shuduan three volumes, Yi Shu, Guan Shu on Characters, Ten Techniques of Using a Pen, Forbidden Classics in Yutang, On Medical Stone, Records of Two or Three Outline, etc. He summed up the aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy with "invisible phase, silent voice"; Explain the relationship between calligraphy and reality with "all-inclusive, one divided into one"; Reveal the inherent law of calligraphy development with "the law is uncertain, the thing is expensive and flexible"; To express one's aesthetic ideal with "those who have the strength of character first, those who have beautiful functions later"; This paper expounds the calligraphy method of "learning from the present, not from the ancient method, exploring the beauty of pen and ink, and seeking the essence of everything"
"Invisible phase, silent voice" is very correct in summarizing the aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy. We know that calligraphy is the expression of the artist's spiritual life, but the artist's expression of spirit must depend on the image of calligraphy. The image of calligraphy is indeed "from nature", and its spirit requires nature. Its principle of formal beauty comes from the abstraction of natural Vientiane, which is the result of the existence, theory, method, degree, form and trend of natural Vientiane, as well as the accumulation of god, qi, bone, flesh and blood in the life image in the artist's mind. Although we can't mechanically think that the calligraphy image is a simple simulation of the phase, the form embodied by the calligraphy image is the result. Calligraphy, as the material expression of human spiritual life, has no sound and cannot be felt by hearing. However, calligraphy is completed in the process of movement, and there are rhythm problems. The rhythm of calligraphy line movement is the expression of calligrapher's psychological rhythm. This makes calligraphy have the nature of music, and it is very accurate to summarize this feature with "silence is better than sound"
Explaining the relationship between calligraphy and reality with "all-inclusive, one-in-one" is actually an explanation and exertion of the previous proposition, explaining how calligraphy abstracts its own laws of formal beauty from natural Vientiane and how the laws of the existence of natural Vientiane (including life) enter the field of calligraphy expression. In writing, people do not specifically shape abstract calligraphy images. But as we said above, we only borrowed the existence law and formal law of natural Vientiane (including life image).
It is also objective and accurate to reveal the inherent law of calligraphy development by using "the law is indefinite, and things are precious and soft". Movement is absolute and unconditional, and stillness is relative and conditional. There has never been a static thing in the world. Everything is moving, changing and developing. Laws and regulations are gradually changing with the deepening of human understanding. Some people regard the calligraphy rules that have been recognized and obtained by the previous generation as "eternal hard truth", which is undoubtedly a pedantic and mechanical view. On the other hand, Zhang believes that "to be a wonderful book, you don't have to follow the book, but you should be flexible and do whatever you want." This view is undoubtedly in line with the development law of calligraphy itself.
It is not Zhang Huai's original creation to express his aesthetic ideal with "the strong in spirit first and the beautiful in function later". As early as the Jin Dynasty, it was the first time to comment on calligraphy from the perspective of borrowing things. Since then, calligraphers of all ages have attached great importance to the life interest of calligraphy images, and Zhang Huai just inherited this excellent tradition. This tradition explains how excellent calligraphers and calligraphers of past dynasties viewed the content and form of calligraphy. In their eyes, the form of calligraphy serves to express the content and obeys the needs of the content. This is a reversal of the thought of looking at calligraphy only in form in past dynasties, and it still has positive guiding significance today.
This paper expounds the calligraphy method of "learning from the present, not from the past, exploring the beauty of pen and ink, and seeking the essence of everything", which is Zhang Huai's bold creation. Calligraphers of all ages grew up in the process of learning from the ancients. They have not neglected the essence of learning from the ancients, but no one has ever raised it to such a high level. Based on his profound philosophical thoughts, Zhang first put forward the essence of learning from the ancients. Without great theoretical courage and profound logical thinking, he can't do this. We can't understand Zhang Huai's emphasis on "learning from nature" unilaterally. While emphasizing "learning from nature", he did not deny "learning from the ancients". He attached great importance to learning from the ancients, but he was not satisfied with mastering the existing laws and techniques. Instead, he looked at calligraphy from a higher angle and put "learning from the ancients" after "learning from nature".
(3) Calligraphy and calligraphy thought in the middle Tang Dynasty: attaching great importance to statutes.
After the "An Shi Rebellion", the secular landlord class replaced the aristocratic landlord class and rose to the dominant position in politics and economy. Under the guidance of Confucian thought of practical application, they are pragmatic, emphasizing law and technique. This political attitude has further influenced the field of calligraphy, and calligraphy has embarked on an era with strict law as its aesthetic ideal. Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and other regular script masters appeared in succession. Among them, Yan Zhenqing is the most representative, and his appearance marks that the calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty entered a new period with statutes as the beauty.
Yan Zhenqing's view of calligraphy can be examined from the article "On the Twelve Meanings of Zhang Changshi's Writing Style" and his calligraphy practice. Although Zhang Changshi's Twelve Meanings of Literary Style is famous for its meaning, it mainly focuses on literary style, not literary style. This is an article about technical aesthetics. Pay attention to "grabbing vertically and horizontally, being salty and obeying the rules". Based on this idea, Yan Zhenqing made a detailed analysis of "horizontal", "vertical", "uniform", "dense", "front", "strength", "twists and turns", "determination", "compensation", "loss" and "cleverness".
At the same time as Yan Zhenqing, Xu Hao also attached great importance to statutes. In addition, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan's Ba Fa Fu, Cai Xiyuan's On Calligraphy, Han's Theory of Giving a Pen, Jelly Lin's Preface to the stirrup, Linchi Tactics, Li's Writing Style and Zhang Fang's Wen Xin Diao Long were also included in this period.
The appearance of the above calligraphers and calligraphy theory established the mainstream style of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty: "respecting the law". Although Han Yu in the same period showed completely different ideas on calligraphy art and attached great importance to the function of calligraphy expression, as a writer, Han Yu could not change the trend of "respecting the law" in calligraphy.
(d) Calligraphy in the Late Tang Dynasty: Zen Monk Age
Different from the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the middle Tang Dynasty, calligraphy in the late Tang Dynasty was an era of Zen monks, and there appeared Zen calligraphers such as Yaqi who used calligraphy as a tool to realize Tao. Because of this, we don't pay attention to the exploration of statutes, but to epiphany. But because I don't write, I don't talk much about calligraphy.
Through the above analysis, we find that the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to "statutes", but not only that, but also romantic calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty (such as Zhang Xu) attached great importance to expression. If we only see the "legalist" side and ignore the "sentimental" side, our view of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty can only be one-sided.
Second, explain the reasons for the formation of calligraphy characteristics in Jin and Tang Dynasties:
The Tang Dynasty, from the meditation of Li Yuan (AD 6 18) to the meditation of Zhao Xuan in Zhu Quanzhong (AD 907), lasted for 20 emperors and ***289 years. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's feudal society, with relatively stable politics, unprecedented economic prosperity, all-round development of culture and art, and new progress in poetry, literature, music, dance and painting. In particular, poetry and calligraphy have reached a rare height. The factors influencing calligraphy in this period mainly include the following aspects: first, political stability and economic prosperity laid a social and material foundation for the development of calligraphy; The second is the emperor's advocacy and the establishment of calligraphy system; Thirdly, the calligraphy tradition of the previous generation and the development of various calligraphy styles provided sufficient conditions for Zhen and Cao's calligraphy to reach a high degree of maturity.