Xiling Seal Society. On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Xiling Seal Society, the world's first society, and the 110th anniversary of the president of Wu Changshuo, a master of calligraphy and painting seal carving of the Shanghai School, commemorative exhibitions and activities are being held all over the country. It is a pity that for a long time, the deep relationship between Wu Changshuo and Xiling Seal Society has not been thoroughly sorted out. Clarifying the long fate and cultural context between the two will be conducive to the creation and research of today's entire seal culture construction of China, Jinshi and seal carving.
In the past, it was commonly said that Wu Changshuo and the Xiling Seal Society were officially associated in 1913. However, according to the author's research: at the beginning of the establishment of the Xiling Seal Society in 1904, Wu Changshuo participated in the preparation and gave specific suggestions and strong support.
In the thirtieth year of Guangxu (1904), a season of "receiving the lotus leaves is infinitely green, and the lotus flowers are different red in the sun". Wu Changshuo lived in Hangzhou at the invitation of a friend, and some of them forgot to return. Recalling that in 1868, at the age of 26, he went to the foot of Gushan Mountain, studied under Yu Yue, and admired Ding Jing, Huang Yi, Man Sheng and other Indians in the eight families of Xiling and followed suit.
At this time, the people on the shore of the West Lake lean on the building, the talented, like-minded seal carvers Ding Fuzhi, Wang Fuchang, Wu Shiqian, Ye Weiming Ya gathered here, taste the tea on the art of the seal, appreciate the ancient and modern seals, deeply feel that the art of seal carving has a long history, famous masters, and various genres, especially the Xiling on the shore of the West Lake, is the place where the eight masters of the Zhejiang school of Xiling rise. The spirit of Ding Jing, Xiao Song, Man Sheng and other former sages is here to shine on the altar of printing since Kangqian. However, looking back at the printing world for more than 3,000 years, there has never been a group dedicated to the study and creation of printing. As a result, a grand wish germinated in their hearts, that is, the association of Yinxue in the building of the people, "people with the collection of seals, and the society with the name of the place". So the "Xiling Seal Society" was planned and born on the side of the Xiling Bridge. These heroic talents, with advanced artistic consciousness and bold pioneering spirit, have completed an epoch-making achievement in the history of Chinese sealing.
When Ding Fuzhi, Wang Fuchang, and Wu Shiqian learned that Wu Changshuo happened to be in Hangzhou, they went to the guest residence of Zhu Weng and invited him to be the president of the Xiling Seal Society. He warmly affirmed and spoke highly of their move to establish the company. However, there are a lot of things to be done in the future, such as applying to the government, removing wasteland, expanding land and building houses, subscribing to charters, and raising funds for construction. To this end, it is suggested that the first time should not be busy raising the flag and listing, but a solid and practical ten years to prepare, and when all the conditions are mature, then officially listed. Everyone felt that what they said was reasonable, so they agreed to participate in the grand event ten years later. Since then, Wu Changshuo has paid considerable attention to the Xiling Seal Society, and the four gentlemen of Xiling have any related affairs to find him, and he has gone all out. For example, in the second year, the Xiling Seal Society built the Yangxian Pavilion, Wu Shiqian copied and carved the statue of Ding Zun embedded in the wall, and the Weng Weng recorded it with a poem: "Select the seal to open the new society, and get the tablet to think of great talents." And at the invitation of Wu Shiqian, the seal inscription "Xiling Seal Society" plaque. It can be seen that in the first ten years of the establishment of Xiling Seal Society, Weng has always paid attention to it and given active support and help.
April 9, 1913 is the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. On the shore of Xizi Lake and at the foot of the lonely mountain, the Xiling Seal Society has begun to take shape after ten years of preparation and capital construction, building buildings and pavilions, building rooms and tree pavilions, collecting inscriptions and inscriptions, and carving stone engraved tablets. Xiaolonghong Spring and Xiaolonghong Cave reflect the spring and autumn fruits, and the beautiful Jindai Bridge will inherit and expand the ancient and modern Indian culture. On this day, the official inaugural meeting of the Printing Society was held by the Shufeng Pavilion, and the contract and articles of association were established, and the purpose of the establishment of the Society was established to "preserve the gold and stone and study the printing science", and the first president of the first generation of calligraphy and painting gold and stone master Wu Changshuo was unanimously promoted. The establishment of the Xiling Seal Society marked the end of the history of ancient Chinese printing and the beginning of the history of modern Chinese printing. The appointment of the president by Weng also marks the arrival of the heyday of the Xiling Seal Society.
From the beginning of the establishment of the Xiling Seal Society, Wu Changshuo put forward a clear banner: "Although the name of the Gu Society is Xiling, it is not based on its own domain. In order to break the pattern of genre as the belonging, break through the boundary of the portal, and reflect the open consciousness, that is, the region is not divided into north and south, and the Indian school does not care who the family is, so that the Indian society has great cultural achievements. With Wu Changshuo as the president, this move fully demonstrated its advanced nature and superiority both at that time and in the future. Wu Changshuo is not only a creative spirit, and in the calligraphy and painting seal carving art leader, his tenure as the president of the Seal Society is the most glorious period of his art, his role, so that the Xiling Seal Society in the social influence has been confirmed, in the artistic status has been improved, in the direction of creation has been guided, so that it can quickly have a wide influence at home and abroad. At the same time, the establishment of Wu Changshuo's position as a leader in the printing world is also marked by his appointment as the president of the Xiling Seal Society. Moreover, he has the affinity and inclusiveness of a leader, and devotes himself to the cultural construction and promotion of the Xiling Seal Society, leaving many cultural relics with scenic value for the Xiling Seal Society.
Wu Changshuo. In the mid-spring of May 1914, he wrote the "Xiling Seal Society Record" in exquisite Gumu stone drum script, and engraved it into a tablet. In 1916, when the "swallows came to the Spring Society", he wrote a poem with the inscription "Xiling Seal Society": "Baitang Xilang counts the bow moss, and the small pavilion Lingxu Seal Society opens." "Affectionately praised Xiling, beautiful scenery, such as Penglai Wonderland. Especially in the spring of 1917 in May, the deep sea in May, the Weng engraved a famous Zhu Wenyin "Xiling Seal Society", taking the stone drum seal method, sealing the mud relics, ancient and simple, graceful and elegant, the classic work of the Weng Jinshi, and this seal is more significant cultural significance and humanistic value, is a generation of masters to their own Indian identity and the refuge of the spirit of gold and stone. Since then, every member of the Xiling Seal Society has prided himself as a "person in the Xiling Seal Society" and has become a kind of collective spiritual banner of the Seal Society.
The public consciousness of Xiling Seal Society also reflects its international character. Soon after the establishment of the Printing Society, the Japanese seal carver Kawai Xianlang came to the West Lake after apprenticeship with Wu Changshuo in Shanghai, and made an engagement with Ye Weiming, Ding Fuzhi, Wang Fuchang and Wu Shiqian, the four gentlemen of Xiling, to exchange printing, appreciate ancient seals, and evaluate knives. At that time, there were also Japanese writers and seal carvers who joined the Xiling Seal Society. It can be seen that as the first seal carving mother country, the first printing society does not engage in exclusive respect and closure, and absorbs overseas members with open elegance, showing foresight. At the same time, this greatly promoted the influence of Xiling Seal Society in Japan in the future, and set a precedent for absorbing overseas members.
Although the Xiling Seal Society is a non-governmental society, its president, Wu Changshuo, is a very public art giant, and he confessed frankly in a couplet inscribed to the Printing Society in the early spring of February 1917: "Is there no source of India?Reading sits in the wind and rain, and the number of cloth clothes has opened the Zhejiang school. How dare the society grow?Literacy is only Ding Yi Lingling, and a cultivator comes from the field. It is under the leadership of the Seal Weng that the Printing Society has advocated the elite consciousness from the beginning, and the sage has joined the society. It was indeed quite impressive at the time to abandon the door valve ring and aristocratic atmosphere that the scholar class of previous generations had paid attention to, so as to truly reach the level of a first-class art society. The Printing Society has gathered famous scholars, professors, writers, calligraphers and painters, archaeologists, historians, connoisseurs, publishers, etc., and all of them are at the top level. Such as Hu Julin's calligraphy and painting printing three uniques;Li Shutong is a pioneer of the new cultural movement, and has made many achievements in drama, calligraphy and painting, seal carving and even educationMa Heng is a scholar of cultural relics and stones, the founder of modern Chinese archaeology, and once served as the director of the Palace Museum, and later served as the second president of the Xiling Seal Society. In addition, there are Wang Guowei, a master of Chinese culture and paleographer, Zhu Yicun, a giant of lexicology, Shen Zengzhi, a historian and calligrapher, and Jing Hengyi, a cultural celebrity and great educator. Their entry into the society or elegant collection has laid the commanding heights of the Xiling Seal Society in seal studies and the authority of art, and its significance is far beyond the scope of seal carving, with the creation of cultural sociology and the pioneering nature of humanities and arts. A printing society, with so many cultural giants, forming a splendid pattern of stars, can be called a unique "Xiling phenomenon".
Wu Changshuo has long been in contact with the Confucian masters and famous elites in the art world, and has exhibited the Zhongding Yi wares, famous calligraphy and paintings, gold and stone tablets, rare books and ancient books of major collectors, so he has advocated and formed a good artistic atmosphere and academic environment in the Xiling Seal Society. After the official establishment of the Printing Society, every spring in Qingming, autumn for Chongyang, members and friends of the club gather in Xiling, observe the printing of calligraphy and painting, explore the style of rheology, examine and appreciate the ancient seals of the Qin and Han dynasties, exchange and discuss the art of printing, and the poetry and literature of colleagues sing together, which is still admirable. The Xiling Seal Society is taking advantage of the advantages of the group to organize academic research, only taking the several presidents of the Xiling Seal Society as an example, they each have their own academic strengths, such as Wu Changshuo in the study of stone drum scripts, Ma Heng is unique in the study of gold and stone, Zhang Zongxiang is a master in the study of editions, and Sha Menghai is a researcher in the history of Indian studies.
It is precisely because the membership structure of the Xiling Seal Society is the social elite type, and the quality of the members is the cultural master type, so that the Xiling Seal Society has shown a strong spirit of social participation since its inception, and also has a deep sense of family and country distress, which is not only the spiritual inheritance of ancient Chinese scholars, but also the promotion of new cultural ideology. Therefore, the printing society has spared no effort in the protection of traditional cultural relics, the collection of gold and stone tablets, and the sorting out of ancient books and printing history. Wu Changshuo served as the president of the Xiling Seal Society from 1913 to 1927 when he returned to Daoshan, these 15 years were not only the most glorious period of his life, but also the most brilliant period of the Xiling Seal Society.
Author: Wang Qisen.
Text: Wang Qisen (Vice President of Shanghai China Calligraphy Court, Member of Xiling Seal Society) Editor: Fan Xin Editor: Shao Ling.
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