On the "fun" of calligraphy art aesthetics
Huang Xuehu. "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" explains "fun": "Illness also." "The original meaning is speed. Extended meaning: verb, to rush to pursue, to drive forward, to urge strongly. As far as nouns are concerned, they refer to strongly appealing interests, intentions, intentions, and hobbies. The introduction of "fun" into the category of calligraphy means the "fun" of calligraphy art, that is, the characteristics of calligraphy art that make people feel interesting and attractive. It can be seen that the "interest" of calligraphy aesthetics is the interest of calligraphy, the purpose of calligraphy and the interest of calligraphy.
1. "Fun" is the characteristic of the artistic expression of calligraphy
When the art of calligraphy entered the art era from the practical age, people began to think about how to make the art of calligraphy like other arts, and make people feel a strong sense of "interest". The art of calligraphy involves language arts, plastic arts, performing arts, etc. It is said that it involves language arts because calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters and their poems, texts, etc., which are composed of Chinese characters, and Chinese characters have a trinity of "form, sound, and meaning". Generally, the works created by calligraphers mainly write poems, lyrics, songs, fu and other literary works written by the ancients or themselves; It is said that it involves plastic arts, mainly calligraphy and painting have the same origin, and the aesthetics of sculpture and architecture, the material of architectural art is reinforced concrete, and the constituent elements of calligraphy and painting are "lines". And they are all pursuing the beauty of composition and modeling; It is said that it involves performing arts, mainly calligraphy, and there is a saying that "static dance, silent **". Because the art of calligraphy involves three aspects of art, in order to make the majority of appreciators feel that the art of calligraphy is "interesting", it is necessary to make people feel that the calligraphy works have "interest", "purpose" and "interest". First of all, the art of calligraphy should have "taste". Liu Xizai of the Qing Dynasty commented on Zhong Xuan and Zhang Zhi in "Art and Books", saying: "Those who comment on Zhong Shu are like Shengde gentlemen, and their appearance is foolish, which is easy to know; Those who comment on the book are said to be like a class and cannot be increased or subtracted, which is difficult to know. However, if you can study the fun in the clumsiness, you can gradually let go of the rules. He thought that there was a "taste" in the simplicity of Zhong Xuan's book. Lin Yutang said: "Calligraphy forms the basis of the aesthetic concept of the Chinese nation. "The aesthetic foundation must first have aesthetic taste, that is, people's direct and emotional aesthetic evaluation and aesthetic attitude towards the aesthetic value of calligraphy works according to their own aesthetic views. Due to the different living conditions and social practice levels of each person, and the different living and working groups that communicate with each other, people's aesthetic tastes are also different, which is the aesthetic tendency expressed in the way of personal hobbies, and the aesthetic taste is the best in people's aesthetic ideals, and determines people's aesthetic standards. This is exactly what calligraphy requires in itself. Secondly, the art of calligraphy should have a "purpose". "Purpose" means purpose, intent, purpose. This is related to the purpose of calligraphy writing and hanging exhibitions. Exhibitions, whether solo or collective, have their own purpose and significance. Nowadays, there are many kinds of exhibitions in the book world, but the "purpose" is different. Third, there should be "interest" in the art of calligraphy. Interest is the attitude and tendency of an individual to seek to approach, explore a certain thing and engage in a certain activity, also known as a "hobby", which is a manifestation of personal tendency. It is the conscious expression of human psychology to observe, analyze, remember, and think about things, and people also have different degrees of interest and hobbies in calligraphy works. Of course, people's interest in calligraphy works is also diverse, generally broad, narrow, and ephemeral, and long-lasting. Moreover, there is an elegant interest in calligraphy works, and there is also a vulgar interest. Of course, everyone's interests and hobbies will be conditioned by social and historical conditions and governed by their outlook on life and morality. Different eras, different societies, different groups of people, and even different nationalities will have different interests. For example, the "calligraphy craze" that continues today is a manifestation of people's concern and love for calligraphy.
2. "Fun" is a continuation of the consensus of ancient calligraphers
The consensus of the ancients on calligraphy is concentrated in the seven characters of image, potential, rhyme, law, meaning, posture and quality. "Jin people are still rhyme", "Tang people are still law", "Song people are still meaning" and "Yuan people are still stated" are the ancients' summary of the style of the calligraphy era, and "Jin people are still rhyme" is to say that the calligraphy art of the Wei and Jin Southern Dynasties pays attention to style and rhyme. At that time, the calligraphy fashion was "the spirit is the first, the shape and quality are secondary", which is manifested in an elegant, elegant and elegant style. Represented by the two kings, its calligraphy art shows the characteristics of the Jin Dynasty with abundant spirits, full of charm and infinite charm. "Tang Dynasty Shangfa" refers to the strict "law" of Tang calligraphy, and the standardization and subtlety of knots and penmanship. Tang Taizong's "Pen Technique" said: "Those who are too slow are sluggish and have no tendons, those who are too anxious are sick and boneless, the horizontal side tube is dull and meaty, and the vertical front of the vertical pipe is dry and exposed." And its enlightenment also, the heart is moving and the hands are even, the round is regular, the square is decent, the thick and can be sharp, the fine and strong, the elderly are not excessive, the short is not insufficient, the thinking and God will be, the same as nature, I don't know why it is so. Yan Zhenqing, Zhang Huaijun, and Sun Guoting all have a pen**, among which Yan Zhenqing has "Twelve Meanings of Zhang Changshi's Penmanship", Zhang Huaijun has "Book Break", "Book Evaluation", "Six-Body Book Theory", "On the Ten Methods of Using Brushes", "Text Theory" and other important calligraphy theoretical works, Sun Guoting has written and written the book "Book Pedigree", the content is mainly for the experience of calligraphy, the gist of book study and the basic principles of book study. Therefore, the regular script of the Tang Dynasty is equal in size, flush up and down, and the pen should be in order, even the free and romantic cursive script does not lose the "law", and the style of writing with strict law appears. "Song Shangyi" refers to the Song people's pursuit of the will and not the law. Su Shi said: "Poetry is not strange, and innocence is my teacher." Huang Gu also said: "The old man's book is not possible, so he does not choose pen and ink, and when he encounters paper, he writes, and the paper is exhausted, and he does not care about the clumsiness of work and the quality of people." Dong Kui also said: "Calligraphy is valuable in the penmanship, if the law is confined to the law, is the Tang Dynasty scriptures, it is in the ancients in the polar region will not come." These all show that the book of the Song people does not mud the ancient law, and advocates suitability. For example, it is fully reflected in the "Cold Food Post", "Zhushang Seat Post", "Hongxian Poetry Post" and the Codex of the Song Dynasty. "Yuan and Ming Dynasty are still in the state", this is the fashion of the Yuan Dynasty, focusing on the copying of ancient posts, focusing on the form of words. The calligraphy fashion to the Yuan and Ming Dynasty entered the retro period, and the imitation of the stele became the fashion. Zhao Ziang said that "the knot is passed down from time to time, and it is not easy to use the pen through the ages", which shows that the form of the knot can change with the times, and the penmanship of the ancients should be adhered to. There are also people who say that before the Jin Dynasty, it was "Shangxiang", and the Qing Dynasty should be "Shangshi", and there are all kinds of sayings, but I think these are all to draw a clear line of the times, and each should express its own opinions, which should not be denied.
In fact, the ancient calligraphers have long said that calligraphy is "interesting", and there are many kinds of discussions such as "interest", "true interest", "charm interest", "fun fun" and "natural interest".
Interest". In Mrs. Chuanwei's "Pen Array": "The intention is to put the pen first." The "meaning" of the Song people not only contains the emotion, mentality, and sentiment of the calligrapher, but also the interest of calligraphy. Wang Xizhi regarded "meaning" as a general, and he said in "After the Pen Formation of Mrs. Inscription": "The husband is also in the paper, the author is also a sword, the ink is also armored, the water inkstone is also in the city, and the mind is also a general." His understanding of "interest" is that it is not enough to seek the work of dot painting in all books, but to make the brush and ink have interest, have the static beauty of breaking through the square and straight, and produce dynamic interest; The shape and movement of the pen can get the beauty of staggered changes, and produce staggered interest; Emphasizing the inheritance of the book style and generating the interest of integration; Advocate the beauty of subtlety and produce subtle interest.
It's fun". Mi Fu believes that calligraphy has "true interest", its "Haiyue Famous Words" cloud: "Pei Xiu wrote the tablet with the intention of writing, it is really interesting, not ugly. "Master Shen declension has his own transcendent true interest, and there is no time to spare. "Learning must be interesting, he forgets everything, and it is wonderful." He advocated a natural, quaint, changing, and contented style of straightforward calligraphy, that is, naïve fun. That is, calligraphy avoids pretentiousness, plain and natural, "no deliberate pretentiousness is good", to achieve "peaks and peaks haunted, clouds and mist are obscure, not pretending to be funny, all are naïve", natural fun, innocent.
Fun". In ancient calligraphy, "bone" and "charm" are a pair of aesthetic categories. The books of ancient calligraphers show "charming", such as Wang Xianzhi, Zhao Mengfu, and Xu Wei. Yang Xin mentioned the concepts of "bone potential" and "charming" in "Picking Ancient Lai Neng Shu Names", and took Wang Xianzhi as the object of comment: "The bone potential is not as good as the father, but the charm is too interesting." That is to say, the book of the right army can gather the strengths of the people, and the pen is strong, so it wins with "bone potential"; Dedication can change the body, and it will be beautiful, and it will win with "charm". Xu Wei's treatise on books is contrary to the theory of the predecessors who paid attention to bone strength, and places great emphasis on "charm". He said in the "Tao Te Ching Written by Shu Ziang": "The world is good at Zhao Shu, and women take their flattery." Blame it for its ancient costumes? The grandson of the king of Emperor Gai, Qiu Ma is light and slender, and he is enough to be called a person. He is straightforward, and the Tao Te Ching is particularly flattering. He affirmed that the "charm" of Zhao Ziang's calligraphy not only refers to the charm and elegance of the form, but also refers to the free side of the brushwork. It shows that "charm" is the corresponding aesthetic category with "ancient" in Xu Wei's heart, which represents the "charm" changed by the glamorous beauty in calligraphy, which is Xu Wei's "charming" aesthetics.
Fun". Li Sizhen advocates calligraphy "the ease of nature". Adaptable and varied, it is a kind of fun beyond pen and ink. He believes that "Yi" is expressed as individuality, willfulness, originality and change. Li Sizhen's "Book Aftertaste" said: "Zi respects cursive writing and is more comfortable than his father, such as the Danxue phoenix dance, the clear spring dragon leaps, the sudden change, I don't know what to do, or the sea moves the mountains, and the waves turn over the mountains." He commented on Suo Jing's "Moon Ritual Post": "Looking at its interesting situation, it is very impressive, and it is worthy of the special da." The so-called "fun long pen short" shows the subtle and profound beauty of calligraphy. Wen Zhengming's treatise advocates that we should not only abide by the law, but also be full of fun. He commented on "Seventeen Posts": "But this book is pure and strong, and there is fun in the rope and ink, and it is allowed to be called the ancestor of the calligrapher." He commented on Zhishan's calligraphy: "If this book "Luo Shen Fu", the bell method is chased, the wave painting is strict, the structure is meticulous, the so-called deep and boundless, more than ancient, beyond the ordinary. He admired Zhuzhishan's calligraphy, which was both ancient and meticulous, but also distant and interesting.
Heavenly Fun". Sun Ying and Li Rihua both have the saying of "natural fun" in their books. And Mi Fu's "true interest" has a similar meaning. Sun Ying pointed out that Tianqu is the charm of the expression outside the calligraphy traces, that is, the so-called "outside the yellow of the peony", that is, after a long period of cultivation, the natural taste shown in the manxing. Sun Ying said in "The Story of Dayjintang": "All books are valuable and interesting. If it is a hundred things, why is it good? He also said: "This is extremely praised by Changgong's painting of bamboo and poems, and it is said to be interesting." (Su Changgong's three quatrains). He also said in "Zhao Songxue's Book of a Thousand Texts": "Calligraphy and painting are complete, although they are not as anxious as poetry, and they may be unavoidable when they are declining, but in their comics, poetry and writing are profound, and calligraphy and painting are vivid, all of which have a kind of natural interest, which is unattainable." Li Rihua said when discussing Yan Yu's poetry and Jiang Kui's book: "Yuyun: Those who know the law are afraid, and every time they are more restrained, their natural interest cannot overflow. On Yan Zhenqing's "Liu Zhong's Envoy Post", he said: "The grass is large, the green paper is very proud. Its so-called "natural interest" is not to waste learning the ancient law, to integrate the ancient brushwork into their own personality, not to follow the trend, limited to the ancients.
Today, in order to bring the ancient calligraphy to life, we should pay attention to "Shang Qu". Shangqu is the continuation of the ancients Shangxiang, Shangshi, Shangyun, Shangfa, Shangyi, Shangstate, and Shangqua. Song Gaozong Zhao thought that learning calligraphy is like eating olives, the longer you eat, the more you feel its true taste, and emphasized that calligraphy should have charm and intriguing chewing, he said that his calligraphy is "interesting in old age, horizontal and straight, and casual and adaptable." It is the realm of "becoming interesting" in the pen, and it is also cloudy: "I know the copy of the holy rules." Therefore, the image of the wind and bones exists, and the scholars understand their interests. "Fun" obviously exists in the "wind and bone imagery" of calligraphy. It can be seen that the ancients had an "interesting" taste of books. If we are concerned about the interest of today's calligraphy, I think that the first is that "Shang Fun" contains "Shang Xiang", and if "Shang Fun" loses "character image", "Shang Fun" will be intangible and too "abstract". The second is that "Shangqu" includes "Shangshi". Calligraphy is an indispensable source of calligraphy. Without the change and variety of "calligraphy", the interest of calligraphy will be greatly reduced. The third is that "Shang Fun" contains "Shang Yun". Rhyme is the shape of God, the spirit, and the quality of God. Zhao believes that the book of Mi Fu can integrate the pen of the six dynasties, so the wind and bones are super easy. He believes that Mi Fu's book of dot painting knots, with a calm and happy deep rhyme. "Poor Daote loves his god Jun'er, and the rest of the word Fu is the same." "Shenjun" refers to the spirit, and the word rice does not lose the "rhyme". It can be seen that "Shang Fun" is inseparable from "Shen Yun", and if it loses rhyme, it is boring. Fourth, "Shangqu" contains "Shangyi". Mi Fu said: "Learn to be interesting, he is good to forget, is wonderful, don't linger for a good, then don't work." Mi Fu connects the book "meaning" with the book "fun". It can be seen that "Shangyi" and "Shangqu" contain each other. Fifth, "Shangqu" includes "Shangzhi". Yuan, Ming and Shang state, tracing the ancient calligraphy form, and now people also advocate learning to "trace the ancients", "still ancient" and "take the law on the top", focusing on the calligraphy glyphs have ancient meanings and genres. It seems that the present and the past are still in the same state. Sixth, "Shang Qu" should include "Shang Quality". The supremacy of shape and quality is the goal pursued by Qing people, and texture is the shaping of personality. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Deng Shiru's calligraphy line is "thick", majestic and deep, and full of energy.
3. "Fun" is the "element" of ancient and modern calligraphers in pursuit of beauty
Everyone has a love for beauty. Whether in ancient times or in contemporary times, it is only natural for calligraphers to pursue beauty. Song Gaozong Zhao constructed a book and said: "Following Su, Huang, Mi, and Xue's pen gestures, each interesting direction, but the chickens and wild hooves, those who know have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they are better than those who are rotten with plants and trees." He thought that Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Xue Shaopeng of the Song Dynasty had their own faces, but they could become a family, that is, they were "really interesting". Although ancient calligraphy was mainly practical, ancient calligraphers did not lose their desire to explore the beauty of calligraphy, and even took the initiative to create the beauty of calligraphy. For example, when the ancients wrote codex, most of them would have three types of scripts: regular script, line script, and cursive script, the purpose of which was to increase the "image", "rhyme", "law", "meaning" and "state" of the work, and add beautiful elements to the work. It is worth mentioning that Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, everyone's impression of him is that the regular script is dignified, heavy, atmospheric, the pen is in the center, the muscles and bones are strong, tall and majestic, the law is strict, and the rules are in order. However, no one would have imagined that in "General Pei's Poems", he used regular script, line script, cursive script and seal script, and the whole work gives people a variety of aesthetics such as solemn, majestic, elegant, and fluent. This is an "exception" in the Tang Dynasty and Yan Zhenqing's own writing style. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai's poems, General Pei Min's sword dance, and Zhang Xu's calligraphy were called the Three Uniques. Yan Zhenqing's work, Kai, line, grass, plus the seal meaning are mixed together, galloping and jumping, just like General Pei dancing with a sword. This work not only reflects the calligrapher's "literary heart", but also adds an element of fun and beauty.
Calligraphers throughout the ages have worked the "fun" of calligraphy. For example, "the same dot painting is different shapes". Chen Yizeng's "Hanlin Tips" said: "Among the words, those who pay equal attention to dot painting should be bent and stretched to change it, and the dots will not change the chess, and the painting will not change the cloth operator." He advocated that whether it is dot painting or the repetition of the same side to form a character, each part should be changed to avoid similarity. For example, the "staggered" of calligraphy and the "fun" of change are beautiful. He also advocated "seeking change in the law" and "seeking interest in change". From the perspective of ancient calligraphers, Wang Xizhi is a "10,000-point outlier", and Yang Ning's "Leek Flower Post" and Chu Suiliang's "Big Character Yin Fu Jing" can hardly find dot paintings with the same form. In the Tang Dynasty, the calligraphy of "Crazy Zhang Drunken" was "interesting", and Crazy Zhang paid attention to "chaotic rows", and Zuisu not only paid attention to "chaotic rows", but also the size of Chinese characters was disproportionate. These are all calligraphy that can be seen in the "Four Posts of Ancient Poems" and "Self-Narrative Posts". Another example is Huang Tingjian in the Song Dynasty, who took the initiative to seek the "taste" of calligraphy, and his calligraphy works showed the characteristics of crooked characters. Of course, Mi Luo has also done a lot of articles on the "fun" of calligraphy, which is manifested in the same character and different shapes.
There are many elements composed of the beauty of calligraphy, which are roughly divided into penmanship fun, ink fun, chapter fun, cursive fun, calligraphy fun, artistic conception fun, Shen Yun fun, etc. But for the appreciator, the "beauty of taste" should be placed in an important position. The first is the dotted and line-up fun. Calligraphy is composed of dotted lines, and the composition of Chinese characters extends from flat to three-dimensional, and its "interest" is obviously different from painting. Therefore, it is inevitable that ancient and modern calligraphers should do a good job of "interesting" articles in the combination of dots and lines. Among them, the "quality and beauty of points and lines" ranks first, of course, this "quality" includes the interest of points and lines. The second is the interest of the glyphs. The question of the "taste" of the glyphs has also been a matter of great importance to calligraphers throughout the ages. For example, the "Yangzhou Eight Monsters" in the Qing Dynasty is an example. In "Eight Strange Creatures of Yangzhou", the glyphs of Zheng Banqiao and Jin Nong's works are "weird", and their purpose is also to find a breakthrough in the "fun" of calligraphy from the glyphs. The third is rhythm and fun. the rhythm of brushwork, the rhythm of ink, the rhythm of flying lines, etc.; The Song people's penmanship rhythm "fun" is the strongest in the Yellow Valley's "trembling pen" and Mi Fu's "eight-sided front". In terms of the fun of ink rhythm, Wang Duo is the one who stands out. Wang Duo's ink method was unique at that time, the richest, most interesting, and most fickle, which was manifested in five forms: (1) Thick ink to avoid "death, stagnation, and floating". Death is without aura and spirit, as Su Dongpo said, "It is good to have a clear eye like a child." Stagnation is that the ink is bloated and has no interest; Floating means that the dots and lines are weak and weak, and there is no three-dimensional sense. (2) Light ink is natural. (3) Increasing ink beauty. The ink is the creation of Wang Duo, which presents the interest of calligraphy through the "ink increase". (4) Dry ink is dangerous. Sun Guoting's "Book Pedigree" said: "If it is dry and moist, it will be thick and dry." "It's boring. (5) "Know the white and keep the ink". The ink is black, the paper is white, and yin and yang are mutually reinforcing. In black and white, calligraphy is "interesting", and if calligraphy has no "rhyme", there is no "fun". Fourth, ecological interest. The dotted line is powerful, elastic, and has signs of life. A calligraphy work should form the beauty of the ecological environment. Fifth, the situation is interesting. "Situation" refers to the form and posture of calligraphy. Tang Linchu's "Book Finger" said: "The coming of the book deed was originally from the painting of the hexagram, and the situation was born from the seal. It can be seen that the "situation" of calligraphy and Chinese characters are interdependent. And the "shape" can be viewed, and the "potential" can be abstract and ideological. The agility of dots and lines directly affects the beauty of the work. Sixth, the knot is interesting. Like a building, the composition structure is sparse, tight, stretched, fluent, simple, strange, steep, rich, and steady. Seventh, the layout is interesting. The black and white division is reasonable, the left and right reflection bands, the upper and lower echoes, and the rows and columns are sparse. Eighth, artistic conception and interest. Calligraphy is an ideographic art. The artistic conception is the product of the combination of the calligrapher's understanding of nature and life, observation and thinking. Nine is natural fun. Natural beauty and natural interest are the most simple artistic tastes of calligraphy works.
The above nine kinds of "interesting beauty" are the things that calligraphers must pay attention to, and they are also the "elements" of beauty that ancient and modern calligraphers need to pursue in their lives.
In today's society, aesthetic taste has a significant impact on people's aesthetics, so thinkers and educators have put cultivating people's positive, healthy and noble aesthetic tastes in the first place. Highlight the special ability to appreciate, identify, and judge beauty and ugliness of aesthetic taste, as well as the perception, sensibility, imagination, judgment and innovation of aesthetics. Therefore, the mission of today's calligraphers is to express the personality of calligraphy works as much as possible and enhance the "interest" of the appreciators. The second is to pay attention to the aesthetic requirements of society, the times and the nation, and put "purpose" in the first place. The third is to pay attention to the psychological and aesthetic foundation, aesthetic intention, cultural upbringing, and political, economic and cultural life influence of the aesthetic subject, highlight the characteristics of the aesthetic style of the nation and the era, and stimulate the aesthetic interest of the appreciator in the art of calligraphy. For example, in today's era, the pursuit of "tall, big, and high" is the mainstream aesthetic trend, so many calligraphers write huge large-scale works when holding calligraphy exhibitions, so that the audience feels visually shocked. The calligrapher should also write small works for the viewer to enjoy. Large-scale works bring visual sensational effects, and small-scale works bring static pleasure, so that the viewer is in an atmosphere of blending movement and stillness, which was not achieved by the ancients.
To sum up, the aesthetic "fun" of calligraphy should be regarded as a fashion in today's calligraphy world, and the connotation of "Shang Fun" should be removed from the dialectical unity of perceptual and rational, subjective and objective.