In today's society, the criticism of "ugly books" is particularly fierce, and many people are extremely disgusted with "ugly books", and even anger them at the author, believing that the author's obsession with "ugly books" is a matter of mentality, and some people even associate "ugly books" with conspiracy theories, hating to nail them to the pillar of shame in history forever, and let others spurn and insult them.
In fact, throughout the history of Chinese calligraphy, ugly books are really not only in modern times, there are "ugly books" in all periods of calligraphy development, and without exception they were created by calligraphers at that time.
Zhao Wenyuan, a famous calligrapher in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was famous for the title of the book, appreciated by the emperor, and because of the book, became the county guard of Zhaoxing, this person is good at regular script and official script, most of the inscriptions at that time came from his hand, and was ordered by the emperor to compile a six-body calligraphy dictionary. It is not difficult to see that he is a popular person next to the emperor.
But it is such a person, who was ordered to write "Xiyue Huashan Temple Stele", but suffered the most serious setback in his life, Zhao Wenyuan used a pen and knots to write this stele when he was slightly exaggerated, so he was disgusted by the people of the time, "the words are ancient, shallow and ugly." Nausea at first sight! Since then, the title of the book has plummeted.
However, from today's point of view, "Xiyue Huashan Temple Tablet" is not too out of place, but has a steep and vigorous flavor. It seems that the "ugly book" at that time has been re-recognized after the baptism of time, which is the result of the different cognitions of the times, and there are many similar situations, such as Yan Zhenqing, Xu Wei, Zheng Banqiao, etc., if Zhao Ji is not the emperor, I am afraid that the "thin gold body" will also be listed as an "ugly book".
It can be seen that since ancient times, the people's perception of calligraphy has been very conservative, which seems to be understandable in feudal society, but in today's era of advocating openness, most people's evaluation of calligraphy is still stuck in the stage of the old society, and even more conservative than the ancients.
The ancients only criticized those perverse and bizarre styles, while today's people put any calligraphy that they can't understand or are not used to reading in the ranks of "ugly books", such as cursive script, Xingcao, ancient law official script, etc., are called "ugly books", which makes the "ugly book" camp bigger and bigger, so that many people think that "ugly books" have become the mainstream of today's book world, so they are worried.
It is precisely the people's overly conservative and emotional attitude towards the aesthetics of calligraphy that makes "ugly books" appear particularly prosperous in today's book world, creating the illusion that the world praises "ugly". Although Mr. Qi Gong has been deceased for many years, he is still the only calligrapher with a good reputation in the modern Chinese calligraphy circle, and after Mr. Qi Gong, almost all calligraphers have suffered different degrees of harsh criticism, which shows the one-sidedness of the public's evaluation of calligraphy and calligraphers.
Nowadays, calligraphy has entered a stage of pure artistic development, and there is no good development environment due to practical needs. Calligraphy has come out of the greenhouse and will inevitably go through a cold winter. However, today's calligraphers are still trying to inherit and develop the art of calligraphy, and they have given more elements to calligraphy to prevent it from becoming decadent and old in the drastic changes of the times.
As an art, calligraphy cannot rest on its laurels if it wants to develop, but must embrace all rivers, absorb more external nutrients, and keep up with the pace of the development of the times. There will inevitably be some detours, and this is the risk that exploration must face.
As ordinary people who care about calligraphy, we should recognize the current situation of the development of calligraphy, give more tolerance to those calligraphers who have the courage to explore, and reserve some more relaxed development environment for calligraphy. In the future, the development of calligraphy will still depend on the bold exploration and unremitting persistence of calligraphers, and calligraphy will also present a more diverse style.
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