Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), known as Zhonglan, Mei'an, late Qing Daoist, calligrapher in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, studied the Six Books since childhood, learned calligraphy, and studied the characters of Yinxu, Zhou, Qin, Han Dynasty and Six Dynasties. Li Ruiqing's calligraphy is based on the "style of calligraphy in gold and stone," creating a kind of knife carving traces and the effect of wind and rain erosion, and then forming a calligraphy style that is twisted and trembling, simple and hard. Regarding Li Ruiqing's calligraphy, the world has mixed reviews, but more people just stop at "depreciating," and the author does not think so. At that time, the idea of stele studies was prevalent in the world of books, and Li Ruiqing opposed the world's blindly raising steles and suppressing posters. After entering the world, Li Ruiqing worked hard to find an opportunity for the integration of stele and poster in the study of stele and poster. On the whole, the book world presents a situation of integration of inscriptions and posts, which has become the aesthetic standard pursued by many calligraphers. In light of the background of the times, the author makes a brief discussion on Li Ruiqing's calligraphy aesthetics.
As far as the aesthetic concept of Linshu is concerned, Li Ruiqing's use of the pen to write the subordinate and the use of the trembling pen to highlight the "golden stone spirit" are related to his stance of "seeking a share in the stone." Obviously, he admired the stele brushwork, but as for the charm he expressed, the author thinks that it was entirely created by Li Ruiqing through the mottled marks on the surface and other things that he used to use his so-called trembling brushwork. Although this kind of trembling pen does enrich the way of using the pen to a large extent, it is inevitable that there will be a habit of shaking. This has appeared in the pen of Huang Tingjian, whose "Self-Discussion of the Valley" clouds: "Yu has studied cursive for more than 30 years, and at the beginning he took Zhou Yue as his teacher, so he has been shaking and vulgar for 20 years. The "shake" here is the trembling pen. In Huang's eyes, the trembling pen is cheesy. Then he emphasized: "To study books, we must have morality in our hearts, and we must learn widely with the sages and philosophers, and books are precious." It means to have a bookish atmosphere. Obviously, the two have different views.
After careful reading, Huang Tingjian wrote the tablet with a post, and the trembling pen was just a borrowed expression technique, the purpose of which was to increase the sense of rhythm, and then achieve the purpose of "using Zen to enter the book". Li Ruiqing, on the other hand, wrote on a stele and wrote a stele, with a trembling pen as the main means of expression, and the aim was to achieve the "golden stone qi" and highlight the effect of the stele. Therefore, Huang Tingjian attaches importance to results and expresses "bookish spirit," while Li Ruiqing attaches importance to process and expresses "golden stone spirit." The two had the same starting point, but the results were very different. This has to be said that "the Song people are still Yi, and the Qing Dynasty is still simple".
While criticizing Bao Shichen's excessive advocacy of stele studies and belittling the study of steles, Li Ruiqing also affirmed that Bao Shichen's sincerity, full of spirit, paving, heavy pressing, and concerted efforts are all embodied in his actual creations. Li Ruiqing's disciples Zhang Daqian, Hu Xiaoshi, and Zaichuan were all able to inherit their astringent and frustrating "golden stone brushes," and this kind of pen was the result of Li Ruiqing's unremitting exploration in the golden stone tablet. The author believes that the effect of Li Ruiqing's use of Bao Shichen's pen can be explained by "form" and "spirit." In Li Ruiqing's eyes, the "form" is just an external skin, and the real core is the "god."
In terms of aesthetics in the experience of studying books, the Qing Dynasty writer Liu Xi Zaiyun: "Books are still clear and thick, and they must be in their hearts. Otherwise, although the book is spared from being muddy, it is only a portrayal of others. The author looks at Li Ruiqing's works and believes that they have the characteristics of "clear" and "thick," and this has a great deal to do with his aesthetic experience. Li Ruiqing once said that "every time I come to the post, I ask for it with a tablet pen", and the "clear" of his works reflects the meaning of "post", and "thick" reflects the meaning of "tablet". In fact, to a large extent, it is very difficult to merge the stele and the poster, and Shen Zengzhi was the pioneer, and Li Ruiqing continued Shen Zengzhi's line of advancing and exploring, and this is to a large extent enough to show Li Ruiqing's unwillingness as a scholar-type calligrapher.
Looking at Li Ruiqing's books, the author thinks that his heart is contradictory. For example, the contradiction of taking the law is hovering between norms and non-norms. The use of the pen of the ancients has long been qualitative, and other calligraphers have strived to innovate, coupled with the continuous emergence of newly unearthed materials, Li Ruiqing's work can be understood on the road of this calligraphy transformation. Another example is the contradiction of grafting, the stele and the post itself are contradictions, and the rational use is innovation, Li Ruiqing flaunts the study of the stele while not forgetting the return of the study of the post, so he is extremely entangled in his heart.
As far as the overall aesthetic aspect is concerned, Liang Qichao said: "The art of calligraphy is the art of expressing individuality. Li Ruiqing said in "The Book of the Jade Plum Blossom Temple": "Learning books is especially expensive, reading more, and reading more is self-elegant. It can be seen that commonality lies in learning, individuality lies in temperament, and commonality can be integrated into individuality to achieve the sublimation of the overall charm, and in general, it is the expression of self-nature. Li Ruiqing's calligraphy is relatively coordinated, and this is related to his own extensive reading.
When Li Ruiqing was confronted with his works with a trembling style, I thought that he had a sense of sublimity, and that this kind of linear physiognomy and linear shape with a "golden stone flavor" had reached the extreme in his eyes. Li Ruiqing's calligraphy embodies the charm of going against the astringency, which is manifested in the fact that the paper is mostly dropped against the front and rolled to the right, so that the pen edge produces a sense of friction and resistance, that is, astringency. Looking at his works, it can be seen that he uses this kind of brushwork, and almost every stroke is twisted and trembling, and Li Ruiqing uses this brushwork to express the vast effect of the erosion of the inscription.
As far as the aesthetics of calligraphy are concerned, Li Ruiqing said in his "The Book of the Jade Plum Blossom Nunnery": "The smell of books is the first thing, otherwise it will be a skill, and it will not be expensive enough." Li Ruiqing positioned the level of calligraphy temperament from the perspective of a scholar. Literati calligraphy may have been his pursuit all along, and even if he was trembling, he did not forget to express the scholarly spirit of the literati. Li Ruiqing followed Zhou and Qin, Bozong and Han and Wei dynasties in the study of calligraphy, and had both styles, especially the work and seals. It can be seen that Li Ruiqing's style of writing is based on the broad-minded concept of calligraphy. As he continued to dabble in his studies, we found that this ability and application of this kind of integration was one of the important conditions for opening up Li Ruiqing's unique style of writing. The golden stone qi under his pen is also constantly nourished through this kind of seal, gold and stone inscriptions, etc. In addition, Li Ruiqing corrected Kang Youwei's radical theory of calligraphy aesthetics. The mixture of styles has always influenced Li Ruiqing's creative practice.
Li Ruiqing has worked extremely hard to break through the traps of his predecessors, transcending from the superficial to the concrete, and is the idealism that has completed the transcendence of the history of calligraphy. However, he lost the true nature of calligraphy because he was too keen to explore, and of course his spirit of exploration is worth learning from, and at the same time, his rigidity and habits also pushed him to the extreme, which is obviously undesirable. However, I think it may be a new brushwork and a new system. If no one explores and just blindly inherits it, then how can the spirit of the "two kings", the spirit of the "four families of the Song Dynasty", the spirit of Wang Duo, and the spirit of He Shaoji come from in the history of calligraphy?
Wen Luo Gairong).