Wu Changshuo (1844-1927) was one of the most prestigious artists in the history of modern Chinese art, and had a profound influence on the development of contemporary art. He was first named Jun, later named Junqing, the word Cangshi, Cangshi, Changshi, etc., the number Puchao, Lulu, Kutie, and signed the lotus, the old man, the big deaf, after the age of 70, to the word line, Zhejiang Anji County. His calligraphy, painting, and seal carving can all integrate the strengths of each family, and integrate them into one. In particular, he loved the Stone Drum Script all his life, and studied it throughout his life, incorporating the Stone Drum Script into calligraphy, painting and seal carving. His artistic spirit of "blunt knife hard entry", so that his calligraphy is full of the ancient atmosphere of the seal, the winding knot of the plum blossom pine tree in the painting can be achieved in the reckless and clumsy realm, and the seal carving is more courageous to innovate, from the delicate outline, the knife marks are seen to jump into the simple and clumsy wilderness, into the natural realm, there is a unique gold and stone taste.
Wu Changshuo was good at making stones when he was more than ten years old, and he often couldn't put it down when he was studying. When the private school teacher saw this, he strictly forbade it, but he still secretly carved a knife alone in a no-man's land. At the age of 14, under the guidance of his father, he learned to treat seals, and at the age of 16, because his family was poor and could not afford to buy knives and stones, he used scrap iron to make knives and bricks instead of stones.
Calligraphy pays attention to penmanship, structure, and chapters, and the management of seals also pays attention to knife methods, seal methods, and chapter methods. For Wu Changshuo, calligraphy and printing are closely linked and complement each other. When he ruled the seal, he did not like to blindly imitate, but adopted a variety of transformation methods. In his early years, he said in the poem "Engraving": "The disease of the ancient is incurable", "Today's people but copy the ancient past, who is above the ancient past?" This is a loud slogan for him to never be confined to prejudices and dare to innovate. In his early years, he learned Zhong Xiang in regular script, and learned Wang Duo in calligraphy, and later participated in Ouyang Xun, Mi Fu's penmanship, especially he was good at "Stone Drum Text", which nourished a lot of its seals.
At the age of 65, when he wrote his own book "Stone Drum Text", he said: "It is good to learn the seal and come to the "Stone Drum", and he has been engaged in it for decades, and there is a realm of one day at a time. It can be seen that when he studied "Stone Drum", he did not simply pursue the accumulation of quantity and the proficiency of skills, but deeply experienced its ancient and turbulent realm. Some commentators believed: "The Lulu is named after the "Stone Drum", and its knot is uneven from left to right, which can be said to be new and unprecedented. To be in a good place, in order to use the pen vigorously, the breath is strong. Wu Changshuo borrowed Deng Shiru's small seal posture to change the original square posture of "Stone Drum Text" into a slender body, and used the brushwork of Jin Wen to write "Stone Drum", so that it has a majestic seal atmosphere. He also used the method of writing cursive script, so that the seal structure of the "Stone Drum Script" can be uneven up and down. Later, he used the brushwork of "Stone Drum Text" to melt the posture of pottery and carved stone characters, and then formed a unique seal script style. This laid a solid foundation for his calligraphy.
Wu Changshuo ruled the seal, especially the chapter method, he borrowed the layout of the painting into the seal, through the strokes of the light, dense, uneven, stretch and bend and other techniques, so that the layout of the seal is lively and vivid, but also highly balanced and harmonious. The distribution of the shelf between the seals and white texts strives to be airtight and impermeable, just like the white in calligraphy. Wu Changshuo is familiar with this artistic principle of the coexistence of virtual and real, and skillfully applies it to his creation, so that his seals can be as little as one or two characters and as many as several crosses, all of which can be reasonably laid out and skillfully arranged. He is often able to make amazing strokes, but he also turns danger into a disaster, which makes people feel funny.
Wu Changshuo's seal, influenced by the breath of "Stone Drum Text", is bold and spicy, and the momentum is magnificent. However, in his early years, he was influenced by the wind of the times, and he still used the knife delicately and delicately, with clear outlines and knife marks, although lively and vivid, but there was an obvious carving atmosphere. After middle age, he gradually used the knife to be straight and heroic, no longer sticking to the subtleties of the knife, but pursuing a broad momentum and majestic effect, so some critics believe that his knife technique is a combination of Qian Song and Wu Rangzhi, that is, to use a blunt knife to enter the seal hard. Especially in his later works, he used a knife to blunt and coarse, and even in order to achieve the effect of being simple and clumsy, and reckless, he used the method of broken stones, or chiseled the printing edge of the printing surface, to break the flat plate caused by lack of energy and eyesight.
Wu Changshuo's seal is like his calligraphy "Stone Drum Text"; Wu Changshuo's calligraphy is like his seal.