In recent years, with the rapid development of market economy in China, in order to broaden the field of calligraphy beauty, coupled with the natural temptation of speculation and the proliferation of utilitarianism, there is an abnormal impetuous mood in the calligraphy circle. And this kind of malady is mainly reflected in young people. That is to say, because young people's thinking and aesthetic concepts are short and naive, and their direction is unclear, they are addicted to vulgar, popular and crazy circles all day, chasing "fashion" and blindly expressing the so-called "avant-garde", and they doubt, deny, tamper with and trample on traditional calligraphy, which makes no distinction between right and wrong, elegance and vulgarity, beauty and ugliness, and breaks through moral ethics. Or the words are scattered or dense, the host country is crooked, long and short, extremely conflicting, exaggerated and deformed, wild and messy, disorderly and pretentious, so there is no connotation of truth, goodness and beauty, only vulgar and low-key appearance, and the minimum aesthetic standards of Chinese characters are lost.
In other words, it is urgent to improve the ability of calligraphy appreciation, because if we can correctly appreciate truly beautiful works, there will be no market for dirty, messy and poor things in the cultural field. As every student in school, improving the level of calligraphy appreciation can not only cultivate learning interest, broaden horizons and improve horizons, but also learn from it and improve writing ability.
For us, how can we appreciate a calligraphy work correctly? Because the understanding and appreciation of calligraphy art is a natural and advanced psychological consciousness activity, it is bound to involve the influence of many factors such as the fashion of the times, personal cultivation and experience, sentiment and interest. So it is difficult to have a completely unified standard answer. Furthermore, the art of calligraphy is different from other disciplines. The reason is that the art of calligraphy is not only simple and clear, but also different personal likes and dislikes and aesthetics will naturally have different views on the same work. However, as an appreciation of calligraphy, there are some common rules. According to my personal learning experience and teaching accumulation, I can roughly sum up four elements: strokes, structure, composition and Mo Yun.
These four elements are all based on China's basic cultural thought, which is the formal embodiment of compatible aesthetic implication. How to clearly and systematically understand and deeply analyze the common language of calligraphy art in order to reach a consensus is a test of whether every scholar has the most basic cultural knowledge.
These four elements are explained as follows:
First, the beauty of strokes
Stroke is a kind of line art, which emphasizes the thickness, rhythm and life of stippling. That is, "pen, hard, sharp grip, rich use of pens." This reflects the clear strokes, majestic, continuous movements, rich rhythm and lively posture. In other words, its expressive power has gone far beyond the limitation of words and meanings, bringing people into a new artistic world, a new realm that can express the calligrapher's style, temperament and aesthetic value.
We can see that any calligraphy work, whether it is seal script, cursive script or regular script, is composed of lines. The quality of these lines (stippling) will directly affect the artistic effect of each word. Just like a machine, all parts are qualified, and then assembled, it can run normally. In other words, to write good calligraphy, we must first write good lines.
So, what kind of lines are perfect? Calligraphy lines should be like "clockwork running in a clock", not like "Lamian Noodles cooked in a soup pot". Calligraphy lines must be elastic and have internal momentum or force. Where does the power come from? This has a lot to do with using a pen. As Cai Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Nine Potential Theory": "Hiding the head and protecting the tail, the strength lies in it, and the writing is powerful and unstoppable, coming to the deep valley." That is, we should combine our hearts and hands, or skillfully use pen tools to make the strokes high and frustrated, and Fiona Fang should be horizontal, combining rigidity with softness, combining lightness with lightness, and combining dryness with wetness, thus creating the most endless changes and momentum.
The so-called "penetrating into the wood" and "passing through the paper" are all manifestations of describing power. Only in this way can you write "points are like falling rocks", "hooks are like the beauty of the first moon in the sky", "hanging needles to show the difference" and "circles turn around like broken hairpin". The brushwork is like a cone scraping sand, calm as Yin Yinni, and the brushwork is like a leak. In other words, with a strong sense of strength and full interest in nature, you can be natural and lifelike, and achieve the goal of "every line has movable type, and every word is clever". Of course, if you don't have profound basic skills, you will naturally fail. It's like Beauty with One Eye Sick and Tears of a Strong Man. That is to say, facing a work, as an expert, it is not difficult for him to see whether the stippling form is vivid, beautiful and vigorous, which is also the basic element and key to determine a calligraphy art work.
Therefore, it is natural to analyze and study the brushwork, find out the source of the brushwork strength, and grasp and bear the brushwork reasonably according to your own experience when creating works, and be proficient in the middle, bias and edge of various brushwork, including the style of writing, the expression of personality and the ability to control. Practice has proved that no matter how strong the pen is, if it is not left on paper or can not be reflected in pen and ink, it will inevitably fail. Then it is necessary to focus on enhancing the friction between the pen and paper to produce pen force. Therefore, those vain, papery and heretical works, no matter how fancy, will not bring people a feeling of natural perfection.
Second, the structure is beautiful.
As we all know, Chinese characters are evolved from hieroglyphics, which contain vivid physical evidence and have certain aesthetic factors. The so-called "every word is like its shape." Zhao Mengfu, a calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, famously said, "Calligraphy is based on the use of a pen, so you should also work hard at writing. It is not easy to use a pen through the ages, so it is suitable for the time. " He clearly pointed out that although using a pen is fundamental, we can't help but pay attention to the shelf structure of words. However, the shelf structure is more flexible and plastic than using pens. As "Nine Potential" said: "When you put pen to paper, you can write down the words, the repetition above and the inheritance below, so that you can move forward and set each other off." In other words, within the stippling of calligraphy, between the lines, there must be that kind of momentum that reflects each other and runs through the context, in order to produce artistic appeal and let people appreciate the author's "pen and ink interest." In other words, all good calligraphy styles pay attention to symmetry, density and diversity of structure. In this way, it doesn't matter from top to bottom, and it doesn't matter from left to right. It must not be some staggered, top-heavy, chaotic and disgusting strokes.
However, it should be noted that the so-called requirements for the shape and structure of words are flat and symmetrical, which does not mean that every word is written in a square, stable and well-balanced way. Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, pointed out in the article "Mrs. Wei's Back [Pen Diagram]": "If it is straight and looks like a symbol, it is not a book." It can be seen that plain handwriting, even with certain skill, is not the best calligraphy. For example, the word "pavilion" used in the imperial examination in Qing Dynasty, although neat, was not considered as a work of art by the society because of its rigid modeling structure.
The above requirements for character modeling refer to general creation, but some unrestrained and elegant cursive scripts and this kind of calligraphy can break away from convention, with unique modeling, unique structure and unique innovation. For example, the world's first running script, Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, has 28 lines with a total of 324 words, and each line is written by a leisurely person. Because the figures are beautiful and vivid, each with its own merits, they are regarded as calligraphy treasures by our calligraphy circle. In particular, the 20 "Zhi" characters are smooth, steep, stretching, convergent, neat and smooth. And Kay is not dull, and grass is not crazy. It can be said that it is changeable and natural, and people who know how to read will feel infinite charm.
Third, the beauty of composition.
When appreciating calligraphy, the first thing you often see is the overall layout of branches and rules. For this reason, in order to make the composition beautiful, we must do it word by word, line by line, and the whole beginning and end must be done in one go, connected by context, with appropriate density and size. But also scattered changes, mutual care, the whole article has an organic artistic integrity and vivid and beautiful artistic conception.
The usual composition here contains two meanings: first, it refers to the style (that is, the content outside the text), which is smaller, more flexible and more diverse than the words in the text; Second, the branch layout, such as word spacing, line spacing, word size, style height, and blank space in the field, can be arranged reasonably according to the content. Just like the arrangement of indoor furnishings, the same furniture looks messy and uncomfortable if it is unreasonable, but it will be comfortable and suitable if it is well arranged.
Because calligraphy is a combination of lines, it is also related to art forms such as painting and music in theory. The stippling forms of the whole work should be varied. The so-called "differences" and "taking characters as shapes" are cleverly arranged through stippling, pushing, turning, gaining momentum, straightness, delay, virtual reality and black and white division; We must also achieve the justice of "harmony without difference, violation without committing crimes", injustice and injustice, and profound change. This requires that the change of body posture should be impromptu. In short, the appearance of the same word can be handled by bending and stretching, reducing complexity and continuing to be sparse, so as to be complex but not miscellaneous, sparse but not scattered, and look around. For example, the last few strokes of the words "Hua, Zhang and Jail" should be changed separately, which is the same as the reason that "the swallow does not fly together".
What is cloth white? It means that the blank space of the whole work, that is, where there is no pen and ink, should be arranged properly. Deng, a calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty, once said, "Sparse places can be used for calligraphy and painting, while dense places are not ventilated, and white is often regarded as black, which makes people curious." It means that a little painting is a stippling, and where there is no stippling, it is a stippling. That is to say, in creation, we should not only pay attention to the real part of strokes, but also include the imaginary part in creation. "Counting white as black" refers to the meaning and spirit between strokes and between words, which can be driven by the power of the pen, rushing out of the pen and occupying the blank. A good calligraphy should let the form set off the theme and serve the whole content. The words are not complicated, the words are not empty, the priorities are clear, the strokes are scattered, the strokes are coherent and smooth, and the brushwork is decent and relaxed everywhere.
Moreover, this is especially true in the big rules. For example, "plum blossom plaid" is a relatively regular composition, with vertical rows and horizontal columns, while "rain and snow" or "paving with stones" is a relatively lively composition, with vertical rows, horizontal columns or vertical columns. Generally speaking, a good composition is nothing more than dense lines, vivid charm, easy to write and consistent with the law, and varied without exception. For example, some inscriptions by Zheng Banqiao in Qing Dynasty were crooked, but they were well written, wonderful and lifelike. Without superb writing skills, it is difficult to express it. In this way, most successful calligraphy works in ancient and modern times have a distinct artistic conception of beauty that runs through the whole picture, and the embodiment of this artistic conception is inseparable from the author's rich imagination, artistic accomplishment and extensive knowledge, which is also an important symbol of calligrapher's artistic maturity.
Fourth, Mo Yun is beautiful.
The success or failure of a calligraphy work depends not only on its beautiful appearance but also on its spiritual connotation. This spiritual connotation refers to the inner charm of calligraphy, which is the soul of the art of calligraphy. Wang Sengqian, a calligrapher of Southern Qi Dynasty, said, "The word" book "is the best, followed by the word" line ". Only those who are both can surpass the ancients. " What is "form"? Form refers to what can be seen on paper, such as the thickness, length, straightness, rigidity and softness of lines, the vertical and horizontal opening and closing of regular arrangement, and the shade and dryness of pen and ink, all of which belong to the category of form, and also refer to the appearance of art. The real artistic spirit lies in the display of "emotion" in calligraphy, that is, expression. It is through the movement of pen and ink that the written words not only have ever-changing beautiful forms, but also have ups and downs of lively spirit. The so-called "pen turns with emotion, meaning with words" and "shape is vivid on paper." Therefore, calligraphy without spirit is the clay sculpture and wood carving of ordinary people. Only by understanding this principle can we see that calligraphy takes spirit from form. The spirit is a writer's ideological sentiment and cultural accomplishment, which can be truly expressed through "form and quality". Therefore, it is much more difficult to appreciate the charm of calligraphy than to appreciate the lines, techniques and structural modeling of calligraphy, because the former is tangible and solid, tangible and tangible; Charm is intangible and contains, so it is difficult to point it out specifically. The so-called "easy shape is rare" means that it looks infinite. Ordinary writers tend to have statutes and reasonable structures, but they often lack charm. Therefore, this kind of calligraphy without charm can only be called technology, not art. Emperor Taizong put it well: "Words take God as their soul, and if God is at odds, words have no attitude." Although there are not many words, it is an important philosophy to comment on the artistry of calligraphy works.
How on earth do we know verve? The so-called "God" refers to the most essential spiritual expression of the author's soul, most of which is inspiration. But the word "rhyme" still contains the bold spirit. Therefore, works with verve are always unique, elegant and natural, without any traces of carving, such as Three Stones, Ode to Shimen, Shimen Ming and Shi Guwen. "Er Cuan", "Cuan Baozi" and "Cuan Long Yan" are really fascinating, natural, unadorned, heavy and clumsy, strange and unrestrained, and are excellent works full of charm.
Furthermore, the cursive scripts of Zhang Xu, Huai Su and Song Huizong are also famous for their charm. Just as Li Bai described Huai Su's cursive script as "falling flowers in the snow" and "listening to ghosts and gods only makes the dragons and snakes go far", it can enlighten us to understand the association and charm of cursive script. It can lead the viewer to a more wonderful artistic conception and make the viewer interesting and resonate.
In other words, the art of calligraphy is to create a picture with aesthetic value with a pen and turn symbolic words into an artistic image full of life. Therefore, we should systematically learn the common sense of calligraphy, so as to constantly improve our artistic quality, correct our aesthetics, grasp the pulse of the calligraphy era, adjust our consciousness, clarify our thinking, learn from tradition, boldly explore, comprehensively absorb new ideas of various arts, understand the original development track of calligraphy in a sublation way, clean up the mind polluted by dust troubles, and enhance the appreciation ability of calligraphy art.
In short, if you want to appreciate the art of calligraphy, you must have the basic quality of art appreciation.