"Wu Changshuo's Stone Drum Essays"

Wu Changshuo (1844.8.1-1927.11.29). His first name was Jun, also known as Junqing, with the courtesy name Changshuo, and also signed Cangshi and Cangshi. His nicknames include Cangshuo, Laocang, Laofou, Kutie, Dade, Fou Taoist, Shi Zunzhe, etc.

A native of Zhangwu Village, Xiaofeng County, Zhejiang Province (now Anji County, Huzhou City).

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, he was a famous Chinese painter, calligrapher and seal engraver, a representative of the "Houhai School" and the first president of Hangzhou Xiling Seal Society.

Wu Changshuo, Ren Bonian, Pu Hua, and Xu Gu are collectively known as the "Four Great Masters of the Shanghai School in the Late Qing Dynasty".

He combines "poetry, calligraphy, painting and sealing" into one body, and combines gold and stone calligraphy and painting into one furnace. He is known as "the first person in stone drum seal script" and "the last peak of literati painting".

He is a banner figure in painting, calligraphy, and seal cutting, and has high attainments in poetry, epigraphy, and other aspects.

Wu Changshuo enthusiastically supported the underachievers, and Qi Baishi, Wang Yiting, Pan Tianshou, Chen Banding, Zhao Yunhe, Wang Gezhen, Sha Menghai, etc. all received his guidance.

Wu Changshuo's collection of works includes "Wu Changshuo's Painting Collection", "Wu Changshuo's Works Collection", "Bitter Iron Broken Gold", "Foulu Near Ink", "Wu Cang Stone Seal Book", "Foulu Seal", etc., poetry collections There is "Fu Lu Collection".

Wu Changshuo began to learn regular script from Yan Lugong, then learned stone carvings from the Han Dynasty, and learned stone drum inscriptions in seal script. Learn from Huang Tingjian and Wang Duo in running calligraphy.

Wu Changshuo's calligraphy works are mainly seal script and running cursive script. The official script he wrote in his later years has become longer in structure, taking a vertical posture, and the pen is vigorous and full, with traces of seal script. The seal script and official script are integrated into one, forming The unique look of my own calligraphy.

Wu Changshuo's official script can be found in the "Han Sangong Mountain Stele", "Zhang Qian Stele", "Songshan Stone Carvings", "Ode to the Stone Gate" and other Han steles.

After middle age, I read many original epigraphy and stone rubbings, and chose Shigu inscriptions as the main copy object. After decades of repeated study, the stone drum essays written by him are concise, powerful and unique in style.

After the age of 60, Shigu’s writings are particularly sophisticated, sophisticated and capable. I like to write couplets from the collection of Shigu characters.

In his later years, he used seal script and official script to write cursive scripts. His writing style was vigorous, powerful, and informal.

"Xiling Seal Society" is an inscription written by Wu Changshuo when he was 71 years old to commemorate the founding of Xiling Seal Society. It has excellent diction and calligraphy. It is a masterpiece of Xiaozhuan art style in Wu Changshuo's old age. .

"Stone Drum Inscriptions" is the earliest stone inscription in my country. It is carved on ten drum-shaped stones, hence its name. Each stone has a four-character poem, which is about the hunting of the king of Qin, so the "stone drum text" is also called the "hunting code" text.

The original stone is about three feet high and about two feet in diameter. Because it has been repeatedly destroyed by war and fire, and corroded by wind and rain, it is quite wet. One of the stones was chiseled white in the Song Dynasty, and the other stone has no characters left. According to Guo Moruo's statistics, "Shiguwen" has 465 complete characters.

The lines of "Shiguwen" are more even and rounded than those of bronze inscriptions. The glyph structure is simpler than that of oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions. It is neat and slightly rectangular, and the parallel lines are often arranged and decorated. Rigorous and dense, the pen is round and straight, the strokes are vigorous and dignified, the spacing between words and lines is wide and balanced, the words are as sparse as the stars and the moon in the clear sky, the characters are as big as an inch, the charm is ancient, powerful and vigorous, simple and natural, and has been highly praised by everyone in the past. Get an excellent sample of the Great Seal Script.

The "Essential Theory of Seals" written by Zhu Jian of the Ming Dynasty said: "Shiguwen is the first method in ancient and modern times."

In the history of thousands of years of writing, Wu Changshuo is the one who has studied the "Shiguwen" the most, the most profoundly and the most uniquely. Anyone who comments on Wu Changshuo must mention his recent "Stone Drum Essays".

"Stone Drum Prose" made Wu Changshuo successful, and Wu Changshuo also promoted the artistic value of "Stone Drum Prose".

From the performance point of view, Wu Changshuo's "Shiguwen" appears in the form of copying, but few people look at his "Shiguwen" from the perspective of appreciating copying. It should be said that Wu Changshuo's "Shiguwen" is a well-founded creation, which reflects Wu Changshuo's unique understanding of "Shiguwen". Rather than say coming, it is better to say creating.

Wu Changshuo wrote it when he was 75 years old. It has a very different appearance from the original version of "Shigu Wen". It has both a classical form and its own style.

This is reflected in several aspects:

In terms of font shape, it has changed from slightly rectangular to rectangular in the original version;

The length-to-width ratio is close to the golden section. It is the best structural form;

In terms of lines, the smooth and solid shape of the original version has become a flowing, natural and flying style. The lines are round and solid, without any sloppy or slippery meaning.

The lines of the strategy calligraphy give it a sense of fragmentation and the spirit of gold and stone.

Structurally, the original straight posture has been transformed into an uneven posture, with each word flying and ready to come out.

The space is divided, breaking the balance. It is sparse and can be moved around, but it is airtight.

When writing, he is old and powerful, full of strength and domineering.

When using ink, it can be divided into thick, dry and moist. This is Wu Changshuo's successful attempt to use the past to create the present.

Seal script is a static form. Wu Changshuo made seal script have a sense of flying and lyrical meaning, which made future generations admire him.

The beginning and end of "Shiguwen" are very distinctive and critical.

In Wu Changshuo's "Stone Drum Essay", the starting and ending of writing are all natural. There are few deliberate reverse movements, which reflects Wu Changshuo's natural writing characteristics.

However, there are many criticisms in Ma Zonghuo's "Sai Yue Lou Bi Tan". It is believed that Wu Changshuo used the method of painting Chinese cabbage to write books, which ruined the seal writing method and filled the paper with village spirit. His writing strokes naturally reveal their edge.

Wu Changshuo was famous at home and abroad for his "four unique skills" of poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing. He first learned seal sealing, then poetry and calligraphy, and then painting. Finally, he integrated the four, creatively inherited the excellent tradition of Chinese calligraphy and painting art, and independently developed his own personality and expertise. As a result, he formed a distinctive personal style in calligraphy, painting and printing. It can be said that there are books and seals in the paintings, and there are books and paintings in the seals, and each has its own poetic mood.

His artistic works all have strong artistic characteristics, that is, "majestic momentum, majestic courage, bold brushwork, thick ink color, splendor in the simplicity, and agility in the thickness" ( Liu Jiang's "Research on Wu Changshuo's Seal Cutting Art") integrates the great national spirit, the simple style of the times, and the honest personal character.

When Wu Changshuo was a teenager, he mainly copied regular script, starting with facial expressions, and then became obsessed with Zhongyao's small regular script in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. He paid attention to the implicitness of the pen and the simple connotation of the knotted characters, which laid a solid foundation. When he was a teenager, he studied in Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Suzhou. Because he got to know Yang Jianshan, he became more immersed in seal script and official script. He first received guidance from Yang Jianshan, then was influenced by Yang Yisun, and later was greatly influenced by the calligraphy of Deng Shiru, Wu Rangzhi and other calligraphers. He has copied a large number of Han steles, such as "Songshan Stone Carvings", "Zhang Qian Stele", "Ode to the Stone Gate", "Sishan Gongshan Stele" and so on. In his later years, he liked to write bronze inscriptions such as "Sanshi Pan", but the greatest influence on his seal script was "Shiguwen", which he wrote and comprehended repeatedly throughout his life. Wu Changshuo's early seal script has not yet escaped the influence of contemporary people.