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Sun Guoting's theory of the essence of calligraphy
Text/Yang Ze
Finishing Editor_"Smell is Culture"
What is the essence of the art of calligraphy? In the contemporary book world, there are still many opinions. In China's book theory, Tang Rensun Guoting has a very profound and incisive insight in his brilliant masterpiece "Book Genealogy", which is worthy of our study and reference.
First of all, Sun Guoting believes that calligraphy belongs to art, which is different from ordinary words written purely for practical purposes. In the Tang Dynasty, there were not many calligraphy works created purely for appreciation, and most of what we see now are works that are both practical and bookable, and have high artistic appreciation value. The so-called "different from the words that are generally written purely practical" refers to works that have both the latter function. Calligraphic works of art are the creation of calligraphers, so he wrote the creation theory of "five obediences" and "five combinations" in the "Book Notation". After analyzing the subjectivity and objectivity of creation, he came to the conclusion that "it is better to get the time than to get the instrument, and it is better to get the instrument than to get the will." The "Zhi" here is the "Zhi" of the "Poetry" (the "Zhi" of the Shangshu Yaodian is the "Zhi" of the "Gentleman's Bell and Drum Daozhi" and the "Zhi" of the Xunzi Le theory. It shows that the creation of calligraphy art is the same as the writing of poems, fu, and sao, "the heart of mourning, and the sound of singing" (Hanshu Yiwenzhi). "Emotional words, taking the meaning of the wind and turmoil, Yang Shu Yin and Misery, the heart of heaven and earth." (The following quotations without attribution are from the "Book Spectrum") The creation of calligraphy art, as Liu Xun (xie) said: "The image of the sole illumination, the voyeurism and the luck of the jin." The reason why Wang Yi has become an admired master in "Wenxin Carved Dragon Divine Thought" and his calligraphy art has been appreciated by generations of people is not only because he "can understand the ancient and modern", but also "it is also a deep harmony of feelings". He was a calligrapher, not a writer. His handwriting is a work of art, not just a practical text. The "Book Genealogy" has listed Wang Xizhi's "Treatise on Le Yi", "Oriental Shuo Painting Praise", "Huang Ting Jing", "Taishi Zhen", "Lan Xiang Preface", "Confession of Oath" and other works with different interests, indicating that their "difference" is caused by the author's "love and migration". It is precisely because of this that calligraphy can "reach its disposition and shape its mourning", and it can also play a unique poetic role of "ratio" and "xing". Sun Guoting's exposition is indeed "to cite the wisdom of the predecessors and to learn from the rules."
Secondly, Sun Guoting believes that calligraphy differs from other arts in that it uses line as the artistic language of art. Therefore, he vividly described the beauty of the lines in the calligraphy works of Chung, Zhang, and the "Two Kings" in a large paragraph, saying: "The difference between the hanging needles of Guan Fu, the wonder of the thunder falling stones, the terrifying assets (postures) of the Hongfei beasts, the frightening state of the snakes, the trend of the desperate peaks, and the shape of the endangered hammer." Or as heavy as a cloud, or as light as a cicada wing; otherwise, the spring is injected, and the dun is as peaceful as a mountain; the slender is like the cliff of the first moon, falling among the stars of Judah. These wonderful lines in calligraphy are not the reproduction of objective things, but the "image" of the image of all things, the "image of nothingness" (Zhang Huaihuan), which is called "image". "The elephant is so intent, proud and forgetful" (Wang Bi), this wonderful line of calligraphy, unlike the line of geometric figures, is not dead, but has the meaning of "life" (Susan Grand). Rodin once said, "A prescribed thread runs through the great universe and endows all creation, and they move in it, and they feel free." (Quoted from Zong Baihua's "Aesthetic Thoughts in Chinese Calligraphy") The lines of calligraphy are such lines!
Lines are straight, long and short, square, thick and so on. Sun Guoting said, "The grass turns into form," "So that the vertical and horizontal involvement is also; the turning, the hook and the hook are also." What he calls "making" and "turning" refers to how straight lines and curves are used in cursive. Huai Su said that "birds fly out of the forest, snakes into the grass", Yan Zhenqing said "house leak marks", also talk about lines, talk about curvy beauty. It can be seen that ancient calligraphers attached great importance to dot painting and lines.
Lines have imagery of lines, and knots have imagery of knots. Cai Yong said, "For the body of a book, it must enter its form, if it sits and walks, if it flies, if it comes and goes, if it lies down, if it is sad, if it eats wood leaves, if it is a sword, if it is a strong bow and a hard arrow, if it is water and fire, if it is cloudy, if it is sun and moon..." In addition, the imagery is described from the knot body, as well as Cheng Gongsui, Cui Yan, Wei Heng, Suo Jing, and so on. There are also many descriptions of imagery in the Book. There is also an image from a certain writer. For example, Emperor Wu of Liang said that Wang Xizhi's characters were "like a dragon jumping at the Heavenly Gate and a tiger lying on the phoenix"; Han Wei said Huaisu's words, "If you teach linchi, the characters are afraid of becoming a dragon" "Mi Fu said Yan Zhenqing's words, like "the iron pillar is unique, and there is an inviolable color". For a work composed of a thousand words, it may be compared to "Qunhong Playing in the Water", or imagine "Crane Dancing Heaven".
It is not easy to create a calligraphic artwork with images. Sun Shi said to himself, "In the year of Yu Zhixue, he paid attention to Han Mo, tasted The Taste of Yu Lie, devoted himself to the rules of the past, was extremely careful and specialized, and had the art of entering the wood and the ambition of the pool without interruption." Because if you don't study hard, even if you don't master the basic skills of calligraphy, you will be confused and let the pen be the body, "seek its beauty, not also fallacious;" to create a calligraphy work with images, it is even more unimaginable.
Sun Guoting was dismissive of those who did not work hard from the art of calligraphy itself, but played with bells and tricks, and picked up things that were not words and paintings. He said: "There are dragons, snakes, clouds, and so on, such as turtles and cranes, such as The True Yu Shu'er, or Written Rui Yu in that year, the Skillful Danqing, the Gong Deficit Han Mo, the Alien Husband Kai Style, and the non-detailed one." In the "Book Notation", he discussed the characteristics of various fonts. Especially for the two bodies of truth and grass, the discussion is particularly delicate. He said, "Truely, with pointillism as its form, it turns into sensuality; grass takes pointillist painting as its disposition, so that it transforms into form." Bao Shichen of the Qing Dynasty spoke highly of this phrase, saying: "A thousand-year-old black hole has begun to open a glimmer of heaven today." Sun also believes that a calligrapher should write a calligraphy with grass, and those who write cursive should be both true, and also "pass the two seals, bow down to the eight points, including chapters, and swim and fly from". Because "those who cannot be good at the same time, some are not caught, and they are not specialized." These statements are extremely incisive.
Since calligraphy is based on the writing of Chinese characters, it inevitably produces the artistic characteristics of modeling. A yan body calligraphy, like many strong men, stands solemnly; a roll of Huaisu wild grass is like a collective dance, with a thousand postures. But this does not mean that calligraphy has only "space" and no "time". Writing Chinese characters, from the beginning of the stroke to the end of the pen; from the first stroke to the last stroke of a word, from the first word to the last word, is a process of movement, and this movement must also have rhythm and change. Sun Guoting said: "If the number of paintings is combined, their shapes are different; the dots are listed in unison, and the body is obedient, and one point becomes the rule of one word, and one word is the criterion of the final chapter." Violating and not committing, harmony and difference; staying not often late, dispatching perpetual disease; drying fangrun, will be thick and dry; rules are in the square circle, the curve of the hook rope is straight; at first glance it is obscure, if it is hidden, poor and perverted at the end, and reasonable on paper..." We read such a calligraphy work, word for word, and look at his dot paintings, forms, dryness, thick and dry, and other changes, just like listening to a beautiful piece of music.
Calligraphy has an elephant, but it is an "elephant", "the elephant is invisible" ("Lao Tzu") - calligraphy has a sound, but it is "big tone" - "big sound is rare", a high-level calligraphy work, it should be a song of life that "like the overlapping of eight tones, the feeling will be square".
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