The style of the Bada Shanren and the inspiration for the creativity of Chinese characters

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Source: l Art Education Research Author | Liu Jiexin and Chen Yuanchuan share l Shuyi Commune (ID: shufaorg)

This paper analyzes the connotation, glyph structure and font mood of the Bada Shanren monogram, summarizes the Yijiang style contained in the Bada Shanren monogram, and analyzes the design ideas that are conducive to the creativity of Chinese characters by combining the inspiring characteristics of the Chinese character creativity.

The history of the monopoly has a long history, and there have been records of "signature" since the Han and Jin dynasties. As a form of ancient signature, the monogram was widely used in many fields and has been constantly changing and enriching with the development of the times. The monogram contains a wealth of design ideas, and it can be said that each monogram is a unique work of art. The main research object of this paper is the monogram of the Bada Shanren, and the specific analysis of the character construction method and the style of the craftsman contained in the monogram is analyzed.

1. Overview of the Monogram The Great Dictionary of Ancient Chinese interprets "monogram" as "a cursive signature on an old document or a special symbol in place of a signature"[1]. Therefore, the monogram can be a name, a name, or some kind of symbolic symbol. Its early social function was anti-counterfeiting, and the monogram can be understood as a personalized signature or personal mark of the ancients, which was designed with a certain special style. As for the origin of the abate, most of the literature mentions the "five clouds" of Wei Zhi, a minister of the Tang Dynasty. Legend has it that Wei Zhi always asked people to ghostwrite letters, only at the end of the personal signature, once said that the word "陟" written by himself is like five clouds, from which the "five clouds" come. Therefore, the "pentaclouds" can be understood as a manifestation of the early period of the monogram. Since then, the monogram has continued to develop, and in order to meet the needs of ease of use, it has gradually changed from the character into the monogram, and its style has been constantly enriched [2]. The anti-counterfeiting effect of the monogram requires that it must have the uniqueness of the form, which makes the designer "open his mind", especially the monogram signature of the emperor and the literati, which is even more ingenious, and even becomes a carrier to express personal feelings and ambitions, and becomes a design product with a high degree of combination of content and form.

2. The Monogram of the Bada Shanren has a complex background and a tortuous life experience, and many of his monograms have a unique personal artistic style and design. 1. The life of Bada Shan, named Zhu Qi, was born in the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, and at the age of nineteen he was forced to start a life of seclusion in the mountains and hiding from the war. People can understand the indignation in his heart from the numerous trumpets of the Bada Mountain People. The self-pronouns used by the Bada Shanren are quite tangible, lonely, self-ironic and self-deprecating. He is in a troubled time, the hatred of the country and the family cannot be relieved, and he has to be careful to live, and it is not difficult for people to understand the helplessness implied in his many obscure names. 2. The method of word formation comprehended from the Bada Shanren monogram contains rich design ideas, and shows personal interest vividly through the expression of calligraphy. Combined with the previous scholars' understanding of the Bada Shanren monogram glyphs, the author sorts out and lists the word formation methods comprehended from the monograms. (1) Class-like sharingClass-like sharing refers to the sharing of similar strokes or structures to enhance the connectivity between multiple characters. In order to achieve the unity of the font and the perception of the font, he often shared the strokes of multiple characters. For example, the word "He" in "He Garden" and the last stroke of the word "bamboo" in "Huangzhu Garden" are written vertically, omitting the pen, and connecting with the border of the word "Yuan", which enhances the unity of the multi-character structure. The method of class shape sharing makes the multi-character structure more relevant by selecting the common point between the glyphs as the breakthrough point of the connection. (2) Deconstruction of the word Deconstruction of the word is to disassemble the structure of a word into a combination of multiple words, and the "Sijun" flower monogram is a typical example. "Sijun" is a monogram created by the Bada Shanren who miss the monarch of the Ming Dynasty and express their sorrows, which is an exaggerated deformation of the cursive script of the word "painting" in the "Bada Shanren Painting". A vertical stroke in the middle of the character "畫" is broken and stretched to the left, much like a stroke of the character "Jun", which is combined with the character "Tian" in the lower part of the character "畫" to form "Jun", and the character "Tian" and the last horizontal character are combined into "Si", and when read from the bottom to the top, there is the font form of "Sijun"[3]153. In this monogram, the original character "畫" and the split characters "思" and "Jun" have similarities in the font structure, and the stroke structure of "畫" has been decomposed and regenerated, moving closer to the recognizable form of "Si" and "Jun", that is, it produces a wonderful feeling that the whole is like one word and many characters in a fine view. (3) Fusion and construction refers to the method of constructing multiple words through the sharing of strokes or parts to form a word formation similar to a glyph. Compared with the sharing of class shapes, the structural relationship between multiple words is more tight. In the process of combination, some morphological generalizations can be made according to the more recognizable parts of the monomer glyphs. For the word "De", the "inch" glyph with more morphological characteristics is mainly used as part of the expression, and the deformation is processed, and the stippling structure is omitted, so as to combine with the "mouth" shape of the word "pick", and with the help of the freehand lines of calligraphy, the two forms are better integrated. (4) The pen shape is the physical form of the stroke, and the pen shape refers to the arrangement and layout of the multi-word combination with the help of the pen line with great charm in calligraphy, creating a dynamic line with a great sense of form, and the performance of the rest of the characters is based on the direction and form of this line. As shown in Figure 1(1), the "March 19" glyph on the left breaks the traditional framework, and rotates and exaggerates the strokes of the "nine" character at will, and the "three" character is attached to the pen shape of the "nine" character to rotate to the right, and the structure also tends to be tactfully transformed, and the "month" character is inverted and closed, so as to fit the pocket shape of the "nine" character with the opening upwards at the end of the "nine" character; The bending amplitude of the middle curve of "March 19" on the right is small, and the character "three" does not rotate, but presents a stroke design of left and right end, which is consistent with the shape of the curve on the right, and the character "month" rotates inverted to the right, which is consistent with the direction of the pocket-shaped pen at the end of the word "nine", and the opening is slightly outward, which is consistent with the shape of the pocket-shaped pen.

Figure 1

(5) Character isomorphismCharacter isomorphism refers to the transformation of the strokes of the characters into the corresponding graphic elements, and the relayout of the word structure according to the picture composition thinking. The composition of the Bada Shanren is very personal. In the "Picture of Two Birds" (fig. 2) in the "Ann Evening Book", the stones, tree roots and birds in the lower right are closely connected to form a block structure, while there is a slender, solitary branch in the left part of the picture. This kind of composition, in which the bottom element of the picture is full, and the middle and upper part is a slender object on the left side, has been applied in many paintings of the Bada Shanren, such as "Picture of Withered Willows and Birds". Bada Shanren uses this combination of picture elements in the overall structure of the monogram multi-character combination, the word "individual" of "Xiang Xiang Eat" is often written slightly to the left, one is made into a short dot, one is connected to the apostrophe, and the slender body of the glyph is strengthened by the splicing of strokes, and the three characters of "Xiang Ru Eat" at the bottom are closely connected. The isomorphism of painting characters can strengthen the unity and rationality of multi-character combinations through the composition form with great formal beauty, and skillfully integrate the meaning and rhyme of painting with the structure of words.

Figure 2

3. The Yijiang style of the Bada Shanren Monogram The word "Yijiang" is interpreted in the Dictionary of Chinese Philosophy as "the concept of artistic conception in aesthetic creation in Chinese aesthetics" [4]. In Du Fu's "Danqing Presents General Cao", "the edict is that the general brushes the silk, and the craftsman is in the bleak operation" can well interpret the outstanding creative spirit carried by the word "craftsman". From the choice of words to the font design, to the composition of the monogram and the picture, every link of the Bada Shanren is quite ingenious. The specific analysis of the Yijiang style of the Bada Shanren can be divided into the following five points. (1) The idea of ligature, the common ligature form of the Feng-style clever construction of the Bada Shanren [5], which is usually a combination of two to four characters, and the multi-character structure is closely related, so that the glyphs of the multi-character combination are very integrated. The ligature technique of the Bada Shanren can be divided into two types. One is to make words out of words. Chinese characters are composed of fixed strokes and radicals, which can be seen as a mix and match of dotted and line-based structures, so it is possible to seek the dot-line relationship between characters with different glyph structures or the similarities between deep meanings. The second is to shape with words. The form here does not refer to a simple figurative figure, but a graphic composition with a more formal beauty. This form of composition is not confined to a fixed frame, but it is also integral, which can make the form of multi-character combination produce a more unique visual experience. In addition, the monogram of the Bada Shanren also makes the unity of the combination of multiple characters stronger through the technique of homomorphic compounding. The multi-character structure or stroke is summarized by loose and exaggerated pen lines, and this summary pen shape is repeatedly used to enhance the integrity of the multi-word combination. As shown in Figure 3 (2), the initial character "忝" in the monogram "忝ouz" is simplified to a horizontal and similar twist-like combination form, which is similar to the summary pen shape of the tail character "Z". The monogram "He Yuan" is to form a semi-enclosed structure on the left and right sides of the character "He" through the connecting pen in the upper part, which is suitable for the semi-enclosing glyph of the word "Yuan", so as to strengthen the formal association; In the monogram "Xiang Ru Eat", there are two similar circle ligatures on the left side of the combined pen form of the three characters of "Xiang Ru Eat", and two similar right upward arc structures are seen on the right side, forming a similar parallel layout, so that the three-character structure is more closely combined on the basis of the connected strokes.

Figure 3

(2) Spontaneous, orderly and spontaneous in change, it refers to the fact that a monogram of the Bada Shanren often has multiple writings. For example, "March 19" has no less than six kinds of deformation structure design, and the characters "three" and "month" have various forms of rotation. In one way of writing, the character "month" rotates horizontally, and the outer contour combination of "ten" and "month" resembles the character "nine". For another example, the famous monogram "Crying and Laughing" of the Bada Mountain People also comes from the way it changes its pen, and the character "eight" is either made into a short dot shape or in the shape of a "><", similar to the expression change of crying and laughing. Through methods such as rotating the glyph and changing the composition structure and pen shape, the Bada Shanren make the style of the monogram multi-character combination rich and varied, which is very creative and ingenious. Although the shape of each monogram varies from time to time, it is based on the main structure and recognizable strokes. For example, the character "three" in "March 19" is always monolithic, and a long curve runs through it in a variety of writing styles, with a cross structure, which retains a distinctive visual characteristic. This kind of design idea of using the prominent and recognizable parts of the font structure as the basis for creation, and regenerating changes, can combine change and invariance, and make the font form flexible and ingenious, and traceable. (3) The metaphor of the heart is harmonious, and the charm is diverse, and there is "the husband who charges the word, and the heart of the person is also imprinted"[6], so as to express the internal connection between the flower and the person. Starting from the life experience of the Bada Shanren, the researchers analyzed and understood the emotional meaning of the sadness and sadness contained in their flowers. For the Bada Shanren, it has long gone beyond the role of signature and anti-counterfeiting, and has become a personal symbol of self-criticism and lyrical feelings. "The line has a strong emotional, rhythmic essence." [7] Bada Shanren are good at using linear shapes and inter-character structures to create different font moods. For example, the "crying laughter" monogram, the four characters are different in size, high and low, the upper part is mostly short-body strokes, the font perception is dexterous and jumping, the lower part of the strokes are extended, the lines are straight and the use of stroke turns makes the font present a strong sense of contrast, which enhances the drama of the font mood, and has the charm of the words of "crying and laughing". For another example, the monograph "忝鸥zi" has the meaning of seclusion and remoteness. There is a cloud in "Sin": "In the past, it was a gull on the water, but now it is a caged bird." The signature of these three characters may be a metaphor for the Bada Shanren's pursuit of freedom[3]173. The structure of the three-character font is becoming more and more loose, and more continuous writing and short strokes are used to make the overall glyph feel more comfortable and elegant, which is a perfect fit with the meaning of the word. In addition, there are also the freehand hearty "Pickup", Jian Yan's smart "He Garden", and the lonely "Eating Like a Look". The monogram font style of the Bada Shanren is changeable, and the specific potential and character mood are full of charm. (4) The characters are skillfully blended, and the artistic style of the calligrapher and painter often runs through his various artistic expressions, and the monogram of the Bada Shanren has a close connection with his painting thoughts, which can be manifested in three aspects. One is the symbolic semantics of word selection. The materials in the paintings of the Bada Shanren are very symbolic, such as the swimming fish with a single shadow, the lonely bird with its head shrunk to the ground, and the withered branches growing wantonly, rendering the lonely and cold temperament in the form of the object, symbolizing his tortuous life situation and desolate state of mind[8]. "Eating like a person" means that the Bada Shanren borrowed the allusion of Sima Xiangru's stuttering to express that they also have this disease or this situation of being unable to express their inner feelings[3]47. "Huangzhuyuan" is taken from "I 徂 Huangzhu" in Zhou Muwang's "Huangzhu", and the Bada Shanren use "Huangzhuyuan" as a seal and paragraph, representing an expression of the "Wangsun complex"[3]143, and also using symbolism to allude to personal thoughts and feelings. The second is the long-line feature of the knot shape. In the paintings of the Bada Shanren, there are common linear objects, straight or curved, such as lotus stems, dead branches, willow branches, etc.; There are also linear expressions, for example, the towering boulders are rarely inked and the outlines are clear and definite, and they are large in the volume of the picture. It can be said that the paintings of the Bada Shanren have distinctive linear expression characteristics. In the ligature structure, the extension and exaggeration of linear strokes are emphasized, and the single long linear strokes are retained, and the combination of long lines and structures is not carried out, as well as the combination of long lines and splices of multi-character strokes and structures to strengthen the linear structure. This structural design can make the monogram more integrated with the picture expression. The third is the natural style of ligature. The plants depicted by the Bada Shanren are intertwined with each other, and the animals are diverse and vivid, and the combination of various objects and images is not beautified with a unified form, allowing them to show their own physical characteristics, presenting a natural and unpretentious aesthetic tendency. The ligature structure of the Bada Shanren monogram is also very natural, not closely connected from beginning to end, but an alternating combination of the broken structure, with the broken pen embellishment, and the broken part also serves the overall glyph in form, just as there are both broken strokes and connected combination parts in the monomer character, which highlights the natural situation of its monogram form. (5) The characters and seals are born and reflect each other, and the monogram of the Bada Shanren and his seal often appear together, and the combination of the two also has design ingenuity. In terms of form, the glyph of the monogram "Sijun" is mostly seen in the left-leaning trend, and when using this monogram, it is common to combine the text of the "Eight Returns" Zhu Wenyin with the right-hand rotation of the text, and the seal glyph and the ink book monogram form reflect each other, and the combination of the word and the seal has a strong sense of form. In terms of layout, the monogram and seal of the Bada Shanren are often superimposed, and a small number of left strokes of the monogram are interspersed in the upper right corner or right side of the inscription, which can break the closed structure of the seal and make it better combined with the style of the work. When the two do not overlap, the seal is also often located to the left of the monogram; According to the stroke order of the Chinese characters from left to right, this form will make some glyphs gradually tilt to the right from top to bottom, and this combination of characters and prints can also make the center of gravity of the monographic font more stable.

3. Enlightenment of Chinese Character CreativityThe focus of Chinese character creativity is to emphasize the personalized expression of Chinese characters, that is, to strengthen the uniqueness of Chinese character design. Chinese characters are a traditional cultural element of the Chinese nation, and now Chinese characters have an increasing influence in the field of design, so it is necessary to gradually deepen the exploration of the creative design of Chinese characters. The monogram design of the Bada Shanren has the following two characteristics, which can provide ideas for the design expression of Chinese character creativity. 1. With the development of science and technology, designers can use a variety of techniques to reflect the design sense of the creative form of Chinese characters, but the lack of inspiration and feelings of the font is difficult to impress. Especially in the case of modern Chinese character design, it is necessary to express the unique design of Chinese characters while bringing people a strong visual impact, which requires the expression skills of character feelings. "A sign is a combination of the signifier and the signified, the signifier is the form, and the signifier is the meaning." [9] The ingenuity of the Bada Shanren monogram design lies in combining the feelings of the characters with the unique method of word formation and glyph expression, making symbolic abstract generalizations, highly unifying the shape, meaning and spirit of the Chinese character design, and highlighting the emotional rendering power of the Chinese character design. 2. The associative communication of Chinese character design often has a variety of views on the interpretation of the Bada Shanren monogram glyphs, which shows that the loose linear treatment of the monogram and the eclectic layout of the characters leave ample room for the viewer's imagination. This kind of linear font expression with strong freehand can make the form of Chinese characters more communicative, and at the same time deepen the associative communication of Chinese characters, so that the viewer can have rich subjective imagination in addition to concrete understanding, and make the process of Chinese character communication more interesting.

Notes: (1) From "Bada Shanren Printing Style". (2) From "The Theory of Bada Shanren Prints" and "Bada Shanren Research Series (Volume 4): Prints and Others".

References:[1]Xu Fu, et al. Cihai Edition Ancient Chinese Dictionary (New Edition)[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House,2007:787. [2] Shi Yuanliang. Shanghai:Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Publishing House,1995:2-5. [3] Xiao Hongming. Beijing:Beijing Yanshan Publishing House,2009. [4] Fang Keli. Dictionary of Chinese Philosophy[M].Beijing:China Social Sciences Press,1994:705. [5] Jao Tsung-i. Bada Shanren Research Series (Vol. 4): Printing and Others[M].Nanchang:Jiangxi Fine Arts Publishing House,2015:6. [6] Zheng Tong. Beijing:Hualing Publishing House,2011:202. [7] Ma Qianwen. Art Education Research,2017(22):18.) [8] Zhang Yan. Research on the relationship between calligraphy and painting of Bada Shanren[D].Nanjing:Southeast University,2018:36. [9] Zhang Xinyue. Characteristics of Roland Barthes's semiotic aesthetics[D].Mudanjiang:Mudanjiang Normal University,2016:6.

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