Calligraphy Appreciation of Preface to Lanting Collection

On the art of painting and calligraphy in wei and jin dynasties. People always associate it with the aesthetic taste of "the debate between form and spirit", which has developed from "both form and spirit" to "the separation of form and spirit" and emphasizes nature. According to heaven, this is the relationship between formal expression and spiritual connotation in art, which is both "elegance" of Taoism and "literature" of Confucianism. The artistic feature of China's traditional calligraphy and painting is the combination of beauty and simplicity. Later, it rose to the state of "getting carried away", which made the art of calligraphy and painting turn from the external expression in the objective world to the expression of people's inner spiritual world. This is the aesthetic taste of the pursuit of "rhyme" in the calligraphy art of the Jin Dynasty. Judging from the ink of the circulating Jin books, Jin people like rhyme, which is mainly manifested in the beauty of nature, harmony and agility. Wang Xizhi was an outstanding representative of calligraphy in the Jin Dynasty, and later generations honored him as a "book sage", and his calligraphy post "Preface to Lanting" was also honored as "the first cursive script in the world".

Preface to Lanting is a book written by Wang Xizhi at the age of 47. It tells the story that Xihe and his good friend Yashi gathered in Lanting (now southwest of Lanqing, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province) for a grand tour. His book is calm, elegant and full of vitality. It is said that Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, loved his calligraphy, thought the Preface to Lanting was "perfect" and buried it in the mausoleum after his death. There has been a great debate about the authenticity of Preface to Lanting, and Li Shimin's tomb was almost dug. However, the artistic value of Preface to Lanting is generally acknowledged. Mi Songfei's poem said: "Mo Han is the most romantic in the world. Who doesn't love Yin Shan in Goose Pond? Although this book decays to Zhaoling, stone carving is particularly precious. "There are dozens of copies of calligraphers in past dynasties, which is also a rare cultural phenomenon in the history of calligraphy.

Although Preface to Lanting is not as good as Wang Shu's cursive script, as an elegant, leisurely and sober style of the times, no one can surpass it and accompany it. The elegant layout, graceful and restrained Shen Feng, changeable brushwork, and free use of power make later generations of literati feel that they are facing an ordinary and mysterious tower, which is inaccessible. As long as we look at the richness of their pens, there are various wonderful changes, such as hidden front, weighing ornaments, hanging pens to return to the front, tying lines, reflecting belts, turning from square to circle, and turning from circle to square. This is also the permanent artistic charm of Lanting Preface. The so-called "non-stimulation, non-stimulation, self-discipline" (in the words of Tang Sun Guoting) should be the most appropriate evaluation of the gods in the Preface to Lanting.

Preface to Lanting is a running script, but from its beautiful running script font, we can feel the completeness of the opening method in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the opening strength is implied in the beautiful running script. The regular script in the Southern Dynasties was very developed, but judging from the biography of Wang Xizhi, its outstanding achievement was obviously cursive. Compared with the Han, Wei and Western Jin Dynasties, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy style is characterized by exquisite brushwork and changeable structure. In the past, all his calligraphy styles followed the path of Gu Zhuo, such as Pingfu Post, but Wang Xizhi was able to lead his calligraphy skills from being purely unnatural to paying more attention to aesthetic feeling, reaching a delicate state, which was "charming" compared with Gu Zhuo. Combining this charming book style with the beautiful scenery described in Preface to Lanting, there is a subtle realm of harmony between man and nature. In "the mountains are high, the forests are luxuriant, and the bamboos are cultivated", the author "is extremely entertaining", expressing the feelings of happy mountains and happy waters; When getting together with friends and enjoying the scenery, I feel sad or happy, ups and downs, lamenting that life is too short, its moments of beauty are rare, scenes blend, literary and artistic thoughts erupt, and I write books on a whim, leaving a masterpiece for Chinese culture. The beauty of Preface to Lanting lies in the harmonious combination of natural formal beauty and human emotional beauty. It seems that there is a natural charm, and the pen runs like water, entering the highest realm of calligraphy. It is said that Wang Xizhi wrote several times later, and it is impossible to reach this state again. This is the secret of art.

The calligraphy of Preface to Lanting conforms to the most basic aesthetic view of traditional calligraphy: "The style is not flashy, the quality is not wild, and the style is gentle." His brushwork combines rigidity with softness, his lines are flexible, his stippling is concise, his book style is based on dispersion, and he has the aesthetic feeling of respect, concession and comparison, which has become a model of "the beauty of neutralization". Appreciating the Preface to Lanting will give you an extraordinary artistic enjoyment.