Why is painting and calligraphy homologous?

China's terminology of calligraphy and painting. China's painting and China's calligraphy are closely related, and their production and development complement each other. In the history of painting, based on the so-called "He Tu Luo Shu" of the pre-Qin philosophers, Zhang Yanyuan said in the Tang Dynasty's "Records of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties: The Origin of Painting" that "you have four eyes and look up at the image. Because of the traces of birds and turtles, the shape of the characters was determined, and nature could not hide its secrets, so it rained heavily; Ghosts can't hide from their shapes, so ghosts cry at night. At the right time, calligraphy and painting are the same without division, just like the beginning of the elephant system. There is no way to convey its meaning, so there are books; There is no way to see its shape, so there is painting. " This is the earliest theory that calligraphy and painting are of the same origin.

Calligraphy and painting have the same origin

Since the emergence of civilization, people inevitably have the need to record things. With the continuous development of human society and the increasing complexity of social life, people have gradually developed from tying knots to taking notes, which eventually led to the emergence of words. As the oldest type of writing, Oracle Bone Inscriptions has undoubtedly developed from the most primitive pictures into a kind of memorable symbol with high generalization power, so it is not difficult to find that there are a large number of pictures and words preserved in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen handed down from Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Besides pictographic and referential functions, these characters have certain painting factors. With the development of people's ability to observe, think and express themselves and objective things, these pictures and characters have gradually evolved from patterned image symbols to characters composed of lines, and on this basis, they have produced magical and magnificent calligraphy art. As the ancestor of writing, painting has undoubtedly become the cornerstone of China painting art with unique oriental charm, which rose after calligraphy art.

From this point of view, pictures and characters, as the tools for ancestors to keep records, naturally have the same origin; China painting and calligraphy, which are based on pictures and characters respectively, must have the same origin. In this regard, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Yanyuan also made an incisive summary for us in his "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties: The Origin of Narrative Paintings": "You have four eyes, and you look up and look down. Because of the traces of birds and turtles, the shape of the characters was determined, and nature could not hide its secrets, so it rained heavily; Ghosts can't hide from their shapes, so ghosts cry at night. At the right time, calligraphy and painting are the same without division, just like the beginning of the elephant system. There is no way to convey its meaning, so there are books; There is no way to see its shape, so there is painting. "

The source of calligraphy and painting

The word "source" of the same origin of calligraphy and painting, in addition to the original origin, also means that calligraphy and painting have the same regularity in terms of expression, especially in the use of pen and ink. The use of calligraphy is the language of Chinese painting modeling. Without the use of calligraphy, it is difficult to describe Chinese painting. Therefore, Chinese painting itself has a strong interest in calligraphy, and the lines and Mo Yun of Chinese painting reveal abstract beauty everywhere, revealing its independent aesthetic value.

in the Tang dynasty, Zhang yanyuan said in his famous paintings of past dynasties: "the style of the book was formed in one stroke, with continuous connections and interlacing, and the prince of Wei respected its profound purpose. Therefore, the first word of a line is often a book in the world. Later, Lu Tanwei also made a stroke, which was continuous, so he knew that calligraphy and painting used the same method. " This is the earliest discussion about the homology of painting and calligraphy. The regularity of painting and calligraphy in the use of pen and ink has been fully explored in the literati paintings that flourished after the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Literati painting has a long history. Although Zhang Heng and others didn't paint in the Han Dynasty, their "painting names" have been recorded in historical records. By the Six Dynasties, the theory of Zhuang Lao prevailed. At that time, all the literati expressed their detachment and freedom with paintings. For example, Zong Bing and Wei Wang expressed their feelings with mountains and rivers, and literati paintings had begun to take shape. By the time of Wang Wei and other generations in the Tang Dynasty, poetry and painting blended with each other, and literati painting gained a certain development. By the Song Dynasty, due to the implementation of its policy of valuing literature over martial arts, China's calligraphy and painting art had achieved unprecedented development in this period, while literati painting, which despised skill training and attached importance to interest and pen and ink, flourished and nearly matured in this period; After the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it also developed.

Literati painting attaches importance to the pursuit of pen and ink, aiming at highlighting the independent aesthetic value of the pen itself in painting, which coincides with the emphasis on the pen in calligraphy art, or it should be said that the pen for painting is inspired by the pen for calligraphy. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shizhen took painting bamboo as an example in his book Yiyuan, and it was undoubtedly an incisive summary of painting with calligraphy. In addition, there is a saying that bamboo leaves are painted by the eight-point method or Lu Gong's brush strokes, and wood and stone are painted by the remnants of hairpin and leak marks. Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, even painted bamboo with Jin Cuo's calligraphy. As for the trees painted by Guo Xi and Tang Di, the bamboos painted by Wen Tong and the grapes painted by Wen Riguan, all of them are derived from cursive scripts, which shows the homology between painting and calligraphy art in expression, especially in the use of pen and ink.

The same origin of calligraphy and painting

The pursuit of China's calligraphy and painting art lies not only in the beauty of its form, but also in its lyrical artistic conception. That is to say, the "source" of the homology of calligraphy and painting does not only stay in the superficial expression form and the homology of pen and ink application, but goes deep into the essence of calligraphy and painting art, and has the same source of the essence and artistic conception.

Traditional Chinese painting has changed from "depicting the spirit with form" and "taking the spirit from the appearance" to the plastic art of expressing "image". The focus of its pursuit is not on the shape and appearance, but on the charm, Su Dongpo once said: "On the painting, it is expensive to look like a child." Therefore, the freehand brushwork, which has the most oriental expressive characteristics in painting art, whether it is freehand brushwork of mountains and rivers or freehand brushwork of flowers and birds, is respected by the world because of its essence; If painting can't show its charm, it is just a piece of ink and wash, and it can't be called painting. In the creation of calligraphy art, objects are often used to be creative, and finally the abstract shapes of the words themselves-strokes, shelves and rules-are used to express the artistic conception. Only by "forgetting the images with pride" can it be described as a masterpiece.

For example, when a painter looks at Jialing River, he sees its surging waves, writes about its appearance and pursues its essence. When a calligrapher Huai Su hears the sound of the waves of Jialing River at night, he gains its posture. Although a painting and a book have different expressive techniques, their meanings are all showing the magnificence of Jialing River, that is, the essence of the things they pursue is the same. Another example is the painter's view of Gong Sundaniang's sword-dancing device, painting its appearance and expressing its momentum; Zhang Xu was fascinated by his charm, though it was not an image, but it can also be seen that the heaven and earth were low when sword dancing was performed.

the vast sky, the magnificent land wheel and all the tangible, vivid and colorful Vientiane are the basis of the calligrapher's ingenuity and of course the source of the painter's creation. The clouds in the sky fly in the summer, and the mountains on the ground shrug the springs; Plants are spinning and spitting green, and animals are rushing and hiding; It's all in harmony with the great wisdom of the universe. Books and painters observe it, appreciate it, understand it, and form all kinds of pen and ink. Painters have a pen base to turn everything into reality, and calligraphers have the talent to compete with dragons and snakes, and they are all pursuing the same thing-the charm of all things. It can be said that calligraphy and painting art only pursue the same meaning and interest of things in different forms, and the source of spiritual essence-the unspoken beauty of heaven and earth, that is, they have the same source of spiritual essence and interest.

Calligraphy and painting are the same as the source of "mind"

With the development and progress of civilization, words and pictures are no longer just recording tools, but have become a bridge for people to express their thoughts and express their feelings directly, and a tool for people to vent their feelings. Calligraphy and painting art have a higher artistic value because of their author's emotional input. They are no longer dead works, but become a vivid portrayal of their author's life and a thing with a "heart".

Take Zheng Banqiao, one of the famous Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty as an example. His bamboo paintings not only show the beauty of bamboo's coolness, but also endow the bamboo in his works with a heart and overlap his own character with bamboo. His writing also integrates the feelings of life into it, so "it is rare to be confused" has become a famous piece of his calligraphy.

Words are like people, paintings are like people, and people's character will be integrated into their paintings and calligraphy works. Calligraphy and painting art also have their own characters because of their authors. Therefore, it can be obtained that calligraphy and painting are homologous and originated from people's hearts.