What are the essentials of calligraphy appreciation?

Calligraphy art embodies China's traditional aesthetic thought most intensively, so the process of calligraphy appreciation is also a process of grasping the characteristics of China's traditional aesthetic thought. To appreciate calligraphy, we should grasp several main aspects of its beauty;

1. Vivid charm is the highest realm of China traditional art, especially calligraphy art. To achieve vivid expression, it is necessary to "write with a pen", that is, to write flexible and powerful lines. The symbols carved on pottery by ancestors in primitive society already have the embryonic form of words, and the lines have the meaning of calligraphy, which is naive and simple. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Oracle Bone Inscriptions painted with knives rather than pens, and the lines were mainly square and straight, which was quite lively. The bronze inscription is made of clay and then cast with copper, which is called the bronze inscription. The calligraphy lines of Jinwen Tuoben are vigorous, simple and simple in structure. Although the pre-Qin books can carry the tripod, they are all portrayed with tools, and the lines still lack vivid expression. After Qin and Han Dynasties, the brush was widely used as a writing tool. The writing brush is made of animal hair such as wolf hair, which has the characteristics of "sharp, round, neat and healthy" and can vividly show vigorous, graceful, elegant, dignified and beautiful. Moreover, calligraphy works are mostly written in ink, and the colors are bright and calm. The rich changes of dry and wet shades will produce vivid Mo Yun, which will make the expression of calligraphy lines more vivid. Therefore, how to use pen and ink has become the basic skill and aesthetic key that calligraphers pursue and grasp all their lives. Ancient calligraphers summed up a set of principles and methods of using pen and ink. For example, when writing, you should use your mind shoulders, shoulder straps, elbows, wrists, palms, fingers and Qi Li, and the pen tip should be stressed, so that the lines you write can be strong but not slippery. When writing strokes, you should hide your head and protect your tail, turn inside out, and use a pen in the center. , so that the strokes are even and thick without false corners, resulting in sick pens such as "firewood", "bee waist" and "crane knee". Ink should be thick but not stagnant, clear but not light, and ink and ink should penetrate each other to achieve the vivid expression of ink in five colors. In a word, good calligraphy works inject the author's "essence, spirit and spirit", embody the superb artistic realm and have vivid charm.

2. Unity of Form and Meaning Chinese characters are based on pictographs and word meanings, and each individual word is a freehand plastic art work created by the ancients. For example, the word "virtue" written in the inscription means "morality and moral character". The pictographic characters "heart" and "eye" are combined into a knowing word, which represents the line of sight from "eye" and expresses its meaning in the form of modeling. Virtue is not external to people's code of conduct, but inner moral consciousness, which can be felt from the honest eyes revealed from the window of the soul. In this way, when calligraphers write this word, they will feel the aesthetic enjoyment of freehand brushwork, and the combination of this sense of painting and calligraphy is a complete sense of calligraphy combining form and meaning.

3. The structure of points, lines and faces is beautiful. Chinese characters are modeled with points and lines, and the faces are defined between lines. The structural beauty of calligraphy composed of points, lines and surfaces is an important aspect of the formal beauty of calligraphy. The structural beauty of calligraphy is similar to the architectural beauty. There are many articles about the structure of calligraphy in ancient calligraphy theory. Poems on the Heart by the monks of Zhiguo in Sui Dynasty, Thirty-six knots by Ou Yangxun in Tang Dynasty and Eighty-four knots by Mason Lee in Ming Dynasty, among which Ou Yangxun's Thirty-six knots have the greatest influence. According to the characteristics of regular script fonts, he formulated reasonable principles of straightness, such as "avoiding" (avoiding secrets and sparse), "giving way" (the mutual collocation of combined words) and "paying homage" (the relationship between radicals and subjects). However, the knot principle in calligraphy can't standardize the practice of calligraphy. Ancient calligraphers, in their creation, showed the structural beauty of calligraphy in various ways.

4. The linear beauty calligraphy with pen and ink blending is modeled by lines, and the lines themselves are abstracted into rich aesthetic factors. The abrupt, thick, wet, tortuous and rigid lifting line embodies the broad performance field of music, and its rhythm and melody lead people into the beautiful artistic conception of infatuation. In order to clarify the aesthetic feeling of stroke lines, the ancients used many vivid metaphors. For example, Mrs. Wei, a female calligrapher in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Ou Yangxun, a calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, once described "point" as "falling rocks from a high mountain" and "one" as "a cloud array thousands of miles away", "Long live the withered vine", "broken rhinoceros elephant" and "Ru". In other words, calligraphers should have images when writing, so that lines with rich expressions and vivid brushwork can appear.

5. The combination of reality and reality refers to the structural method of the overall layout of calligraphy works. First of all, there is a big framework to form a stylized composition. The composition of calligraphy works, especially cursive works, is generally composed of the beginning and preface. The first half is full of steady emotions, the second half is full of pen and ink, and the second half is composed of signatures and seals. This kind of structural beauty, which connects the past with the present, embodies the general principle of China's traditional aesthetics-Taiji schema. Taiji diagram is a large S-shaped line with closed ends. S-line is a curve full of life rhythm. There is no absolute straight line in nature. All living things have the form of curves, and all the most beautiful things have the form of S-lines. In this way, the linear expression of S-line is the on-the-spot beauty of composition, while the blank expression surrounded by line is the virtual beauty of composition. The combination of reality and reality and the combination of rigidity and softness have created thousands of changes in calligraphy rules and beautiful artistic effects.

6. The literary beauty of calligraphy rich in poetry books is the art of writing words. Although calligraphy can appreciate the beauty of lines and structures abstractly, grasping the content of words makes our appreciation more comprehensive and complete. Great calligraphers are all literati and scholars with high poetic accomplishment, and regular works are also excellent literary works. For example, Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion has the reputation of "the best running script in the world" and is a classic of ancient Chinese literature. Read its words and admire its words. It is really beautiful.