Zhang Wanqing's character anecdote

The persistent pathfinder of "Solidification Art"

-The first person in ceramic calligraphy, Miao, Wang and Li Tongchang.

An old man gave up his rich life, traveled more than 10,000 kilometers in ten years, spent hundreds of thousands of yuan of his life savings, remained anonymous, devoted himself to research, went deep into the top ten porcelain capitals in China to explore ceramic calligraphy, created more than 2,000 pieces of ceramic calligraphy works, and put forward a new concept of ceramic calligraphy, which was praised as "the first person in ceramic calligraphy" by the industry. He is Mr. Zhang Wanqing, president of China Painting Academy, the first "Bai Jie calligrapher" and "an artist with both virtue and art".

Zhang Wanqing 1938 was born in Tianzhong Mountain, runan county. He used to be director of the museum, director of the cultural bureau, minister of propaganda department, director of the art museum and dean of the painting and calligraphy institute. He published a collection of personal seal cutting and calligraphy. The word "sunset red" on CCTV comes from his handwriting, and his calligraphy masterpieces are widely collected by cultural and artistic institutions at home and abroad. His patented calligraphy "home" is widely spread in many countries in Southeast Asia through wood carving, copper carving and screen printing.

Ceramics and calligraphy are the two essences of China culture.

It has been loved by people for thousands of years. The manufacturing process of ceramics is complex, which requires both high artistic accomplishment and skilled firing technology and modeling ability. Since ancient times, it has been called "the art of earth and fire", which is difficult and has a low success rate. Calligraphy is written in ink on rice paper, which is less difficult and has a higher success rate. However, paper works are easily damaged, moldy and difficult to preserve, and once ceramics are preserved, they still maintain their color and charm after thousands of years.

Mr. Zhang Wanqing naturally blended the two essences of China culture and set them off, making it a solidified art in China!

Came to Jingdezhen, Jiangxi

Pottery foil

In the spring of 2000, Mr Zhang Wanqing came to Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. Blue-and-white porcelain is the only one of the top ten ceramics in China. Apart from Yixing Zisha pottery, there are a lot of paintings, calligraphy and figures on it. But the words on blue and white porcelain are all made by ceramists in simple ways, not to mention the charm of calligraphy, and no calligrapher personally makes and writes them. The characters are only used as a foil for potters.

Exploring ceramic calligraphy from blue and white porcelain

He thinks that blue and white porcelain is superb in skill and prosperous in industry. If we start with blue and white porcelain to explore ceramic calligraphy, we should have a greater chance of success. Therefore, Zhang Wanqing walked around the streets, visited the market, watched exhibitions, squatted in the workshop and went into the kitchen. From making clay tires to entering the kiln, every link is spared. He is not bound by tradition, learns from others' strengths and tries to write in various shapes. After experiments, the ink commonly used on rice paper is not feasible on porcelain, because the ink will turn into steam and disappear when it is fired up to thousands of degrees, and the density and flow of ink on rice paper can not be shown on ceramics at all. Clay can only be written with a pen dipped in glaze color, which is thick and has no very good writing skills, so it is difficult to achieve the artistic effect of calligraphy. Overglaze color, overglaze color, underglaze color, large characters, small characters, and two-color superposition. He practiced and tried again and again. Finally, when he carefully created more than 40 ceramic calligraphy in front of people, the whole Jingdezhen was a sensation!

Creation and experiment of ceramic calligraphy

Later, he went to Yuzhou, Henan, Zibo, Shandong, Handan, Hebei and other places to create and experiment with ten ceramic series, including Jun porcelain, porcelain, Zibo porcelain, Handan porcelain, Dehua porcelain, tri-colored porcelain of Tang Dynasty and Yellow River pottery. Because some of these porcelains have thick glaze color, some have thin glaze color, and some have their own patterns, in order to achieve the harmonious and perfect combination of calligraphy and porcelain patterns and colors, we must adopt various creative techniques such as carving, carving, molding, overlapping and splicing. For example, the glaze of Jun porcelain is thick, and the finished product has the beauty of "one color enters the kiln, and all colors come out of the kiln". However, since ancient times, no words have ever been left on the surface of the objects, and only simple seals such as Zhang, Wang, Li and Zhao are engraved on the bottom. Moreover, the clay tires made are like "glazed vases" and dare not touch them. Zhang Wanqing broke away from convention and carved words on clay tires by stone carving. In order to prevent the glaze from accumulating too thick in the inscription, which led to the unclear color level between the inscription and the porcelain surface, he adopted the method of coating paraffin in the engraved inscription. After the porcelain is fired, the glaze color on the words is naturally uniform, with distinct layers and good results. Then he tried to make Jun porcelain without glazing or polishing its surface, and his works were as thick and elegant as purple sand, antique and lovely. Tang Sancai's glaze color is thin and difficult to control after writing, so he mixed a proper amount of talcum powder into the glaze color and made a beautiful decorative frame outside the text, which effectively prevented the glaze color from covering the calligraphy. In Boshan, Shandong Province, he carved huge calligraphy works with porcelain plates, which were 13 meters long and weighed about 700 kilograms. They are hung up, dignified and atmospheric, and have a breathtaking artistic effect.

On July 4th, 2007, the Henan Provincial Museum held a unique celebration-"Zhang Wanqing's Calligraphy and Ceramic Calligraphy Exhibition" to commemorate the anniversary of the establishment of the museum. His 100 calligraphy works and 500 ceramic calligraphy works appeared at the same time. The magnificent calligraphy picture scroll, the huge carved porcelain and the unique charm of Tao Jun's calligraphy make the professionals in calligraphy and ceramics find everything new and fresh. Mr. Miao Xijin, the famous master of Jun porcelain and editor-in-chief of Jun porcelain annals, said excitedly: "People only know the beauty of Jun porcelain, but they don't know that words are more beautiful. For thousands of years, no one dared to cross the line. Zhang Wanqing not only crossed it, but also created a miracle! " Zhang Wanqing's ceramic calligraphy has also been recognized and praised by many ceramic masters all over the country.