Zhang Hai's main works

Zhang Hai: Times call for China's calligraphy classics.

Editor's Note of Calligraphy Guide: On July 1 1, 2008, Guangming Daily published an article entitled "The Times Calls for China Calligraphy Classics" signed by Zhang Hai, Chairman of China Calligraphy Association.

The article is divided into three parts: the topic of the new era, the understanding of classics and everyone, and the responsibility of calligraphers. This paper discusses the development of calligraphy in the new period, the classic character, the conditions of everyone and the mission and task faced by contemporary calligraphers. The article holds that "today's era should be the era when classics and everyone appear", and "it is the sacred duty of every calligrapher to call for classics and everyone in the new era and promote the great development and prosperity of contemporary calligraphy art in China with classics and everyone".

The editor believes that calling for classics and calling for everyone is in line with the development direction of advanced culture, the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

It is true that classics and everyone can't be called out, but contemporary calligraphy institutions and calligraphers have the responsibility and obligation to drum up and shout for the emergence of classics and everyone. The unprecedented prosperity of economy and culture, the constant discovery of calligraphy materials, the establishment and perfection of education system, the mass base of social calligraphy fever, the root-seeking consciousness of traditional culture and the unprecedented role of calligraphy organization really herald the arrival of the golden age of calligraphy, which is marked by the mutual reflection of classic works and famous artists.

To this end, this newspaper specially forwards this article, warmly welcoming all-round discussions on the issues raised in this article. This newspaper will spread opinions and brainstorm ideas, and publish them one after another in a fuller layout.

Standing at a new historical height, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China highlighted the extreme importance of strengthening cultural construction and improving the country's cultural soft power, and put forward the historical task of raising a new upsurge of socialist cultural construction and promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture. As an important part of advanced socialist culture, contemporary calligraphy art should actively undertake this historical responsibility, strive to create calligraphy art classics, introduce calligraphers, and promote the great development and prosperity of socialist culture with its own great development and prosperity. This is the need of today's times and the sacred duty of calligraphers.

The theme of the new era

Calligraphy art includes creation, theory, education, activities and many other aspects, among which calligrapher is undoubtedly the core factor. A history of calligraphy is the history of calligraphers, and calligraphers are undoubtedly the soul of calligraphy history. Whether there are great calligraphers and classic works in an era that affect future generations is an important symbol of the prosperity and development of calligraphy art in that era. Looking back on the development history of contemporary calligraphy in China and studying the new changes faced by calligraphy art, we can easily see that it is the task of the new era to create classics, introduce everyone and strive to promote the great development and prosperity of contemporary calligraphy art in China.

China's contemporary calligraphy art has gone through an extraordinary development path. In the nearly 30 years since the opening of the "First National Calligraphy and Seal Cutting Exhibition" in Shenyang, Liaoning Province in May, 1980, we have held 9 national exhibitions. Throughout the nine national exhibitions, the development of contemporary calligraphy in China can be roughly divided into three stages. The first and second national exhibitions are the first stage. At this time, calligraphy has just entered the Renaissance, and calligraphy creation is still at a low ebb. The number of calligraphy groups is small, but it has played an important role in promoting the development of calligraphy art, and the third to sixth national exhibitions are the second stage. With the development of calligraphy fever, the number of calligraphy practitioners has increased greatly, the calligraphy styles have gradually diversified, and various calligraphy phenomena have appeared widely. At this stage, calligraphy has made rich achievements and developed rapidly. It is not only the enlightenment period of contemporary calligraphy revival, but also the fermentation period and promotion period. It profoundly arouses people's awareness of calligraphy creation and improves people's aesthetic ability of calligraphy. It is a gifted, conceptual, theoretical and practical calligraphy. From the home of calligraphy. The seventh to ninth national exhibitions are the third stage, and the calligraphy fever is developing rapidly and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce. From the perspective of artistic style, it is richer and more diverse, and the excavation of tradition is more in-depth and extensive. Returning to tradition and careful innovation are the main lines of this period. Calligraphy creation in the past 30 years has the following characteristics: first, it has developed rapidly but inevitably there are some blindness; Second, although the inheritance of tradition continues to deepen, it still stays at a shallow level; Third, exploration and innovation have made some achievements, but they often follow the trend and form a follow-up phenomenon; Fourth, calligraphy has extended its own breadth in popularity, leading to unprecedented diversity. However, compared with the profound connotation of calligraphy, the contemporary book circle has made great achievements and is full of vitality in the overall atmosphere. However, it is still far from the real situation we expect, and those thrilling classics are still on the Internet.

On the one hand, vigorously developing advanced socialist culture, including calligraphy art, has been highly valued by the party and the state, and has become the knowledge of all walks of life, and calligraphy art is facing broad development space; On the other hand, after nearly 30 years of development, people's demand for calligraphy is growing, the calligraphy team is growing, and the art of calligraphy has a solid foundation for development. At the same time, the new changes faced by calligraphy art also put forward new requirements for its development and prosperity. First of all, the great changes and development in today's era, the emergence of new things, new patterns and new ideas are unprecedented in any previous era. In its thousands of years of development history, calligraphy art reflects the main spirit of each era in its unique form, often with a profound brand of the times. With the changes of the times, social customs and people's aesthetic demands will also change, which will be reflected in literature and will change in "Tang Poetry", "Song Poetry" and "Yuan Qu"; Reflected in calligraphy, just as Liu Wu said in Wen Xin Diao Long: There are differences between "respecting law", "respecting meaning" and "respecting state": "The times have changed, the quality has changed, and the sense of ancient and modern can be said!" Today's calligraphy should accurately reflect the changes of the times and the main spirit with its unique artistic language. Secondly, the discovery of new materials, the improvement of tools and the evolution of technical forms will become an important opportunity to promote the transformation of calligraphy art concepts. Today, the richness of calligraphy materials exceeds any period in history. For example, the "Four Great Discoveries" at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century (Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Han bamboo slips in Juyan, Dunhuang documents, and archives of the Royal Ouchi) are all related to calligraphy. Later, a large number of folk calligraphy materials, such as ancient bamboo slips and inscriptions, were discovered one after another. Even Qin Li, whose calligraphy history is confusing, can see physical materials today. The evolution of form is unprecedented. For example, large-scale exhibitions are unprecedented. On the one hand, calligraphy moves from the desk of literati to a wide exhibition hall, which compares the advantages and disadvantages among many exhibits; On the other hand, it has greatly increased the exchange of calligraphy. These unprecedented new things are bound to have an important impact on the changes of calligraphy concepts and styles. Thirdly, today's society is an open society, and the mutual influence and infiltration of eastern and western ideas is inevitable. The Chinese nation is no longer in the closed state of the past, but gradually integrates into the world family of nations through globalization and informationization. Will the calligraphy art, which has always been self-sufficient and evolved in a relatively closed cultural environment, change once it is put into an increasingly open cultural context and tortured by western aesthetics with complete system and abstract personality? This is also a problem that cannot be ignored in contemporary calligraphy. The changes faced by calligraphy art in the new era are not limited to these. For another example, the brush gradually withdrew from the practical field, which had a great influence on calligraphy. On the one hand, the number of people who use it is greatly reduced, which is bound to make the inheritance of its basic techniques encounter severe challenges; On the other hand, it is a good thing that the brush is divorced from practicality, so that calligraphy can gallop freely in the art world. To sum up, the calligraphy art of 2 1 century must have a new breakthrough in the spirit of the times, creative ideas, aesthetic pattern and expression techniques, so that there will be classic works and great calligraphers in this era and the great development and prosperity of China calligraphy art can be realized.

Classics and everyone are important symbols of the development level of calligraphy art, and the formation of calligraphy classics fully reflects the high recognition of national culture. It is not decided by one person or some people, but the cultural knowledge of a nation. Classics are inseparable from everyone. Classics make everyone, and everyone makes classics. A correct understanding of classics and everyone is of great significance for creating classics, introducing everyone and realizing the great development and prosperity of calligraphy art.

The reason why a classic becomes a classic must have the following qualities:

First, classics must be groundbreaking and epoch-making. With the creative practice of calligraphy art, it opens up a brand-new aesthetic realm and bears unprecedented humanistic spirit and connotation of the times. It found an appropriate and perfect expression for calligraphy to interpret the spirit of the times, and found a new pen and ink language for this expression and interpretation with its rich practice. Wang Xizhi is a typical example of this. He replaced "ancient style" with "Jin Yan" style, and successfully interpreted the spirit of the times characterized by Wei and Jin demeanor with unique pen and ink language. Moreover, because the spiritual bearing of scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties had a very extensive influence on later literati, Wang Xizhi's calligraphy naturally became an immortal classic of calligraphy art.

Second, the classics must have changed on the basis of inheriting the tradition, and this change is in line with the law of historical and artistic development. A calligrapher happens to be at the juncture of historical turning point and artistic evolution. The times call for the spirit of change and innovative practice, and he just has the qualification and potential for innovation. If he seizes the opportunity of the times, dares to practice and boldly innovate, then he can become a great calligrapher and his works will become classics. In other words, the emergence of everyone and classics is the result of the interaction between the times and individuals. As the saying goes, "Heroes create the times, and the times create heroes", in fact, there is some truth. The key role here is the law of historical development.

Thirdly, the classics must open up a new technical system and style mode with creative artistic practice, thus filling the blank in the history of calligraphy. The Chinese nation is a multi-ethnic fusion with a wide geographical span, which contains different ideas and styles of different regions and nationalities. As an art form owned by the Chinese nation, calligraphy will inevitably reflect different regional styles. We can't simply think that only one style is classic, and other styles are not. In fact, no matter which style, as long as its form and content, technical language and artistic style can achieve a high degree of unity, with epoch-making and groundbreaking significance, it is a classic.

Fourth, the classics must be original and have high mining value. What we mean by originality is not to abandon our predecessors and start a new stove, but to carry out bold reforms and genius innovations on the basis of predecessors in scale and inheritance tradition. Any classic in history does not appear out of thin air, but has a vivid relationship between teachers and students, but this does not detract from the author's originality in this style. As important as originality is its mining value. Because they are not the same concept, many original styles have distinct personality characteristics and little exploration value and development space, so it is difficult to become classics of later generations. As an original style, the greater the space for exploration, the higher the value as a classic.

How do calligraphers in today's era become great calligraphers who can stand the test of time?

First, assess the situation, correctly understand history and times, grasp the development law of times, society and calligraphy art, and make clear your own artistic direction. Contemporary calligraphers have advantages that the ancients did not have. The development of discipline construction and the progress of research methods make it easier for us to understand and grasp the development law of art from a strategic height, so as to serve the times. History has proved a truth time and time again: only by keeping the pulse of the times can a calligrapher's artistic practice conform to the needs of the times and the law of artistic development, and at the same time, he has a distinctive personality style, and he can become a trendsetter and a trendsetter.

Secondly, we should have a deep understanding of traditional classics and be the inheritor of calligraphy classics in a down-to-earth manner. Thousands of years of calligraphy tradition, there have been countless classics, just like an art

Baihua Garden has provided us with inexhaustible artistic nutrition, and the success of generations of masters has also left us with rich inspiration and broad artistic creation space. Theoretically speaking, it is possible to become a great calligrapher by focusing on any kind of classics with development value, persistently digging deep into people and relying on one's own wisdom and persistence.

Third, we should stand on the height of the times, construct strategic planning from a strategic height, broaden our horizons, break the stereotype of being stuck in the past, establish the concept of "great calligraphy", and bring all the outstanding ancient calligraphy heritage and expressions of the times into people's own artistic vision. Whether it is tablet school, post school, cursive script or seal script, whether it is traditional calligraphy or modern calligraphy, as long as it conforms to the basic characteristics of calligraphy art, it should be our concern within the "bottom line" of calligraphy art. If only a certain genre or style is regarded as a classic, it is "the sword is biased", and malnutrition will greatly limit the development of calligraphy art. Calligraphy represents "image" through glyphs, and its method is the principle of everything in the world. His way of thinking is that "books come from nature" (Cai a}, and "the changes of things in heaven and earth are gratifying, and one is in books" (Han Yu (preface to Gao Xian). This kind of verve, galloping across the world and pitching everything, has made China's calligraphy art profound and profound, and also made him a great calligrapher from generation to generation.

Fourth, we must have innovative qualifications and master innovative methods. The success of innovation does not depend on the individual's will, but on whether various conditions for innovation are available, including the conditions of the times and personal conditions. We are in the golden age of calligraphy development. Whether innovation and breakthrough can be achieved depends on whether individuals have innovative qualifications and whether they master and correctly use innovative methods. The so-called qualification mainly refers to the calligrapher's knowledge, writing skills and comprehensive literacy in all aspects. This is the law of artistic innovation, especially calligraphy. I haven't worked hard enough in studying ancient classics, and I can't control the data texts at will, trying to explore a road of innovation out of thin air. This is not a fantasy. There are many ways to innovate, and what kind of method is suitable varies from person to person. For example, the selection of classic texts, the cutting perspective, the form and direction of innovation, and how to "graft" and "transform" different texts are all severe tests for a calligrapher's innovative ability. It can be said that it is the key to the success of calligraphers to find a correct way of innovation that conforms to the law of artistic development and their own actual situation.

Fifth, we should dare to express our personality. Art is the product of personality and passion. Only when a calligrapher's artistic personality is perfectly displayed can he have classic value, and such an artist can be called everyone. We can see that Wang Xizhi and his Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, Yan Zhenqing and his Manuscripts for Sacrificing Nephews, Su Dongpo and his Poems on Cold Food in Huangzhou are all the same. For most calligraphers, they express their individuality with art and interpret art with individuality and sincerity. Even if they can't be everyone, they have made their own contribution to the development of art. If you deliberately want to be everyone, but lose your natural personality, it is putting the cart before the horse.

Sixth, everyone in the real book world should be a person who is far away from the worldly hubbub, transcends practical utility, endures loneliness, keeps his spiritual home, and has the spirit of free exploration beyond ordinary people. Calligraphy, like other arts and sciences, is the product of free exploration and creative spirit. Once the mind is burdened by secular utilitarianism, it is difficult to maintain this spirit of free exploration. Everyone knows that art is inherently valuable, and so is calligraphy. The so-called nature, first of all, is the nature of spirit and mentality, free from the interference of vulgar distractions, not involved in the calculation and correction of machines, and not seeking the words of discerning people. A true calligrapher must have this mentality.

Today's era should be a classic and everyone's era. On the one hand, we were born in the heyday, and the traditional culture of China, on which calligraphy grew and developed, is also facing a good opportunity for comprehensive rejuvenation today. Today's cultural atmosphere is extremely beneficial to the development of calligraphy. On the other hand, the development of calligraphy art since modern times, the appearance of a large number of calligraphy materials, the introduction of new aesthetic concepts and increasingly rich means of expression all point to calligraphy art, and the continuous upsurge of calligraphy in the past 30 years has strongly proved the profound connotation and great energy of calligraphy art in China culture. The calligraphy circle in the new era calls for classics and everyone. It is the sacred duty of every calligrapher to strive to promote the great development and prosperity of contemporary calligraphy art in China with classics and everyone. As organizers of contemporary calligraphy, China Book Association and book associations at all levels should take some practical measures to promote the realization of this goal.

First, vigorously advocate reading and learning in the ranks of calligraphers, and constantly improve their cultural literacy. The majority of calligraphers should conscientiously study and understand the spirit of the 17th CPC National Congress, consciously shoulder the historical mission of raising a new upsurge of socialist cultural construction and promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture, and truly arm their minds and guide their creation with the spirit of the 17th CPC National Congress. We should seriously study traditional calligraphy classics and professional knowledge, constantly enrich theoretical literacy and creative skills, improve creative level, and strive to move towards the goal of calligraphy classics and calligraphy masters. We should learn from the times, from the people, from the masters, go deep into people's reality, life and people, combine promoting the great development and prosperity of calligraphy art with carrying forward the spirit of the times, and combine it with carrying forward the excellent culture of the Chinese nation to continuously enhance the ability of calligraphy art to serve the people and socialism.

Second, strive to create a harmonious environment and rich soil that produces classics and everyone. We can't "create" classics and everyone, but we can create more and better convenience for the appearance of classics and everyone.

-Take advantage of the rising of Chinese culture and the revitalization of traditional culture to further improve the social status of calligraphy and enhance its social popularity. For example, strive for calligraphy to declare the world intangible cultural heritage, set up calligraphy series in the evaluation of professional titles, and incorporate calligraphy into the basic education sequence.

-Pay more attention to calligraphy education. Pay close attention to the cultivation of calligraphy teachers, set up as many calligraphy majors as possible in colleges and universities, improve teaching quality and cultivate students' dual abilities of theory and practice. At the same time, assist relevant parties to solve the employment problem of calligraphy major. Calligraphy education is a reliable guarantee for talents and talents, and we should be full of confidence in it.

-Give full play to the role of professional media and form a good public opinion atmosphere. Pay full attention to the role of calligraphy theorists and encourage them to conduct in-depth research on calligraphers, calligraphy phenomena and calligraphy schools, including long-term systematic follow-up research on some key and promising calligraphers. Theoretical research should fully reflect the basic, forward-looking and guiding characteristics, and strengthen the excavation and collation of calligraphy traditions, especially the study and interpretation of classics. The further combination of theory and practice will be beneficial to the development of calligraphy, thus creating favorable conditions for everyone's growth.

-gradually reform and improve the exhibition and competition system and establish a diversified social evaluation system. Further improve the selection of national exhibitions to make them more fair and authoritative. At the same time, we hold various professional exhibitions, solo exhibitions, invitation exhibitions, nomination exhibitions, regional exhibitions, peer exhibitions, media exhibitions, etc. To form a cross-dimensional and complementary social comprehensive evaluation system.

-Encourage bold innovation on the basis of inheritance. A successful calligrapher should strive to inherit the achievements of predecessors and the excellent tradition of calligraphy art, and, in accordance with the requirements of facing modernization, facing the world and facing the future, take the concept innovation as the guide, vigorously promote the innovation of the content form, system and mechanism and means of communication of calligraphy art, so that the majority of calligraphy artists will continue to glow their creative passion, enhance their innovative ability, and keep China's calligraphy art career full of vitality and vitality forever.

-expanding calligraphy exchanges with other countries in the world. Implement the strategy of "please come in" and "go out", on the one hand, invite famous foreign artists and works to participate in China; On the other hand, organize China Calligraphy Exhibition to go abroad, further expand the exchange of calligraphy art with other countries, especially actively cooperate with the national foreign exchange strategy, and make efforts in welcoming the Olympic Games, working in Taiwan, protecting the national cultural heritage (calligraphy application), and promoting China's traditional culture, so as to better promote China's calligraphy to the world.

-further improve the working mechanism for producing excellent products and talents. It is necessary to carefully organize and implement the calligraphy quality project, increase the reward for outstanding works, and encourage the majority of calligraphy artists to firmly establish the quality consciousness, and treat calligraphy artistic creation with the spirit and perseverance of "grinding a sword for ten years". We should actively create a good environment for talent growth and calligraphy creation, improve new measures, new channels and new mechanisms for training and supporting talents, formulate new strategies to promote talents to stand out, and gradually establish a huge "China Calligraphy Team" that combines old and young, combines majors with amateurs, and gathers all kinds of talents.

Third, we should combine long-term goals with short-term goals and conscientiously implement all the work. Realizing the great development and prosperity of contemporary calligraphy art in China is not a leap, but a long-term and gradual accumulation process. We should aim at this goal, implement it step by step, and turn the long-term goal into concrete and operable work measures and become a powerful driving force for doing a good job. We should not only focus on the long-term, but also contribute to the great development and prosperity of China's calligraphy art.

Zhang Haiqi's calligraphy is four-body, with official script and cursive script being the most famous. The seal script is based on Yang Yisun, the running script is from Two Kings, the cursive script pursues the charm of Zhang Xu and Huai Su, and the regular script is based on Zhang Menglong Monument. In his early years, Zuo Li sought its exquisiteness and took the flesh and blood of the "Yi Ying Monument" to check its uniformity. "Fenglongshan" is spacious and simple, and the "ritual monument" changes like a dragon and has its own style. After that, he devoted himself to the study of Han bamboo slips, wrote a solemn and mellow style with flying brushstrokes, and formed a unique Cao Li, which was recognized by the book world. His works have been exhibited in many countries and regions such as West Germany, Finland, Singapore, Japan, Canada, France, South Korea, Hongkong, Taiwan Province Province, etc., and he has participated in the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh national calligraphy seal cutting exhibitions, representative calligraphers' works exhibitions in Japan and China, Sino-Singapore calligraphy exchange exhibitions, World Peace Year Book Fair, Sino-Japanese calligraphy exchange exhibitions, and 100 famous calligraphers in Japan and China. His works have been collected by China New Literature and Art Department, Selected Modern Calligraphy, Selected Ancient and Modern Calligraphy, Japanese Linshu Department, etc. 100. There are many collections and stone carvings in domestic museums and forest of steles. There are special articles on calligraphy, China calligraphy and Japanese calligraphy art. There are two kinds of official letters from Zhang Hai, Zhang Hai's calligraphy, Zhang Hai's new works and Zhang Hai's songs, which enrich the differences between Han Li. He won the first prize of Henan Book Fair, the first Longmen Award and the fifth national calligraphy and seal cutting exhibition.