The Song people are very creative, when they founded the country, the great Tang Dynasty is a peak in front of them, how to surpass the Tang Dynasty, they took a road of refinement and introspection, different from the Tang people's greatness and boldness, they are the internal show, exquisite, and leisure, they in addition to the Tang Poetry, the development of the words of this folk form, and make its character can be upgraded, and Tang Poetry and another form of literature, in the expression of the people's poetry, the word, and make it the same as another form of literature. Literary form, a step forward in writing people's feelings; relative to the gaudy Tang Sancai, Song people's porcelain, it is quiet and elegant, brother Ding Ru Jun Guan five kilns still seem so perfect, through the tranquility and grace of silence, Song people's paintings, Song people's calligraphy, Song people's books, now seem to be a fine product. To this day, the fonts of our printed materials are all created by the Song people, the Song people created a cultural peak.
The calligraphy of the Song Dynasty was different from that of the Tang Dynasty in that it was still intentional. We look at the calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, pen and brush rigorous, strict law, like a general sitting upright, through the generous, calm, serene, as in their times. Then look at the calligraphy of the Song people, Song four calligraphy, is naive, full of pen and ink everywhere, you can imagine in the sunny window, drinking a cup of tea, read two leaves of the book, and suddenly thought, Xingzhi ZhiZhong, spread the paper and ink waving, that at ease, casual. Not only the four families, but also Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Lu You, Fan Chengda, Zhu Xi, read their words, as if to see them smiling at you. Song people's art, is the art of the world, through the intimate.
Su Huangmi Cai four families live in similar times, in addition to Cai Xiang slightly older, basically at the same time, Su Shi died in 1101, Mi Fu died in 1107, Huang Tingjian died in 1105, they live in the same period, each other's appreciation. This kind of appreciation makes posterity envious. Su Shi said: read my Yuanzhang ...... Chao Mai into the word of God, when to see it, to wash the miasma, now really see it! ...... hate twenty years, each other from Yuanzhang endless. Su Shi commented on Cai Xiang's words: only Cai Junmu book, talent is both high, accumulated to the depths of the heart and hand should be, the perversion of the infinite, and then the first for the dynasty. Huang Tingjian valued Su Shi's calligraphy, more than once said: Dong Po Taoist ...... this dynasty good book solution should be pushed as the first. Su Zizhan calligraphy beautiful, although the ink is too rich and rhyme have more, in today's world for the first. He also said self-effacing: Yu book is not enough to learn ...... today is to give up Zizhan and learn Yu, not to be able to choose the art also. From these words and phrases, we can not see the traces of the literati to be close to each other. Song Dynasty literati seem to appreciate each other: Ouyang Xiu's let Su Shi a horse, Wang Anshi's generosity, Su Shi's awards to the latter, Lu You, Xin Qiji's excitement, Zhu Xi, Chen Liang's academic controversy, are a kind of gentleman sentiment. This also seems to be a feature of Song culture: tolerance.
1. Su Shi's calligraphy
Su Shi's calligraphy focuses on writing "meaning", go their own way. Huang Tingjian, one of the "Four Bureaucrats of the Su Clan", said that "his book is beautiful ...... to the drunkenness and debauchery, the intention of forgetting the work and clumsiness, the word is especially thin and strong ...... to the pen round and rhyme wins. With the article wonderful world, loyalty and righteousness through the sun and the moon of the gas, this dynasty good book, should be pushed as the first. Rhyme, can be said to be the biggest feature of his calligraphy. Ming Dong Qichang even praised him "all with a positive edge, is Po Gong's Lanting also". Therefore, the world said that the beauty of Su's calligraphy is "wonderful in hiding the front", "Chun Gu Dao Jin", "the body of Zhuang An, the weather Yong Yu", "hide the cleverness in the clumsy "
Su's calligraphy is a masterly style of "interjection and overflowing spirit", and his allegory is even more incisive, both for the world to see, but also for the future generations of role models.
Su Shi was implicated in the case of the Yuanhu party, and not only was there no record of him in the Xuanhe Shubuan, but his calligraphic works were also destroyed in large numbers. There are nearly 30 pieces of Su shi calligraphy, early and middle works to the most "zhi ping post", post after the Ming wen zhengming trek, the examination for his 30 years old. To the middle, more masterpieces, such as the regular script "before chibi fu" and "sacrifice to huang qidao text"; running script "dufu alder poem", "huangzhou cold food poetry" and "new year exhibition celebration, people come to get the book of the two posters" and so on are representative of the middle. Su shi's regular script is very little, from the former red cliff foo and sacrifice to huang gui dao Wen two can be seen, the book is very different from the rigorous tang regular script, not only the shape of the character more interjection and tilted to the left, and the penmanship is natural and unrestrained, more with the meaning of the running script. Some people say that his calligraphy, the wrist, but the pen lying, so the left is beautiful and the right is withered. Huang Tingjian defended him, saying that this was "a measure of the Hanlin's ink" to view Su Shi's calligraphy. That is to say, su shi does not emphasize the rigorous law of calligraphy, even if the regular script is the same. From the ink, Su book is not "lying pen", but the pen is a little down, still run the pen in the center, so there is a pen round rhyme wins the posture. His line of writing, but also with the size of the line, meat and bone strength, hidden in the clumsy skill, both Yan Zhenqing, Yang Ning style two parents place.
Su shi's later works are relatively few, to "thank the master post", "cross the sea post", "river post" and so on the most well-known. Among them, "reply to thank the civil division" is a handwritten note to xie zhuolian, the front part has been missing, the text is included in the "dongpo set", is su shi confession of personal insights into literary creation of an important article, calligraphy, old strong, not like the "huangzhou cold food poetry" as varied and varied. Qing dynasty Gu Wenbin trek quoted in the former book review "dongpo ruler apolitical book, gestures, not reserved and yin, not bundle and strict, not anecdotal and ho", to praise the calligraphy of this post of the marvelous. Su shi does not care about the calligraphy of the work, ugly and elegant gain or loss, in the academic creation of the greatest freedom, and thus become the calligraphy of the Northern Song dynasty.
Su Shi said of his own calligraphy, "I book meaning to create this can not, point of painting and lettering annoyed to seek". It is this pursuit of interest in calligraphy style orientation, this focus on the expression of calligraphy, and efforts to enrich the various contrasts between the practice of every generation behind him.
2. Huang Tingjian's Calligraphy
Huang Tingjian's calligraphy was first based on Zhou Yue of the Song Dynasty, and was later influenced by Yan Zhenqing, Huaisu, Yang Ningshi, and others, and inspired by Jiao Shan's "Dizhi" style of calligraphy, and the cursive style formed its own style. Huang Tingjian's large character running script is condensed and powerful, with a peculiar structure, in which almost every character has some exaggerated long strokes and is sent out to the best of his ability, forming a brand-new method of knotting characters that is tightly closed in the central palace and dispersed at the four edges, which had a great influence on the later generations. The structure is obviously influenced by Huaisu, but the zigzagging and staccato strokes are completely different from Huaisu's rhythm. Before him, round and smooth is the keynote of cursive, but Huang Tingjian's cursive single word structure is strange and dangerous, chapter method is creative, often using the method of shifting to break the boundaries between single words, so that the lines form new combinations, strong rhythmic changes, so it has a special charm, and it has become the outstanding representative of Northern Song Dynasty Calligraphy, and Su Shi has become a generation of style of calligraphy pioneers. The later so-called Song dynasty calligraphy is still meaning, is aimed at them in the pen, structure and other aspects of the ancient method, the pursuit of calligraphy, the mood, the interest of the words. Huang Tingjian, together with Su Shi, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang, were known as the Four Schools of Song.
Huang Tingjian expressed some important opinions on the art of calligraphy, most of which are scattered in the Shangu Collection. He opposed eating the past and emphasized the spiritual inheritance of the best traditions and the creation of individuality; he focused on the influence of the mind and temperament on the creation of calligraphy; and stylistically, he opposed workmanship and emphasized rawness and clumsiness. All these ideas can be corroborated with his creations.
Circulating Huang Tingjian's calligraphy, small letters in running script to the "baby incense square", "Wang Changzhi tombstone manuscript", "Lunan poetry old Shi Yizheng tombstone manuscript" and so on as a representative of the calligraphy round and smooth, calm and elegant. The large character running script has "Huangzhou Cold Food Poetry Scroll Trek", "Fubo Shrine Scroll", "Pine Wind Pavilion Poetry", etc., all of them have strong and lush strokes, but the spirit of idleness and flora, showing the characteristics of the yellow book. Cursive Script has "Li Bai remembering the old trip poem scroll", "all the seat post", etc., the conjugation of the word majestic and magnificent, the strokes fluttering and elegant, in the inheritance of Huaisu school of cursive, showing the unique face of the yellow book. In addition, Huang Tingjian's calligraphy also includes "Buri Shuqi's Tombstone", "Di Liang Gong's Tablet", "Poem of Traveling to Qingyuan Mountain", "Record of the Temple of the Dragon King", and "After the Title of Ode on the Rise of the Middle Kingdom", and so on.
3. Mi Fu's Calligraphy
Mi Fu was the most accomplished calligrapher of all time. Mi Fu described his work as a "collection of ancient characters," and his deep understanding of the brushwork, style, and rhythm of the ancient masters explains to some extent the great effort he put into learning to write in the traditional style. Mi Fu was not involved in the political whirlpool and lived a relatively stable life. Later, when he became a doctor of calligraphy and painting, he was well versed in the internal collection of books and familiar with the stories of a thousand years, and the gains and losses of the ancients, as if they were his family's treasures. When he was a young man, he studied the Tang Regular Scripts of Yan, Liu, Ou, and Chu, laying down a solid foundation of basic skills. When Su Shi was deported to Huangzhou, he visited him for advice, and Dong Po advised him to study Jin. From the fifth year of Yuanfeng (1082), Mi Fu studied Wei and Jin, taking the Jin style of calligraphy as his reference, and searched for a number of Jin posters, and even named his study "Bao Jin Zhai". Wang Xianzhi's ink manuscript, "Mid-Autumn Post," is said to be his copy, and the form and spirit are exquisite. In his later years, Mi Fu wrote "Self Description", saying, "When I first learned to write, I first learned to write walls, and I was seven or eight years old. The word to a large picture, write a simple not, see the willow and admire its tight knot, is to learn willow "Diamond Sutra". For a long time, I know that it is out of Europe, is to learn Europe. For a long time, such as printing plate row calculation, is Mu Chu and learn the longest, and Mo Duan quarter turn fat, all eight sides. For a long time, I felt that Duan Quan Ze show "Lanting", so and see the post, into the Jin and Wei bland, abandon the Zhong Fang and Shi Shi Yi Gong, "Liu Kuan monument" is also. Seal will love "Tsui Chu", "Shi Gu Wen". And realize the bamboo brief to bamboo I line lacquer, and tripod inscription wonderful ancient."
Mi Fu is famous for his calligraphy, his achievements come entirely from the hard work of later life, Mi Fu every day, the pool of incessant, historical records: "a day without the book, will feel the thought of astringent, think of the ancients have not tasted half a moment to abolish the book also." "Zhiyong inkstone into a mortar, is able to the right army (Wang Xizhi), if the penetration of the beginning of the Zhong (繇), Suo (靖)也，can be encouraged forever." His son, Mi Youren, said he did not forget to write even on the first day of the year. (According to Sun Zubai, "Mi Fu Mi Youren"). Mi Fu was very serious about writing, and said himself, "She wrote the Haidai Poem three or four times, between one or two good words, and the letter of the book is also a difficult thing" (Ming Fan Mingtai, "Mi Xiangyang outside the record"). A poem, written three or four times, there are only one or two words of their own satisfaction, which the pain and suffering of non-experts can not be said, but also can be seen in his creative attitude of rigor.
Mi Fu's calligraphy is one of the four great masters of the Song Dynasty, after Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian, and before Cai Xiang. However, regardless of the influence of Su Dongpo's status as a writer and Huang Tingjian as the leader of the Jiangxi School of Poetry, Mi Fu's traditional skills are the most profound in terms of the art of calligraphy, especially in the running script, which is the right-hand side of the two. Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty, "Essays on Painting Zen Rooms," said: "I tasted the rice word, thought the first Song Dynasty, after all, out of the Dongpo above. That is, Mi Bengshu since the rate of more than the late years of a change, there is ice cold in the water of the strange." The emperor's inquiry calligraphy, Mi Fu called himself "brush word", Ming Li self-effacing and real point to the essence of the "brush word", reflecting his pen swift and strong, as much as possible to do their best. His calligraphy works, from large poems and posters to small documents and inscriptions, are all characterized by pain, interjection and variation, robustness and freshness. From the nearly 60 surviving handwritings of Mi Fu, the word "brush" expresses the vigor of Mi's character, no wonder Su Dongpo said, "Mi's calligraphy is superbly elegant." It is also said that "Haiyue's calligraphy in seal script, clerical script, genuine script, running script, and cursive script, is as impressive as that of Zhong Zhong's. It is as calm and quick as that of Zhong Zhong's. His composure and painstakingness are on a par with that of Zhong Wang. He was not only worthy of it." Mi Fu's calligraphy had a far-reaching influence, especially at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with many scholars, such as Wen Zhengming, Zhu Yunming, Chen Chun, Xu Wei, Wang Juesi, Fu Shan, and so on, all of whom took a "heart" from Mizi, an influence that continues to the present.
Mi Fu's calligraphy has reached a very high standard, and he has written many treatises on calligraphy. He wrote "History of Calligraphy", "Haiyue Famous Quotations", "Baozhang to be visited", and "Commentary on Character Postings". Showing his excellent courage and sophisticated appreciation, he ridiculed and depreciated many of his predecessors, but never because of the language of the ancients, for successive generations of calligraphers, but also a lot of overstatement, cynical Yan Liu, depreciation of Xusu Su, and harshly seeking defects. Mi Fu's ink masterpieces mainly include "Campsis Poetry Scroll", "Shu Su Post", "Fangyuanan Records", "Tianma Fugu", etc., and there are especially many small works of calligraphy.
4. Cai Xiang's Calligraphy
Cai Xiang's calligraphy during his lifetime was highly respected by the people of the time, extremely reputable, the most highly regarded his calligraphy, Su Dongpo, Ouyang Xiu. Su Dongpo pointed out in his Dongpo Inscription: "Cai Junmu's talent was both high and deep, and his heart and hands were in sync with each other, and his metamorphosis was infinite, so he was the first of his kind in this dynasty. However, his running script was the best, his lower-case script the second best, and his cursive script the second best....... He also made the intention to make fly-white, saying that he had the momentum of the soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes, and those who were aware of the situation did not think that it was too much."" Ouyang Xiu's evaluation of Cai Xiang's calligraphy is really to the point of no return: Ouyang Xiu said: "Since the death of Su Zimei, so I feel that the penmanship in the end. In recent years, Cai Xiang's calligraphy has been the only one in the world, but he has been modest and unwilling to join the league." (Ouyang Wenzhong Gongji) （Huang Tingjian also said, "Su Zimei and Cai Junmu are both great masters of ink and writing." (Shangu Wenji) In Mengxi Bianan, Shen Kuo, a scientist of the Northern Song Dynasty, commented on Cai Xiang's cursive writing, saying, "Cursive writing with a loose brush is called loose cursive, or flying cursive, and its methods are all born in Feibai, which is its own family. The ancient rhyme of Zhang Xu and Huai Su is stored, and there is the trend of the wind and clouds, but also the ancient meaning of the longhand and rich."
Song History - Cai Xiang's Biography says of him, "Xiang's skill in handwriting was the first of its kind in the world, and Emperor Renzong especially loved it." Xu will "Cai Xiang biography," said: "Gong in painting and calligraphy is quite self-conscious, not presumptuous people, its broken chapter remnants of manuscripts people are treasured, Renzong especially love to call it." Zhu Changwen "renewed book breaks": Cai Xiang book quite since the weight, not light for the book, and people's ruled documents, people all hide as treasure. Emperor Renzong loved its traces of ...... and bachelor wrote "Empress Wincheng monument" text, the edict of the book, Junmu resignation refused to book, said: 'This is to be imperial decree also. Confucian work book, so since the rest of Yan Yan only, if a skillful man servitude?
From the above three records, we can know that Cai Xiang calligraphy from the emperor to the ordinary people are very cherish. As he was quite self-conscious, he did not write for others, so there are fewer works in the world. In addition, it can be seen that at that time, the atmosphere of the calligraphy world has completely turned to the poetry and documents, and the book tablet is regarded as a skillful man to do things for the scholarly men who do not care for, and even the emperor's edicts can not be swayed by it. This is fundamentally different from the situation before the Tang Dynasty.
Cai Xiang was a master of the school. Overall, he was an indispensable figure in the development of Song calligraphy. With his own complete calligraphic achievements, he built a bridge of skill between the Jin and Tang legal systems and the Song's sense of humor. Cai Xiang's heirloom ink inscriptions include "Poetry Post in Self Script", "Poem in Imperial Script Granted by Xie", as well as a variety of ink inscriptions of "Tao Sheng Post", "Suburb Burnt Post", and "Meng Hui Post", and monumental inscriptions such as "Memorial of Wan'an Bridge", "Memorial of the Day Jin Hall", and "Forgetfulness of Returning to the Stone," "Rock of the State Masters" and other treasures in regular script in Lingyuan Cave in Gushan Mountain .