Background overview of the work
"Cold Food Poems" is not only one of the most wonderful representative works in the personal calligraphy career of the great calligrapher Su Shi in the Song Dynasty, but also a milestone in the history of Chinese calligraphy, especially the development history of cursive calligraphy. Later generations called it the "Lanting Preface" written by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Tang Yanzhenqing's "Manuscript for Sacrifice to Nephew", and it was praised as "the third running script in the world". Here, "first", "second" and "third" In fact, it refers to the front and back of the chronological order, and cannot be simply understood as the difference between the high and low artistic levels. Therefore, the study and investigation of the Shangyi calligraphy style in the Song Dynasty is to study the development and evolution of the running script art style since the "two kings", and it is impossible to bypass "Han Shi Tie".
Interpretation of the artistic conception of the work
These are two poems written by Su Shi when he was demoted to Huangzhou in the fifth year of Song Yuanfeng, that is, in 1082 A.D., on paper. The originals are now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. During the Ching Ming Festival in March of that year, Su Shi traveled from Huangzhou to Shahu Lake, and then traveled to Qishui River. He made a short spring outing, which was nothing more than having fun while suffering. In such difficult and helpless days, he still maintains the innocence and elegance of a literati, and is full of sincere love for life. This is the lovely part of Su Shi's character. It is precisely because of this that there is this "Cold Food Poetry Post" with both poems and books. These are two poems, the first is from "I came to Huangzhou" to "The beard is white when I get sick", and the second is from "The Spring River wants to enter the house" to "I can't blow the ashes". In the poem, the author describes the miserable living conditions in the three years since Bianjing was demoted to Huangzhou, and expresses his sentimental feelings of wanting to cry without tears. Therefore, we cannot simply regard this work as an inkblot or a "good character". Before we start writing, we must carefully read the content of the poem, carefully appreciate the author's emotion and state of mind, and feel the author's time and time. The rhythm of life when the ground is wet with ink. After reading and appreciating it for a long time, we will slowly close the distance with the author unconsciously, and feel that the author is a kind elder beside us, telling us the misfortune and anger of fate, and the full text The stippling lines also create a sense of intimacy with us, and "live" in front of our eyes. Based on this reading experience, let us further understand the extraordinary nature of Su Shi's pen and ink from the perspective of the composition and layout of the whole painting. The first poem focuses on the narrative, "I have come to Huangzhou, and I have passed three cold meals", and the bitter rains every year, so that "the disease must be white after the onset of illness". The emotion is low, and the rhythm of the pen and ink is flat and slow. The fourth and fifth lines fluctuate slightly, and the sixth and seventh lines return to calm. In contrast, the second song is quite passionate and sad. The three lines from "Spring River wants to enter the house" to "cooking cold vegetables with empty blisters" are written quickly, vigorously, and sharply, as if a piece of music is about to reach its climax. The foreshadowing is brewing, and when the eleventh line "burning the wet grass" suddenly sounds like the strongest sound of the whole piece of music, it suddenly makes the author's angry and sad emotions burst out and vent. The next few lines follow one after the other, and the difficult days make people forget the cold food festival of burning paper for ancestor worship. When they see birds carrying paper away, they realize that it is Qingming Festival. An important minister who used to go to and from the court, A talented literati, but at this time he is relegated to a foreign country and thousands of miles away from home. How can this situation not touch the poet's sensitive heart? He misses his hometown, relatives and ancestors, and can't help but "I also want to cry and die. I can't afford to blow it up", it's already going to the country and nostalgia for the hometown, wanting to cry without tears. It can be seen that the special significance of this thousand-year-old immortal work lies not only in the exquisiteness of its brush and ink, but also in the harmony and unity of its poetic ink charm and the author's personality cultivation. The freehand brushwork and comfort of emotion have a strong artistic appeal that has lasted for thousands of years.
The relationship between poetry and book artistic conception
We cannot simply copy and apply the understanding of Su Shi's poems to the understanding of his calligraphy art. The understanding of writing content cannot replace the understanding of calligraphy art itself.
As a calligrapher, Su Shi was an advocate and practitioner of the Shangyi style of calligraphy in the Song Dynasty. His artistic views of "bringing out new ideas and not following the ancients" and "not trying to be good but good" had an impact on the cursive calligraphy style in the Song Dynasty and beyond huge. The word "meaning" makes us naturally associate with the interest and taste of aesthetic images such as "interest", "meaning", "state of mind" and "artistic conception". In "The Theoretical System of Chinese Calligraphy", Xiong Bingming explained it as "a kind of quiet and pleasant creation", emphasizing the lyricism in a kind of creation, which is quite accurate. Based on such an artistic arena, Su Shi's brushwork skills are more relaxed and natural than those of his predecessors such as the Tang people who "adopted the law", and he values adaptability and freedom. This cannot fail to talk about his distinctive writing method-Yan lying brush method. What is "Yanwo"? "Shuowen" explains it like this: "Yan: stiff. Anyone who looks up to his servant is called Yan." His friend Chen Shidao should be very familiar with Su Shi's writing. It can be seen that "rigid" means "not moving", and "Yangpu" means that the tip of the brush is at a certain oblique angle to the paper surface, rather than being upright. In a state of prostration. "Responding to the case with the hand" means that the writing is very low, and the wrist is not hanging on the wrist. Because of the pillow wrist writing, it can only be based on finger movement, and the wiggle room for the sharp edge of the brush is relatively narrow. The advantage of this method of writing is that the writing of lines and stippling is absolutely flat, refreshing and smooth, just like the hanging needles in the four characters of "nian", "zhong", "reed" and "paper". Dripping and dripping, it breaks the dull and oppressive feeling of Su Zixi's flat posture, and plays a finishing touch in the whole work. The disadvantage is that when the body is formed, it is forced but not stretched enough. Huang Tingjian ridiculed Su's characters as "a stone crushing a frog", and said: "Maybe Yun Dongpo's pen is often a sick pen, and the wrist is held while the pen is lying down, so the left side is beautiful and the right is dry." Dong Qichang wrote in his "Painting Zen Room Essay" "It also said: "Po Gongshu has too many pens, which is also a disease." Therefore, when we are writing this post, we must pay attention to these characteristics. To be familiar with Su Shi's special method of using pens, we must strive to It is well written, with both form and spirit; and it should not be smug and frowning, just imitating its appearance, in the end the expression cannot be captured, and a lot of problems will fall instead.
Confronting the Four Main Points of "Cold Food Post"
We know that Lintie contains "Dui Lin" and "Yi Lin". Let’s first talk about facing each other. Specifically, we should pay special attention to the following aspects:
1. For stippling of typical lying down gestures,Such as "Lai", "Yellow", "Two", "Shao", "Na", "Death" and other characters are about to be written, and the stippling should not be bloated and dull due to excessive seeking of similarity. In particular, the part where the painting is turned and cut should be properly restrained.
2. Most of the fonts are flat,And the left is low and the right is high, and the left is comfortable and the right is furrowed, showing an oblique shape. Shunfeng is often used at the starting point of horizontal painting, not hidden. When writing, we must grasp these characteristics well, and the strokes should be cut and flat, not sharp and weak. In addition, some vertically long characters are interspersed, such as the character "Nian" in the second line, the character "Zhong" in the fifth line, the character "Li" in the tenth line, and the characters "Zao" and "Wei" in the eleventh line. "The character ", the "paper" character in thirteen lines, etc., just form a sharp contrast with the overall tone of the whole article, which is flat and horizontal, and is full of changes. Pay attention to these changes when you are writing, especially the hanging needles of the four characters "nian", "zhong", "reed" and "paper". The momentum, rushing for thousands of miles, dripping with joy.
3. Pay attention to the size change of the font,The size of the glyphs in this post varies greatly, and the contrast is strong. The small ones are like "Ji", "Go", "You", "Yu", "Bai", "Wanli", etc., and the big ones are like "Nian" and "Pozao". ", "The road is poor" and so on, the difference is several times or even ten times, mixed and scattered, like big beads and small beads falling on a jade plate, natural and vivid. When writing, pay attention to the small ones should make full use of the sharp point, and strive to be nimble and free; the big ones should be decisive and heavy, so as to be full of power and emotional.
4. The prominent feature of this post is that the word spacing is tight and the line spacing is loose.For example, in the fourth, fifth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and fourteenth lines, there are almost no gaps between the characters, especially the vertical bottom ends of the four hanging needles are almost interspersed with the characters below. It is extremely rare in famous posts of past dynasties. This tense and depressing space atmosphere fits very well with the emotional tone of the author's poems, and should be carefully grasped when writing. In addition, we should also pay attention to the positive and oblique swing of the axis of each row and the change of density between rows. This kind of change makes the whole work full of strong sense of rhythm. The word "Three Colds" is also inclined to the lower left, the eighth line is also first right and then left, the thirteenth line "Jian Zhijun's door is deep" is inclined to the left, and the fifteenth line is also inclined to the lower right, tightening. Judging from the change of line spacing, the first seven lines, that is, the first poem, are relatively even. From the eighth line onwards, it is loose and tight, and it grows according to the situation, with a strong sense of movement. In the process of matching, in addition to grasping the above aspects, in the selection of tools and materials, we should also pay attention to choosing Langhao or Jiajian Jianhao pens as much as possible, and half-baked antique paper for paper, so as to control the excessive ink. Infiltration.
Yilin's "Cold Food Post" is equally important
Before writing this post, it is very necessary to be realistic, otherwise we will not be able to understand the subtleties of the details of the original post, and we will not be able to solve the problem of learning the techniques and skills of the ancients. However, it is more meaningful to study "Cold Food Tie" in terms of its similarity and dissimilarity. The reason is:
First, cursive script is different from the static script in Kaizhuan and Li, very dynamic, you must maintain a certain speed of writing in the process of writing, it is extremely natural to shape and create momentum with the situation, it is difficult to make the temporary writing exactly the same as the original post, just as Huang Tingjian wrote here The postscript after the post said: "Try to make Dongpo do it again, but it may not be as good as this."
Second, Su Shi's method of using the brush is rather special,This kind of low-handed three-finger "sleeping" brushwork may be a crooked "turning decay into magic" in Su Shi's words, but it may become a problem for us, at least not in line with the writing style of most of us. There is no need to deliberately imitate. Third, learning books should focus on the ancients as the guest and me. This is the experience of the predecessors. After all, copying postcards is a means rather than an end. From the experience, understanding and practice of ancient classic inscriptions, I realized a kind of enlightenment and found a way. Practicing a set of techniques and applying them to our own writing and creation is our most fundamental purpose and the most meaningful.
