A Brief Analysis of the Principles of Calligraphy Criticism

朱翔宇

Abstract： Calligraphy comment system is an important link in the process of calligraphy learning and appreciation. Lack of correct understanding of calligraphy comment will affect the basic judgment of a calligraphy work. The ancient people's writing of calligraphy theory is not perfect， most of them are emotional and always to use metaphors .It is not easy to understand and its system is unclear， which has laid a variety of hidden dangers for the development of calligraphy. As a result， some speculators may take words out of context or take the words too literally， which lead to a disorderly situation in the literary world. Moreover， with the continuous development of calligraphy education， we also need to sort out and perfect the calligraphy theory. Therefore， based on the summary of the form of ancient comments， the author puts forward a dialectical and unified evaluation standard of space， time and emotion.

Key words： Calligraphy Review; Space; Time; Emotion

Calligraphy is the traditional art of the Chinese nation， and it is also the most distinctive art form of the Chinese nation. Based on Chinese characters and rooted in traditional culture， Calligraphy has evolved from inscriptions on bones and bones to seal script， official script， running script， cursive script and regular script. From the beginning of the hazy pursuit of neat writing to the later of pursuing the meaning of writing， and then there is "Jin people appreciated the charm"， "Tang people respected the law"， " Song people worshiped the inclination " and other styles. At the same time， there were also calligraphers with different styles， each leading the style of calligraphy. There were both differences between high and low levels， and of course， there were also an endless stream of calligraphy critics to evaluate and criticize the advantages and disadvantages of different schools of calligraphy. However， different people hold different opinions， which result in a variety of evaluation standards and evaluation systems， and there has never been a unified aesthetic standard. Nowadays， calligraphy has gradually withdrawn from the stage of practical history and exists as an art form of pure appreciation. However， the imperfection of its comment theory not only makes it difficult for us to learn calligraphy， but also makes some people who talk big and cheat the world take advantage of it， thus creating a lot of "ugly calligraphy and disorderly phenomena" and causing endless poison. Therefore， in today's calligraphy as a thriving art， it is urgent to sort out and perfect the aesthetic comment principle of calligraphy.

Throughout the history of calligraphy evaluation， we can roughly divide the former's evaluation of calligraphers and calligraphers' works into three categories.

Firstly， the obvious transformation of the nine ranking systems represented by Yu Xianwu's Shu Pin and the obvious method of "shen， miao， neng" in Zhang Huai Guan's Shu Duan. This approach has the advantage of being able to get a clearer picture of the general level and historical position of each calligrapher; The shortcoming is ，during the evaluation grade， it is easy to mix the author's emotional likes or dislikes， and it is easy to lose the fair. In the evaluation of the style of the calligraphers is the use of "Flying of dragon and snake"， "small and micro into victory"， "flying white into seconds" and other more vague and exaggerated accounts. From such expressions we can only vaguely guess the general style of the writers， but we do not know exactly what they were.

Secondly， it discusses the gains and losses of writing in the main artistic languages of calligraphy， such as Yan Zhenqing's Twelve Ideas on the Brushwork of Chang zhangshi， Ouyang Xun's Eight Tips， Thirty-six Laws， and Wang Xizhi's Twelve Chapters on the Brushwork （Made by a fake）. The main artistic language here includes the use of writing brush and structure.

The advantage of this way of comment is that it analyzes and inherits the key points of previous calligraphy， and all of them are written by calligraphers， so it has a high reference value. However， this kind of discussion often lays stress on the gains and losses of techniques and ignores the integrity. If new scholars take this as the basis for study， they tend to ignore the basis of calligraphy and fall into the care of the details， and tend to ignore the commonness， and then easily misinterpret the author's original intention.

Finally， Su Shis on the Calligraphy， Huang Tingjians on the Calligraphy And Mi Fei's Famous Sayings of Hai Yue and other books take personal experience of learning calligraphy as the standard， and summing up the method of learning calligraphy and the essentials of learning calligraphy. And occasionally in the paper to the previous piecemeal evaluation. The advantage of such a system is that the viewpoints are listed first， and then explained by examples， so that the reader can well understand and trigger personal thinking. However， the authors have different experiences and can't agree on what is right or wrong. When they choose the words and calligraphy of their predecessors， they often misinterpret them and take them out of context， which is slightly suspected of " Six classics annotate me ".

The above three calligraphy criticism systems all played an important role in a certain historical period. They all had their own historical reasons for their existence and handed down historical values， but they could no longer meet our current needs. The reasons are as follows：

First of all， calligraphy comments are particularly important for calligraphy learning. Only with a certain understanding of calligraphy comments， can we set up the correct aesthetic principles of calligraphy， choose the correct model of imitation， choose the "high calligraphy" and "elegant calligraphy"， and avoid becoming "ugly calligraphy and evil style".

Secondly， calligraphy has been gradually promoted in Chinese universities and a complete training system from undergraduate to doctoral degree has been established， but the theory of calligraphy appreciation has not been perfected and updated in time. Although the calligraphy comments of the ancients are wonderful， they lack the system and are not comprehensive enough to accurately analyze the various elements of calligraphy. Without sorting out， it is not able to adapt to the current development of calligraphy.

To sum up， we need a language plain and comprehensive calligraphy criticism and aesthetic， such a new system is not a castle in the air， but built on the basis of summarizing and summarizing predecessors. The author holds that there are three principles to be observed in the aesthetic comments of calligraphy， namely， the space principle， the time principle and the emotion principle. The principle of space is the basic principle， which contains the most fundamental and basic contents of calligraphy， namely the three elements of the use of writing brush， structure and composition. When we comment on a calligraphy work， one is to observe whether the use of writing brush technique is skillfully used and whether it follows the most basic rules of ancient Chinese writing and Chinese characters. This is the unshakable foundation of calligraphy aesthetics， and any "innovation" without the foundation of traditional brushwork is wishful thinking and undesirable. Second， the structure is an important ruler to show the author's personal aesthetic taste， such as Wang Xizhi's On Yue Yi and Wang Xianzhi's Thirteen Lines of Jade Plate. Although the style is different， the two works are fine， because no matter how the author's personal aesthetic， when writing， they all follow the rules of Chinese characters. Our Chinese characters are derived from the "Liu shu"（Ancient Chinese six methods of creation characters）， and each character has its own rules and meanings， so we should have some knowledge of philology when appreciating calligraphy works. At present， when creating oracle bone script and calligraphy， many people make mistakes due to their unfamiliarity with the basic configuration of Chinese characters and their arbitrary deformation， and even have the habit of fabricating characters. Chapter rule is a by-product of calligraphy， which is produced by the size and shape of Chinese characters， and can sometimes be deliberately managed and arranged to achieve a special aesthetic feeling and effect， such as formal calligraphy， a very popular form of writing nowadays. However， the importance of discipline is limited， which is not important enough to determine the quality of a calligraphy work. For example， Yan Zhenqing's "Draft of the Nephew" has no discipline at all， which does not affect it to become one of the "three calligraphy".

The timeliness of calligraphy is reflected in the sequence of strokes of a character and the continuity of writing time of a piece of work. This kind of perceptibility of time is not possessed by many other space arts， so it also becomes the unique charm of calligraphy. The development of time and the synchronization of the creation process enable us to trace the creation process of the author from the lines of the finished work. In this process of tracing， it is actually the process of calligraphy evaluation， whether the writing of dot painting is coherent， whether the change of the movement is natural， etc.， are all aesthetic elements generated based on the time principle of calligraphy. Calligraphy is regarded as a planar image， which is the most basic appreciation. However， the interleaving of time and space makes the aesthetic elements of calligraphy diversified， and it also has a container to receive the connotation injected by calligraphers of various dynasties. Based on this kind of spatio-temporal interlacing， the aesthetic elements of calligraphy are familiar to all of us， such as the connection of silk， the echo between the dots and so on. At the same time， this feature is also an important mark to distinguish a real calligraphy work from a "craftsman" （especially a piecework similar to a painting）.

The principle of emotion is a pluralistic principle. Firstly， any art form has lyrical function， and most works of art without emotion are pale and nerveless. Different art forms， have the different expression techniques and forms， calligraphy， with the help of the form of expression is the line and text carrier status， different line stripe quality and the emotional bearing is not the same， this is a kind of the cultural tacit understanding "different people， different wisdom，". For example， thick lines are accompanied by heavy emotional color， while thin lines are mostly accompanied by light emotional color. Secondly， the carrier status of characters. The contents of writing records are the most direct reflection of the author's feelings. Different writing contents contain different emotions， for example， the feelings of holding wine facing the wind in The Preface of Lan Ting and is different from the bitter feelings in the Huangzhou Hanshi Tie. A calligrapher combines the emotions and writing styles of different characters to create an excellent calligraphy work. Generally speaking， elements in space， such as dots and paintings， are the most basic contents of calligraphy. Without a solid foundation of techniques， any effort can only be a castle in the air， which is the most important point in judging calligraphy. The timeliness of calligraphy is the key point that distinguishes calligraphy from other art forms. Calligraphy works that lose their time characteristics are more like "arts and crafts" works， losing their rhyme. Emotion is the soul of calligraphy as an art. These three are indispensable and dialectical unity in a calligraphy work.

References

[1] Selected Works of Calligraphy in Successive Dynasties [M]. Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House， 1979.

[2] Chen Zhenlian. Calligraphy Aesthetics [M]. Shandong People's Publishing House， 2006.

[3] Zhang Fa. Introduction to Aesthetics [M]. Renmin University Press， 2001.