As a master of cursive calligraphy in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wang Duo remained silent for nearly three hundred years after his death due to the accusation of "two ministers".
There is a saying in China that "character is the quality of calligraphy" and is not a standard for calligraphy. However, for a calligrapher who did not hesitate to "sink his heart and drive his mind, cut off his emotions and desires... eat, drink and sleep", he only "expected that in the history of the future, there will be many good books" For people who are good at it, it is undoubtedly a cruel thing. However, the darkness and ruthlessness of politics and the subjective and affectionate expression of art are originally two modes of thinking.
As an old-style literati in feudal society, Wang Duo was helpless in such a political environment and cultural background. After his political ideals were completely shattered, he devoted himself to art and expressed his unspeakable pain in pen and ink. , to relieve frustration, depression and decadent feelings in a hearty and wanton way.
As a politician, he is undoubtedly a failure. His failure is an objective necessity of history and the result of personality limitations. As a great creative calligrapher, Wang Duo is undoubtedly an unavoidable research case in contemporary times.
Wang Duo's running script "A Gift to Tang Ruowang"
As a Confucian scholar under the feudal system who became a Jinshi at the age of thirty-one, Wang Duo was a minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of Dongge in the late Ming Dynasty. Didn't he understand how history would judge him for "leading hundreds of officials to surrender to the Qing Dynasty"? Chinese Confucianism has always regarded "loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness" as the foundation of life. "Starving to death is a small matter, but losing integrity is a big matter."
Wang Duo neither sacrificed his life for the country like Huang Daozhou, who was loyal and loyal, nor did he choose to live in seclusion in the mountains and love himself like Fu Shan.
As an old-style literati from feudal society who was well-read in poetry and had a conscience, he chose to live in peace and contentment. In any case, it was a loss of integrity and a stupid choice.
Wang Duo fan cursive script
The late Ming Dynasty was an era of turmoil and war. As a civil official, Wang Duo faced the situation of Emperor Chongzhen's self-indulgence, extravagance and debauchery, eunuchs and traitors, tyrannical government, and boiling public resentment. , repeatedly published articles to state the current shortcomings in order to revive the situation. Later, he offended Long Yan for impeaching the leader and sent Yang Sichang, and was almost killed by the imperial staff.
In desperation, Wang Duo petitioned to return home, completely losing confidence in the corrupt and mediocre Ming Dynasty.
Examining his life and history, we did not find that Wang Duo did anything harmful to the people's livelihood after serving the Ming Dynasty or surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. On the contrary, because he witnessed the tragic situation of natural disasters and military disasters and the people fleeing chaos, he advocated tax exemption and reduction of corvee, and expressed great sympathy for the unfortunate people.
Wang Duo's ideals of writing and ink are all contained in these woven silk tapes
Wang Duo knew that he was powerless as a scholar, so he did not want to be buried with that foolish king who only thought about escaping regardless of the safety of the people. He realized the darkness of the Ming Dynasty and the inevitable trend that the building would collapse, and finally made a decision that was difficult to do in the course of his life. A disgraceful choice to wipe out.
In the second year after Wang Duo surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he wrote two wonderful scrolls in cursive script. The contents are Du Fu's poems recording the turbulent life of Anshi. Perhaps this can better express the desolate sorrow in his heart that he can't resolve.
Wang Duo's running script "Mountain Garden Tie"
At this time, Wang Duo was alone, his parents, brothers, and wife died one after another in the war and displacement... The reality of disputes, the shattering of ideals, and the despair of spirit. What supported this lonely and weak soul to survive? Perhaps it was the call of the artistic dream buried deep in his heart that Wang Duo finally chose the life form of "living in seclusion to pursue his ambitions and writing in order to achieve his goals" in line with current events. He became a victim of the national struggle and became a The "second minister" who will be despised by future generations forever.
From then on, he spent every day in extreme inner pain and uneasiness. Where is the habitat of the soul? How can we spend the rest of our lives in the torment of regret in the difficult years?
Wang Duo's own poem "Wuluo and Jin are bandits"
Only the most true, most kind and most beautiful art can allow a broken soul to repair itself here. He seems to have found the refuge of his soul. He indulges in calligraphy with an almost religious piety. He expresses his inner contradictions, regrets and difficulties in the form of poetic life lines with wild and wild strokes of pen and ink, and uses his paintings to comprehend the eternal true life.
Wang Duo only lived to be 61 years old after being surrendered to the Qing Dynasty at the age of 54. In the last 7 years of his life, he used his voice and color to dilute the torture of spiritual frustration, emptiness and decadence, and pinned his surging emotions on a delicate pen. His meager strength reveals the brilliance of the art of calligraphy and painting. His calligraphy art, especially the long cursive and giant brush strokes, are amazing, majestic and jumpy in composition. They show the impact of that turbulent era on the hearts of intellectuals, and their transcendence. The elegance and excitement of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the astonishing artistic aesthetic thoughts and the deep exploration of the formal beauty of calligraphy have influenced later generations and even contemporary calligraphy artists.
Wang Duo's running script album "Langhua Guan Tie"
Wang Duo, who has pursued freedom and liberation all his life, advocates innovation on the basis of inheriting tradition. In order to break the pattern of elegance and kitsch in the calligraphy world at that time, revitalize calligraphy and overcome the current shortcomings. He learned from the past and did not follow the past, but used the past to create the present. "The rest of the books are exclusively from Xi Xian, that is, all schools in the Tang and Song Dynasties originated from Xi Xian, and people have not noticed it."
Wang Duo was in love with the brushwork and structure of the ancients. In order to avoid being popular, he "copied one day and responded to requests the other day. It is not easy to do this in a lifetime. Generally, copying should not be interrupted for a day."
Wang Duo came to Wang Xianzhi's "Tie of Geese"
Wang Duo possesses all kinds of styles, and the number of copied works is unparalleled by others. It has even reached the state of "taking a shadow like a lamp without losing a hair". However, learning from ancient times is not his goal, let alone being stuck in ancient methods. In addition to the calligraphy of the two kings, Wang Duo was particularly fond of Mi Fu and Yan Zhenqing.
He found that the person who best captured the essence of the two kings was Mi Fu from the Song Dynasty. "Mi Fu's books are written by Xi and Xian, and they are erratic in vertical and horizontal directions. They are like flying immortals! They have mastered the method of "Lanting" and imitated it irregularly. I burned incense and slept under it."
"Irregular copying" is the true meaning of calligraphy copying that Wang Duo realized after seeing a large number of Mi Fu's original works in his home.
Wang Duo's "Composition on Xiangshan in Luozhou"
That is, under the guidance of the idea of "irregular imitation", Wang Duo explores "which butterfly is the real butterfly". He breaks the barriers of mechanical retro imitation, not only respecting tradition, but also rebuilding and creating on the basis of tradition.
His shocking aesthetics began to naturally reveal and express his long-suppressed heart on rice paper. Some of his works were even rejected by "authorities" and "ignorant people", and were called "wild" and "vulgar".
In fact, at this time, he had reached the level of artistic proficiency, and he was very precise in his use of the brush even though he started and stopped the seemingly rough-and-tumble stippling.
Wang Duo's regular script "Yijue'an Ming"
Wang Duo despised Zhang Xu and Huai Su. He believed that his cursive script was fundamentally different from Tang cursive script, which was not part of the Jin Dynasty.
The times created the unfortunate Wang Duo. Due to the influence of emancipating his thoughts and publicizing his personality in his youth, as well as repeated failures in his political career, especially after the surrender to the Qing Dynasty, he was displaced by the war and died one after another of his relatives, which made him suppress his feelings that he had nowhere to express. By resorting to the pen, the composition and calligraphy often show the witty interest of "accommodating temporary adequacy" and "not adhering to the usual", and the strong shocking power and bold expressive visual form naturally revealed by pen and ink.
Wang Duo's running script "Feng Gong Xiaosheng Shu"
This atmosphere and calligraphy style seem to be far away from the Yuan Dynasty and different from most calligraphers of his era. Its use of rising and spreading ink and swaying and colorful postures are different from the elegant, graceful, graceful and beautiful calligraphy style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. , he takes the approach of the two kings but is completely different from them in appearance. His calligraphy style completely pursues the self-portrait of individual life and the pioneering and innovative art form.
Wang Xizhi's calligraphy impresses viewers with its subtle elegance in the small-format format of rulers and tablets, while Wang Duo's calligraphy, in its large-format format of eight feet and two feet, fully renders the integrity and creates a visual impact on the viewer.
The process of expression from small local attention to large visual impact of the overall form is a visual transformation and a change of aesthetic taste from harmony to conflict.
Wang Duo's painting "Reading in the Autumn Window"
No wonder he is regarded as a "wild way" by "those who don't know", and it is this unruly and unruly character called "wild way" that finally enabled him to complete the "innovation" in the creation of calligraphy art that broke through the predecessors. It is possible that he will be praised by future generations as "the best one in Ming Dynasty" and "no one like him in five hundred years".
Wang Duo is undoubtedly an outstanding representative who surpassed many calligraphers of that era. At the same time, he also surpassed the era in which he lived. He used the past to create the present, inherited the heaven and the earth, and danced with the sun and the moon.
