In the history of ancient Chinese culture, it has long been established that Fu Shan was well versed in the classics and history and achieved outstanding achievements. In terms of art, he is also a calligrapher and painter. When it comes to calligraphy, he puts forward four "rathers" and four "nos": "Better clumsy than skillful, better ugly than charming, better separated than slippery, and prefer truthful and frank to arranged." This argument is deafening. Zhen Xin, showing his unique personality charm and humanistic spirit. In the past thirty years, calligraphy theory circles have comprehensively analyzed the four "Ning" and the four "Wu" from the aspects of national history, cultural tradition, philosophical thought, personal character, etc. Most of them believe that Fu Shan's calligraphy theory is "as clever as clumsy" and "as precious as heaven." ". Some scholars have further explored its aesthetics, which originate from naturalism and extreme personalism. In recent years, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Fu Shan's birth, Shanxi People's Publishing House published a large-scale catalog "The Complete Works of Fu Shan's Calligraphy". The preface and monograph also discuss the four "Ning" and the four "Wu". All the above opinions are quite insightful. However, there is still some unfinished business.
Regarding the theory of the four "Ning" and the four "Wu", Quanzu of the Qing Dynasty read the "A Brief History of Mr. Fu in Yangqu" in Qiqi Pavilion Collection and said: "(Fu Shan) tasted his own writings and learned the regular scripts of the Jin and Tang Dynasties. It cannot be compared to Songxue (Zhao Meng\) and Xiangguang (Dong Qichang) ink. I love its roundness and flowing beauty, but if I touch it a little, it will mess up the truth. I am ashamed of it. Today, this is like learning from a gentleman, and every time I feel that it is It is difficult to get close to Gu Leng; he wanders with the bandits and does not realize that they are close to each other. Song Xuehe did not learn from You Jun (Wang Xizhi)? The result was shallow and vulgar, to the point where he was as boneless as the King of Ju, and his mind was blank but his hands followed him. So I resumed my studies with Grand Master Yan (Zhenqing). Because of the way people learn calligraphy: it is better to be clumsy than skillful, to be ugly rather than flattering, to be detached rather than slippery, to be sincere and forthright rather than arranged. A gentleman thinks that the teacher is not a calligrapher who only stops words." Fu Shan was extremely dissatisfied with Zhao Meng's status as a member of the Song Dynasty clan, and despised his "skillful" and "fascinating" calligraphy style. He put forward his personal aesthetic view of calligraphy, which of course contained deeper and broader social connotations.
In the early 1960s, the author once saw "Fu Shan on Calligraphy" in Mr. Chen Yidong's "Ten Bu Corridor Reading Record" (published in "Guangming Daily"). After reading it, there was a note that Mr. Chen revealed Fu Shan's four In addition to the four "Ning" and "Wu", there is another "Ning Heng Wu Shun". It originally came from Fu Shan's calligraphy compiled by Duan Chuo of Taiyuan during the Kangxi period, and is called "Taiyuan Duan Calligraphy". Quan Zuwang was a historian between the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns. He wrote about Fu Shan's affairs and showed slight respect for his art but more for his personality and spirit. As for "Better to be horizontal than to be obedient", Quanzu may not have known about it, or he may have known it but was concerned about it, so it was not recorded. Because the "Fei Zhi Yan Shu" advocated "prefer horizontal to obedient", it was clearly a direct criticism of the Qing Dynasty's rebellion.
Last autumn and winter, the author went north to Shanxi twice, visiting the Shuanghong Niche, the Fu Shan Reading Center on Jujue Mountain, the Jin Temple Fu Shan Memorial Hall, and the Shanxi Museum's collection of Fu Shan's calligraphy. Unfortunately, I did not find "Taiyuan Duan Tie". The "Complete Collection of Fu Shan's Calligraphy" also only has the remaining manuscript pages of "Duan Tie", and there is no "Better horizontal than smooth" clause. Recalling the beautiful writings of my predecessors and understanding the true meaning of the four "Ning" and the four "Wu" deepened my understanding of Fu Shan's calligraphy.
"Books are paintings of the heart." Fu Shan pours love, hate, grief and anger into his writing. His calligraphy works are smeared with strong social color and soaked with sincere personal feelings. With his lofty national integrity and spirit, he upheld the principle of "rather horizontal than smooth", and the outline is as follows: "rather clumsy than clever" refers to his artistic temperament, "rather ugly than charming" refers to his artistic form, "rather fragmented than slippery" His artistic style, "preferring directness to arrangement", is his artistic spirit. The upright and unruly Fu Shan was extremely externalized in calligraphy and writing, forming distinctive artistic characteristics:
(1) The momentum spreads thousands of miles. Fu Shan is best at cursive calligraphy. Regardless of whether it is a vertical scroll or a long scroll, the first thing that catches the eye is the continuous strokes, the continuous strings of numbers, and the winding and winding lines. The ups and downs are like a long-lived withered vine; the ups and downs are like a dragon flying out to sea; the galloping and rolling are like the nine-bend Yellow River. For example, "Scroll of Poems about Two Lives in Cursive Script" (Figure 1, collected by Shanghai Museum), the first line starts with five characters, and the third line is divided into three strokes, so the whole picture is completed in one go. "Qijue Poetry Scroll in Running Script" (Picture 2, collected by Jinci Museum) The strings may be short or long, thick or thin, sometimes curved and sometimes straight. For example, the strings between "Zheng" and "Feng" are short and thin, and "Gu" The connection between "人" and "人" is thick and long, the shape of "No" and "Laugh" is straight, and the shape of "Laugh" and "Home" is curved. Like the ever-changing melody in a piece of intertwined dots and lines.
(2) Ancient and stubborn bones. The overwhelming momentum of Fu Shan's calligraphy is supported by the strength of his bones. His awe-inspiring righteousness and rebellious spirit are reflected in the strength of his characters. "Wang Wei Wangchuan Poetry Scroll in Running Script" (Figure 3, collected by Jinci Museum) is 334 cm in length and 83 cm in width. It is on paper and has a huge scroll with a large-diameter ruler. Breaking the convention and incorporating ancient Chinese characters into the regular script, such as the horizontal fold hook at the end of the word "北", the former is as quiet as a chime stone, while the latter is as dynamic as a dragon's tail. The radical "Zuizhi" of "耶耿" is as steep as a cliff, the "Nanchuan" is like a cane, the official meaning of "annihilation", and the seal writing method of "青" are all unified in the simple and luxuriant bones, and the strong and vigorous accumulation. Secondly, the structure is slanted and tilted, words and words, rows and rows, sparse and dense, gathering and dispersing. It is better to be "fragmented" and "straightforward", which means the head is messy and rough, but it has the foundation of "wang" and is smooth and loose. For example, "Poem Scroll in Cursive Script Tianlong Mountain Path" (Figure 4, collected by Shanxi Museum), "After the Rain", "Gui Niao", "Mountain Purple", "Twilight", etc., are clumsy in appearance, hard in bones, round and vigorous. . The layout of the plan is uneven from top to bottom, and the left and right sides give way. The second line of "Yungen Tu" leans to the left, and the third line of "Luoyue" leans to the right. The two lines are dependent on each other.
(3) Rich and magnificent brushstrokes. The bone strength of Fu Shan's calligraphy that transcends summer is filled by his solid foundation and extended by his natural and unrestrained personality. Empathizing with the pen, lifting and pressing the turning point, unrestrained and rough; The strokes are plump and full of vitality; Thick and dry, alternating with each other. As in the "Running Script Lu Ji Drinking and Music Poetry Axis" (Figure 5, Shanghai Duoyun Xuan Collection), characters such as "grape", "fragrant and mellow", and "glass" are combined with the strokes of the "yan" character and the meaning of the "mi" character, which are thick, substantial, and beautiful in appearance; Words such as "drinking late at night and dancing late" and "spring breeze and autumn moon" are elegant, carefree, and generous. The scroll of seven character poems in cursive script (Figure 6, collected by the Nanjing Museum) depicts a vivid contrast between the ink strokes of "desolate city" and "distant geese", and the ink strokes of "flowing water on the back" and "cold clouds on the human body" mixed with withered and flying white, creating a vivid contrast. What is particularly meaningful is the small gaps left between the interlaced strokes after the inadvertent wet ink dries up, which are breathable and shiny. "The Scroll of Du Fu's Poems in Running Script" (Figure 7, collected by Duoyun Xuan in Shanghai) uses a receding brush to conceal the sharp edges and ink, with a calm and ancient style. Words such as "listening", "rowing", "back", and "opening" are infused with ink, creating a lingering charm when the ink rises and dries up. However, they leave behind a translucent and unique atmosphere, like ancient inscriptions full of gold and stone.
(4) All four styles are skilled, with a unified style. Fu Shan's clerical script bears the meaning of Xia Chengbei, while seal script has the ancient Zhou style. For example, in the "Four Screens of Tang Poetry in Lishu" (Figure 8, Sichuan Museum Collection) and the "Axis of Song of Virtuous Qi in Seal Script" (Figure 9, Shanghai Museum Collection), both seal script and clerical script are free from the constraints of horizontal and vertical conventions, and their writing style is quite fascinating. There is also a unique style of cursive seal writing, with flying strokes that compete with Zhao Huanguang in the late Ming Dynasty. The literary world highly praises Fu Shan's Xiaokai, believing it to have the style of the Wei and Jin dynasties, such as the "Xiaokai He Zhuan Zaji Shoujuan" (Figure 10, collected by the Shanxi Provincial Museum), which is ancient and interesting, with a unique and unconventional style beyond ordinary paths.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many literati who had national integrity and refused to serve in the Qing dynasty were skilled calligraphers who also practiced calligraphy. Such as those written by Huang Daozhou, Guizhuang, Chen Gongyin, Wang Hongbian, etc., their style of writing may be strong and vigorous, or fresh and pure and elegant, but not wild and unrestrained. Therefore, the artistic style of a calligrapher is cultivated by multiple factors and is not necessarily related to an individual's political stance and ideological concepts. Fu Shanyu was a calligrapher, but he blended his true nature into calligraphy and created a large number of works throughout his life. But there are also some works that are overly hasty due to emotional polarization, with critics criticizing them as "entangled with grass ropes." . Also, due to the abundance of counterfeit products in the market, the fish and eyes are mixed up and obscure, all of which require discerning and discerning.
Next to Duofu Temple on the top of Jue (Shanwei) Mountain, 50 miles northwest of Taiyuan City, there is a small house that serves as Fu Shan's reading place. The author stood in front of the hut, looking at the fields of pines and cypresses, and the gorgeous red leaves, and recited Mr.'s poem "What a strong poem about wind and rain, the air in the mountains is not slavish", and then the idea for this short article came up. The soft pines and the still people seem to be there, the wind blows and the cold waves fill the mountain.
(Editor: Tang Mochu)
