Fu Shan Calligraphy Album

"Fu Shan Liang Tan's Calligraphy and Painting Collection"

Photo courtesy of China Guardian International Auction Co., Ltd.

Fu Shan was a legendary Taoist, thinker, calligrapher, poet, and traditional Chinese medicine scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. His scholarship and calligraphy related to philology, exegesis, epigraphy, calligraphy theory, etc. His creations were good at official script, regular script, and cursive script. He started his own family and had a long-lasting influence. Fu Shan went through his studies in the late Ming Dynasty, the national changes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, became a monk and became a Taoist, went to jail to resist the Qing Dynasty, traveled around the country, practiced medicine, annotated scriptures and lectured. In his later years, he was awarded the title of Secretary of the Cabinet, but he was willing to work as a commoner. The tortuous life experience has made him comprehensive in various fields of study and attainments, and he has achieved a prestigious life. This article attempts to sort out the context of the formation of his artistic thoughts and calligraphy art through acquaintance with his life course.

Fu Shan was born in the 35th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1607) and died in the 23rd year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1684) at the age of seventy-eight. I think his life friendship can be roughly divided into three stages. First, before the "Jiashen National Revolution", the main representative figures in his social activities were Yuan Jixian and others; second, from entering the Qing Dynasty to when he was imprisoned and released from prison for resisting the Qing Dynasty. The representative figures in the main social activities are Wei Yi'ao and others; thirdly, from the time he traveled to the south of the Yangtze River after the age of 50 to his death, the representative figures in the main social activities are Gu Yanwu and others. According to these three periods, Fu Shan’s contacts and related situations are sorted out.

——Hu Zhan "Fu Shan's Friendship and Its Influence on the Formation of His Calligraphy Art" ("China Calligraphy News" Issue 263, Page 2)

Fu Shan Miscellaneous Books

Fu Shan Miscellaneous Books

Fu Shan's "The Miaohan in the House" (detail)

In traditional Chinese culture, calligraphy for Fu Shan, like most scholars, was not a very important thing. ...The relationship between Fu Shan and calligraphy is just like this: on the one hand, it is a "final skill"; on the other hand, he writes almost every day, not only "non-creation" - poems, articles, reading notes, prescriptions, etc. , and "creation" - responding to various requests for books. At the same time, he has been "learning from the past" all his life, because he believes that "if a word does not resemble the ancients, it means it cannot be written."

The attitude towards how calligraphy affects the family, country and world is not the core factor that determines the level of calligraphy achievement. In fact, most calligraphers in the past dynasties held similar views to Fu Shan. Interestingly, the ideal of Chinese art is precisely to put aside all utilitarianism in artistic creation. The man in "Zhuangzi Tian Zifang" first "undressed his clothes" and then started painting, is the real artist. Only by letting go of all spiritual fetters can we achieve the great freedom that all things and I are one, and create masterpieces that are as wonderful as the creation of heaven and earth. …

Fu Shan's life attitude and practice, calligraphy concepts and works are all based on Dapeng's spirit of "freedom and grandeur" of "swinging upward ninety thousand miles".

——Fang Jianxun's "A Brief Analysis of Fu Shan's "Heaven's Secret" in Writing" ("China Calligraphy News" Issue 263, Page 3)

Fu Shan's "Poetry of Tianlong Temple"

Fu Shan's "Praise to the Portraits of Famous Officials in Past Dynasties: Lord Di Liang"

Fu Shan's "Praise to the Portraits of Famous Officials in Past Dynasties: Han Wen Gong"

Fu Shan's "Poetry of a Crying Son" (Part)

When studying the Shanxi literary scene, art and other fields in the early Qing Dynasty, Fu Shan and Dai Tingshu were always an inseparable subject. The two were both teachers and friends, and their relationship was strong. Dai Tingshu spared no effort to promote Fu Shan on many cultural occasions. Propaganda, it can be said that Dai Tingshi has always played an irreplaceable and important role in the formation and acceptance of Fu Shan's cultural phenomenon.

…

Due to Fu Shan's huge popularity and the relationship between Fu and Dai, Dai Tingshu's literary, ideological and academic achievements have not only been outshone, but people also often feel that Dai Tingshu's fame and friendship are mostly attached to Fu Shan's influence. But when we go deeper into the historical data, it is not difficult to find that the facts are often contrary to the stereotypes. It was through Dai Tingshu's Yuyi advocacy that Fu Shan became known to many scholars who had never visited Jin Province and had never met Qingzhu. The friendship between Dai Tingshi, Wang Dai and Fu Shan revealed in this article is an example.

"Three Friends in the Winter" is an interesting testimony of the interactions between Dai Tingshu, Wang Dai and Fu Shan. What is interesting is that Wang Dai, Fu Shan and Dai Tingshu formed a relationship on the premise that he has probably never personally known Fu Shan. The cultural combination has an anecdotal relationship (although Fu Shan and Wang Dai were both in the capital because of their erudition in Hongci, neither of them had written evidence to prove that they met each other), and combined with Dai and Wang Judging from the literature, this unique social circle continues to generate influence and heat.

——A study of Song Tao's "The Picture of Three Friends in the Winter" - Dai Tingshu's Friendship with Wang Dai and Fu Shan" ("Chinese Calligraphy News" Issue 263, Page 4)

Wang Dai's "Three Friends in the Winter" 

Collection of Shanxi Museum

"Evening Photo of Mount Gu" in Wang Dai's "Eight Views of Zhaoyu"

Collection of Shanxi Museum

Collection of Shanxi Museum

...The meaning of "entertainment writing" used in this article takes both the narrow and broad meanings mentioned above. But the definition standard is whether writing is done for the purpose of exchanging love, things or money, regardless of whether it is " lyrical" or "self-entertainment".

Combining the views and phenomena mentioned by Mr. Yang Liansheng in the article "Report - A Foundation of Chinese Social Relations", even if it is mixed with indirect or direct sales, there is still a lot of connotation of "repayment" in social writing . Precisely because of the inevitability of this relationship, social writing can be described as full of joy and sorrow.

This is the case with Fu Shan's social writing.

…

 Fu Shan's "Flower Duck in the Rain" scroll

 "Dancing Cypresses on Tianquan" by Fu Shan

 Fu Shan's seven-character poem "Walking on Grass Feet in Dreams" 

182.9×50.8cm

Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Fu Shan's "Scroll of Jiangzhou Presented by Lin Wang" Aya Edition 

174.5x50.5cm 

Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Fu Shan once revealed his torture of the world and himself through self-questioning:

"Sir, is this mysterious?" He said, "I cannot live forever without being ruthless."

Regarding social writing specifically, Fu Shan also has a poem that expresses the same meaning: "There are many reasons for writing and studying for no reason, so I don't dare to talk about changing geese. This is because the world is hard to After asking before, he again Someone asked, "Sir, are you noble decide?" He said, "I am humble." This "humble" naturally contains vastness, but it may not lack the "humble" born of "sorrow". However, if there is no "humble" mentality, is "noble" really "noble"?

——Zhou Xunjun ""I cannot live forever without being ruthless" - the joy and sorrow of Fu Shan and Ying Yong's writing" ("Chinese Calligraphy News" Issue 263, Page 6)

 Fu Shan's "Five Rhymed Poems on Feng Deng Blowing Overcast Snow in Cursive Script" scroll, Aya version

185.7×51cm

Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Fu Shan's "Visiting Friends with Qin" scroll

Fu Shan was an influential cultural celebrity in the country in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He had a bold personality and a special status. He had many friends and a wide range of friends, including government officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties, local cultural celebrities, scholars from all over the country, and Sanli Academy. classmates, monks and Taoists, as well as local businessmen and ordinary villagers. Someone has made statistics and found that Fu Shan had more than 150 friends. A considerable amount of Fu Shan's extant calligraphy was written for friends. Some of these works were for entertainment, requested by friends, and some were given as gifts by Fu Shan. Depending on the recipient and the situation, the style and content of the calligraphy vary. , signature and writing attitude all have different expressions, reflecting Fu Shan's consciousness in calligraphy creation.

——Dou Yuanzhang "Looking at the Evolution of Calligraphy Consciousness from Fu Shan's Friendship" ("Chinese Calligraphy News" Issue 263, Page 7)

 Fu Shan "The universe is nothing but this matter"

 Fu Shan "Danfeng Pavilion" (detail)

Fu Shan's Cursive Cursive Poems "One of Two Poems of Bujue" on silk 

180cm×45cm 

Collection of Shanxi Provincial Museum

 Fu Shan Xingcao Li Shangyin's "The Banquet of Dr. Zhou in Huazhou" Poem Scroll

 Fu Shan's cursive scroll of Liu Shenxu's "Jiangnan Song" on paper 

220cm×71cm 

Collection of Shanxi Provincial Museum

Fu Shan's scroll of "The Seven-Character Poetry of Chuan Deng" in running cursive, Aya edition

178.6×48.7cm

Collection of Tianjin Museum

Fu Shan's "Poem of Sitting on a Cliff in Sudonghai"

 Fu Shan's "Seventy Short Narratives of Zhou Lijun, the Mother of Longevity Hu and Zhu Shuo" 

Beijing cultural relics store

 Part of "Twelve Screens with Forty Rhymes of the Shou Wang Xiyu" by Fu Shan

 Fu Shan's "Scroll of Seven-Character Poetry in Cursive Script of You Jun Da Drunk" on silk

Collection of Nanjing Museum

Fu Shan's "Eleven volumes of public poems written in cursive script by Du Fu on the rain calligraphy and invitations to leave"

Collection of Tianjin Museum

 Fu Shan's "cursive script to Gong Dingzi's Seven-Character Poetry" scroll, damask, 178.7×49.2cm 

Collection of Zhejiang Provincial Museum

 Fu Shan "Frost Red Aftertaste Album" (detail)

Fu Shan's cursive script "Loyalty, Filial Piety, Judgment and Righteousness"

Collection of Shanxi Museum

 Fu Shan: Tang Dynasty Poetry Scroll in Seal Script

 Fu Shan's cursive script "Poetry Scroll of Twelve Vermilion Editions Presented to Yu by Li Shangyin"

Fu Shan's Cursive Personal Records (Part 1) on paper 

Collection of Shanxi Museum

Fu Shan's Supplementary Book of Fu's History in Cursive Script (Part 4)