The overall characteristic of calligraphy in the Ming Dynasty is that calligraphy developed toward diversification. By the Song Dynasty, calligraphy was not limited to occasions such as erecting monuments, official documents, and letters, but expanded to pure artistic creations mainly using literary works as media. It was also widely used by literati painters in the inscriptions and postscripts of paintings. This trend was even more prevalent in the Yuan Dynasty, so much so that we need to understand the style of some calligraphers, and sometimes we can only see it in the inscriptions and postscripts of paintings (such as Ni Zan's calligraphy). After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, poems, rhymes, couplets (beginning with Meng Chang, Lord of Shu in the Five Dynasties), fine lines and exquisite paintings have become the main sources of calligraphy creation. By the Ming Dynasty, new styles such as praise, postscripts, titles, notes, and recognitions of predecessors' calligraphy had also appeared in calligraphy.
"Tai Ge style" (called Guan Ge style in the Qing Dynasty) also appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. At that time, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty were dissatisfied with the calligraphy style under the rule of the Yuan people, so a kind of calligraphy style appeared among the upper-level bureaucrats to cater to their own purposes. Calligraphy was rarely alive, but it was officially formulated as the standard calligraphy style for scientific examinations, making this style of calligraphy pervasive. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The representatives of "Taige Style" include the so-called "Three Yangs", namely Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and Yang Pu. However, due to the fatal weakness of "Taige style", it ultimately did not have a major influence on the overall development of calligraphy in the Ming Dynasty.
On the whole, there are two major styles of calligraphy that supported the calligraphy of the Ming Dynasty: first, the creative orientation of Song Ke, Zhu Yunming, Wen Zhengming, Dong Qichang and others who also "advocated state" and pursued elegance and integrity in the Yuan Dynasty; The other is Xu Wei, Zhang Ruitu, Ni Yuanlu, who have solid foundations but are unwilling to stick to the past and are extremely anti-spiritual. Especially the bold explorations of Wang Duo, Fu Shan and others in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
Among the rebellious calligraphers of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Wei should be the first to be praised.
Xu Wei (1521~1593), whose courtesy names were Wenchang, Tianchi, and Qingteng, was born in Shanyin, Zhejiang. An important calligrapher in the mid-Ming Dynasty. Xu Wei's concerns are not limited to how to improve his personal style on the basis of tradition. He is extremely rebellious and has dispelled a set of subtle and thorough laws established since King Zhong. We know that since the pre-Qin Dynasty to the present, the development of writing has been towards increasing simplification and reversely becoming more and more complex and diverse. Xu Wei longed to return to the simple and lack of "smart" brushwork before the pre-Qin Dynasty, dared to despise the beautiful structure that had been the norm since King Zhong, and pursued calligraphy works with messy and rough brushwork and childish and clumsy structure, forming a Extremely natural and casual personality. Xu Wei's efforts go further than Zhu Yunming. Due to the liberation of brushwork and structure, the lyrical function of calligraphy has achieved a qualitative leap. It can be said that many of Xu Wei's works are purely lyrical. In this sense, Xu Wei has made an indelible contribution to the evolution of Chinese calligraphy art. Yuan Hongdao called Xu Wei "the Sansheng of the Eight Dharma and the chivalrous man of Zilin", who was very discerning.
In addition to calligraphy, Xu Wei has a wide range of achievements. He is also a prominent figure in the history of painting, a poet, essayist and playwright in Ming Dynasty literature. His representative works in calligraphy include "Song of the Blue Sky" and a large number of cursive calligraphy works.
Zhang Ruitu (? ~1644), courtesy name Changgong and Ershui, was born in Jinjiang, Fujian. In the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (1608), he became a Jinshi and ranked third in the palace examination. He later entered the cabinet as Minister of Rites and became a bachelor of Wuying Palace. However, he later redeemed himself for his sins and became a citizen. Zhang Ruitu was another important calligrapher who broke into the realm of breaking law after Xu Wei in the middle Ming Dynasty. He was very good at calligraphy. He came from the past, but he has no attachment to it. Just as Qin Zu of the Qing Dynasty said, "Rui Tu's writing style is extraordinary and elegant, and he has found another way besides Zhong Wang." Indeed, like many of Xu Wei's typical works, it is difficult for us to distinguish between them. There are obvious traces of his predecessors in Zhang Ruitu's writings, but he did have great respect for his predecessors (he paid great tribute to Sun Guoting's "Book Book", Su Shi's "The Drunken Old Pavilion" and Xi Xian's calligraphy). (Kung Fu), which shows that in the history of history, there is only betrayal by penetration, and there is no break without cause and effect. This is not without inspiration for people today.
Zhang Rui's book works are rich, including "Cong Ma Xing", "Le Zhi Lun" and a large number of scroll books.
Ni Yuanlu (1593~1644), whose courtesy name was Yuru and whose name was Hongbao. Tianqi Jinshi, good at calligraphy and painting, excellent calligraphy. Together with Huang Daozhou, Wang Duo and others, he carried out calligraphy revival activities. He advocated adopting ancient methods, but in practice broke the law and became independent. He came to the same goal as Xu Wei and Zhang Ruitu in different ways, and devoted himself to solving the problem of text media and line. The contradiction between the freedom of change, daring to disregard the dignity of words, and changing the past writing style to the structure and the structure to the needs of the writing style. This concept vaguely allows us to feel the awareness of formal beauty that is generally recognized by people today. Ni Yuanlu's works include "Jinshan Poems" and a large number of poetry scrolls.
Huang Daozhou (1585~1646), whose courtesy name was Xuandu, was later changed to Youping and his name was Shizhai. A native of Zhangpu, Fujian. In the second year of Tianqi (1623), he became a Jinshi. He once served as Minister of Rites and other positions, and was a member of the Donglin Party. Later, he was captured while resisting the Qing army and died in Nanjing. Huang Daozhou's upright character was reflected in his writing, which was as surging as the endless flow of a river. In the late Ming Dynasty, he was famous for his majestic cursive script. He is also an innovative figure in the history of calligraphy. He breaks the rules of writing, and his strokes should be long but short, and short but long. There is no obstacle in his heart, and his calligraphy has a unique look. Qin Zuyong of the Qing Dynasty said in "Tongyin Theory on Painting" that Huang's "cursive brushstrokes are bizarre and wonderful, and they are deeply rooted in the essence of the two kings". It can be seen that it is precisely because of the achievements of predecessors that we can achieve the "bizarre and superb" state. A large number of cursive poems have been handed down from generation to generation.
Wang Duo (1592~1652), also known as Juexin, Chi'an, Haoqiao, and Yantan Yusou. A native of Mengjin, Henan, he is known as King Mengjin in the world. Tomorrow he will become a Jinshi and become the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. After entering the Qing Dynasty, he will be the Minister of the Ministry of Rites again. He will be given the posthumous title Wen'an. Wang Duo is skilled in seal script, official script, regular script, running script and cursive script, but is most praised for his cursive script. Together with Ni Yuanlu and Huang Daozhou, he is committed to the revival of calligraphy. His own appearance is very strong, but compared with Ni Huang, the traditional meaning is much stronger. Zhang Ruitu, Ni and Huang have already used more flankers, while Wang Duo still mainly plays center forward. But it also shows a great degree of freedom in structure, which plays a supporting and promoting role in the innovation of calligraphy. His works include "Linbao Nu Tie" and "Du Shijuan in Cursive Script".
Fu Shan (1607~1684), also known as Qingzhu, also known as Zhenshan and Shidaoren. A native of Yangqu (now Taiyuan), Shanxi. Proficient in poetry, epigraphy, calligraphy, painting and medicine. He is most famous for medicine and calligraphy. He was a famous figure at the turn of Ming and Qing Dynasties.
If we regard the calligraphy phenomenon of Xu Wei, Zhang Ruitu, Ni Yuanlu, Huang Daozhou and other figures that appeared in the Ming Dynasty as a "law-breaking movement" that innovated the aesthetic perspective of traditional calligraphy, Fu Shan can be said to be the summary of this movement. and spokesperson. He clearly put forward the aesthetic principle of "better to be clumsy than clever, to be ugly rather than charming, to be independent rather than slippery, to be sincere and forthright rather than arranged", which actually expressed the common pursuit of a series of outstanding calligraphers since Xu Wei. It can't help but remind us of the combination of engraved symbols in ancient times, the inscriptions on tortoise shells, and the era when calligraphy and literature had not yet awakened. The views put forward by Fu Shan coincided with the aesthetic characteristics of the calligraphy of these eras, and made a miraculous return, which made the calligraphy style after King Zhong misunderstood the art of calligraphy as artificiality and "cautious". His appearance changed .
Fu Shan's calligraphy is an art that uses lines to express emotions with extremely high purity. It is said to be cursive script, but it does not necessarily have cursive techniques; it is said to be running script, but there are continuous connections; it is said to be regular script, but there are no regular scripts at all, only the flow and change of lines. Visually speaking, it has the clumsiness of a beginner, the dullness of stupidity, and a precious temperament of being eloquent and indifferent. But what is amazing is that Fu Shan can indeed write fine regular script, and his purity is no less than that of everyone after King Zhong who is good at regular script. It is commendable that Fu Shan can break the law and stand on his own feet .
Among the calligraphers of the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of outstanding calligraphers, such as Xie Jin, Zhang Bi, Zhang Jun, Chen Xianzhang, Zhan Jingfeng, Li Dongyang, Shen Zhou, Wang Chong, Chen Chun, etc.
