Yu He (1307-1382) Yu He, whose courtesy name was Zizhong, also known as Zizhisheng, later known as Zizhi Laoren, was a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou) in the late Yuan Dynasty. He lived in seclusion and was not an official. He was good at poetry and liked calligraphy. He was exposed to Zhao Wenmin's writing skills at an early age. During the Jin and Tang Dynasties, there were many writings.
He devoted his life to calligraphy and mastered various styles. Calligraphy dilutes An Tian. His outstanding achievements are not in running script, but in Zhangcao and Zhuanli. Although the existing "Lin Zhang Zhi Shu" is a temporary work, it contains many original elements. Wang Shizhen said that he "used Zhang cursive to write "Jijiuzhang", which felt ancient and kind". The Zhangcao of the Yuan Dynasty was greatly improved compared to that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. When Zhao and Deng wrote "Jijiu Zhang" in retrospect, they both suffered from affectation and artificiality. There were many elements of proficiency but not much ancient meaning. Later, Kang Lizishan and Yang Weizhen entered Jincao with Zhangcao brushwork and opened up a new look of cursive script, which should be a new change in cursive script. Later, Fang Congyi and Song Ke also worked hard at Zhang Cao. Yu He is one of the outstanding ones. He is highly talented and has good understanding and writing skills. Therefore, his "Lin" books are not only similar in shape, but also "old and kind", and the meaning is also revealed. What is particularly valuable is the natural and straightforward way of using the pen. There are many changes in the shape of the foot, which shows that there are also many changes in the brushwork. Therefore, although the writing is based on one's own ideas, it is actually a creation. The existing poems in Zhangcao in the Palace Museum are composed of cursive scripts, which are very innovative works of skill.
Yu He's "Thousand-Character Seal Script" is also a novel work. Its seal script has simple and casual knotting, and bold square brush strokes, so it has a strong and fresh air; its official script also uses the square brush of Han Li, with elegant lines and a craftsmanship that is simple and unadorned. Compared with his running script, which is more graceful and graceful, it looks more simple and bookish. This shows that Yu He is not the shadow of Zhao Mengfu, but also a calligrapher with personality.
