The Times of Hard Pen Calligraphy

The times of hard-pen calligraphy

Hard-pen calligraphy is a brilliant flower in the hundred gardens of calligraphy art. Its writing tools include pens, with ink as the main carrier to express Chinese writing skills. This is the era of hard pen calligraphy that I brought to you. Let's take a look.

epochal spirit is also called epochal spirit, that is, a dominant style presented by many artists in their creative activities in a certain historical period. This dominant style represents the creative tendency and aesthetic tendency at that time. Calligraphers throughout the ages are engaged in calligraphy activities in their specific times, and their calligraphy activities are bound to be restricted and influenced by the times, and their calligraphy works are bound to be branded with the times. Pen was imported from foreign countries, and it has only been a hundred years since it was introduced to China. This century's ups and downs. Hard-pen calligraphy has also stumbled to today. When we look back, we can clearly see that the times have played an important role in promoting the development of hard pen calligraphy. At the same time, calligraphers also react to the times, affecting the style of a generation of calligraphy. Calligraphy has many subtle connections with the times.

First, the attachment period

At the end of the 19th century, the Reform Movement of 1898 died, and progressives influenced by western ideas were forced to wander around to avoid risks. For example, Kang Youwei, a master of stele studies, fled to Japan and tried to make a comeback by using his calligraphy advantages, while others gathered in the relatively stable and prosperous areas of Shanghai and Zhejiang to make a living. With the invasion of Eight-Nation Alliance, the capitalist powers infiltrated our country, and the foreign policy of closing to the outside world gradually wavered. Foreign forces took the opportunity to carve up China by various means. With the help of a strong ship and a strong gun, a dip pen transformed from goose feather or goose feather tube was introduced into our country. Because it used bento, people used it instead of the brush to write notes on some occasions, but from the perspective of calligraphy, it had to compete for a place with the brush calligraphy with thousands of years of history. Undoubtedly, it will arouse the opposition of those old and young people and old-fashioned figures. At first, its sales and use were only seen in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and coastal ports, which satisfied people's sense of novelty in writing tools in foreign countries for a while, but did not really gain a foothold.

With the outbreak of the First World War, foreign forces were busy with the European war and temporarily relaxed their aggression against China. The strength of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in China continued to grow. Under the influence of the revolutionary trend of 1911, their revolutionary democratic thoughts became increasingly active, which led to the outbreak of the May 4th new culture. The imperial examination system for more than a thousand years collapsed, greatly freeing them from the shackles of the "pavilion" book style, and new literary societies and schools sprang up. Calligraphy art is changing quietly. This made the art of hard-pen calligraphy come to the fore. Most writers in the New Culture Movement, such as Yu Dafu, Ba Jin, Hu Shi and Ding Ling, provided and used pens to write manuscripts. Lu Xun also actively advocated the use of pens in schools in Nanjing and Japan, and practiced it. He often wrote books with pens. However, because they were "careless calligraphers" and attached to and loved traditional writing tools, they still used the brush all the time. Only when they were in bed for a long time or were inconvenient to move, did they occasionally use the pen to write. These pen characters were completely born out of brush calligraphy in terms of brushwork, typography and composition. Therefore, despite the appearance of hard-pen calligraphy from the early 2th century to the late 193s, they were still attached to brush calligraphy, and the calligraphers were all brush calligraphers. Basically, they could not do well. Even some students don't admit that pens are written in calligraphy. They use pens or other hard writing tools as a simple practical writing tool. Hard-pen calligraphy in this period shows the following characteristics: first, the traces of brush calligraphy are heavy; Second, natural frankness; Third, roughness and little change; Fourth, it is basically a handwritten note. For example, the hard handwriting of Xu Zhimo (1896-1931), a poet of the "Crescent School", is handy and random, with simple lines, but because it is naturally revealed, it looks a bit careless, and the stippling and font are lacking in change. Another example is Mr. Lu Xun, whose calligraphy is well-versed in official seal, climbing to Wei and Jin Dynasties. He not only attaches importance to the northern stele, but also devotes himself to folk inscriptions other than famous steles and famous posts. However, the pen he wrote to Mr. He Qing (Dong Yuan) in his illness in the 193 s is still too short of care, especially at the beginning of the second and third lines, the stippling is too fragmentary, except for the words "or you". As for most other calligraphers, with the full-scale outbreak and deepening of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, some used the hard pen in their hands to publicize the just war and actively supported the revolution, but their handwriting was mostly scrawled and indecent. Hard pen calligraphy in this period can only be a vassal of brush calligraphy.

Second, the budding period

In July 1949, at the first congress of all Chinese literary and artistic workers held in Beijing, the report on politics and metallurgy and Guo Moruo's report on the New China Literary Movement emphasized the problem of uniting literary and artistic workers, and literature and art served the workers, peasants and soldiers and the people. Just then, the hard pen was changed from a dip pen to a fountain pen, and a qualitative change took place. Pens are mainly "Parker pens" produced by Parker Company in the United States, ballpoint pens are mainly "ballpoint pens" produced by Renault Company in the United States, which are widely sold in China. Since then, western hard pen has been combined with China Chinese characters, and hard pen calligraphy has changed from a few literati to a hobby of the masses, gradually deducing the magnificent scene of mass hard pen calligraphy activities in China. At this time, hard pen calligraphy has the following characteristics: First, it gradually separated from brush calligraphy and began to sprout; Second, it is gradually popularized and practical; Third, begin to pay attention to skills; Fourth, some works have appeared. In the Republic of China, Mr. Chen Gongzhe took the lead in creating calligraphy works with pens, especially The Thousand Characters of a Running Script, published in 1935, which laid the foundation for the germination of hard-pen calligraphy. The Writing with Pen, written by Deng Sanmu in the 194s, made a bold exploration and artistic attempt in pen writing, but adopted the hidden front technique of "wanting to be left first and right first" and "wanting to be down first" with a brush. Not only can it not meet the practical needs of quickness and convenience, but it also insists on imitating the writing brush technique, which greatly weakens the artistic personality of hard pen calligraphy in art, so it fails to attract enough attention. On the contrary, Mr. Huang Ruozhou, who actively advocated hard-pen calligraphy as early as the early 194s, published a monograph "Shutong" on hard-pen calligraphy in the 195s, which made a beneficial exploration on hard-pen calligraphy in theory. In particular, his "Chinese Character Writing Method" combed the structure of Chinese characters in China in practice, combined with the characteristics of traditional brush calligraphy, found out some regular collocation writing principles, adopted horizontal writing, and added appropriate echo and implication between left and right characters, so that learners could practice it in a short time. However, it is undeniable that because Mr. Huang failed to control the hard pen well, his lines were soft and charming, and he lacked sense of strength, and the size and length of the font were controlled by statutes, which made him appear stiff and not natural and free. This extremely skillful writing method will make the road for calligraphy lovers narrower and narrower, and even lead to a dead end, because cursive writing is not only "quick writing", but also pay attention to the rhythm of the whole work, showing the rich psychological feelings of modern people. It should be said that Huang Zhu is not a complete monograph on hard pen calligraphy. It is worth noting that in his later years, Mr. Huang's words were obviously "mellow" and "elegant", and the more he read them, the more attractive they became, which was beyond the reach of ordinary calligraphers.

Third, the period of development

In the late 197s, the catastrophe-like "Great Revolution" came to an end and the literary and art circles became active again. Hard-pen calligraphy has gradually recovered after some people's hard exploration, but due to everyone's different aesthetic pursuits, hard-pen calligraphy has developed into two different roads. One is practical, and its artistic value is greatly reduced. With the resumption of the national college entrance examination, in order to meet the needs of thousands of people in Qian Qian, there is an urgent need for a basic hard-pen copybook that can quickly master the writing skills. Pang Zhonghua's "Talking about Learning to Write Pen Characters" undoubtedly knocked on the door of modern hard-pen calligraphy art in China. Pang Zhu created beautiful, stable and neat fonts based on practicality and supported by aesthetics and popularity, which not only conformed to people's aesthetic concepts tempered by the Cultural Revolution, but also catered to people's practical purposes to a great extent, integrating ornamental, artistic and practical features, and became a popular calligraphy style easily accepted by the people. The method of "revealing the front" in the works has played a guiding role in the popularization and development of hard pen calligraphy techniques. However, due to Mr. Pang's lack of in-depth understanding of the art of brush calligraphy, his books also lack sufficient artistic connotation, and are too thin, rigid, regular and upright, showing "artisan spirit". Besides being more suitable for beginners, it is difficult to integrate the feelings of the writer into the works and express them well through lines, such as monotonous strokes, neat arrangement and general font size. The other is people-centered, which not only attaches importance to traditional techniques, but also explores the lofty artistic conception. Mr Honggen Shen gave us a good answer. His hard-pen calligraphy is the most diligent in the Jin and Tang Dynasties, and the two kings are cursive. He integrates the rigorous statutes of the Jin and Tang Dynasties and the fresh and elegant charm into the simple, bright, delicate and refreshing pen words, and constantly explores and tempering them. Therefore, the regular script contains many statutes of the Wei and Jin Dynasties and is vigorous and heavy. The cursive script is imposing, the lines are vigorous and vigorous, and the strength is magnificent. In particular, the work is unique in white and has formed its own style. Thus attracting a large number of followers. However, his works are bold and unrestrained, but lack a little implication. Although cursive writing is like a raging ocean, it is domineering in its boldness. Exploratory works may be impetuous because they are too rebellious and can't stand scrutiny.

Fourth, the growth period

In today's society, knowledge explosion, information explosion, concept explosion, hard-pen calligraphy also blossomed in the explosion, showing a wonderful scene. The main signs are: a large number of people engaged in hard-pen calligraphy, numerous associations at all levels, frequent activities, various schools, a large number of newspapers, magazines and copybooks, and various pen types emerge one after another. There are indications that the current hard-pen book world is gradually growing. Some people want to get a spiritual enjoyment while communicating with each other through hard pen calligraphy. They often don't have any utilitarian purpose, and they look at the results lightly, so the artistic depth is not enough. Others take fame and fortune too seriously, with the ultimate goal of joining authoritative associations or participating in exhibitions and winning prizes, and once they do, they will not make progress. Only a few people take hard-pen calligraphy as their lifelong goal with pious heart, and after their persistent pursuit, they become real hard-pen calligraphers. Such calligraphers themselves are high-level brush calligraphers. Through the research and application of the expressive ability, personality and techniques of hard pen tools, they successfully grafted the skill and creative method of brush calligraphy into the creation of hard pen calligraphy, which is rich in connotation, artistic interest, strong sense of innovation and high artistic taste in the form, method and performance of creation. Such as Wang Zhengliang and Wang Dongling in Zhejiang, Tian Yingzhang in Beijing, Wulei in Shanxi, He Changgui in Heilongjiang, Qiu Zhenzhong in Jiangxi and Cao Baolin in Guangzhou. This cursive script of Wang Dongling, written with an ordinary pen without any processing, gives people an overall feeling of uninhibited, vigorous and dynamic. The work is shaped by words, fluent in movement, strong in rhythm and rich in music, like a beautiful tune. It is not difficult to see that when Mr. Wang is writing with a pen, what he feels in his heart is still his brush. He is still familiar with the lines with his own strong personality. There are also a group of hard-pen calligraphers who learn creative skills from brush calligraphy, make up for the lack of artistic expression in the development period of hard-pen calligraphy, and strive to get rid of practicality and reach a higher artistic level. Such as Xie Feimo from Zhejiang, Xu Xiaojun and Zhao Yanliang from Xinjiang. Xie Feimo, who is known as an "award-winning professional household", advocates that pen is the best and has a profound understanding of pen nature. He uses the golden pen and the fine brushwork to create, and he can properly use the elasticity of the pen to control the writing strength within a certain range without making the written lines thin and losing rich aesthetic feeling, just as when using a brush, he doesn't have to write as much as possible. With the ups and downs of strokes, the ink color of the handwriting also changes at different levels, such as shade and weight. At the same time, he is good at introducing variant characters or different writing methods of the same word on the inscriptions, which increases the appreciation level of the works. In terms of composition, it adopts the form of vertical columns and horizontal lines, which is smart, quaint and fresh, and it is memorable. In addition to the above two types of hard pen writers, there are pioneers who explore all kinds of modern art in an all-round and deep way. Their activities, ideas of contact and communication are ahead of schedule, and their works are forward-looking in form and deep consciousness, such as Dong Wen in Liaoning and Tan Zhenfei in Jiangxi. In 1993, Tan Zhenfei published a work entitled "Buildings in the Rain" in Jiangxi Hard Pen Calligraphy Newsletter, which borrowed and absorbed modern avant-garde art such as modern painting, modern architecture and music. Firstly, the author draws inspiration from modern collage, and writes down Qiu Zhenzhong's passionate poem on two pages: "You flap, flap wildly ... storm! Storm! Storm! Storm! " , and then a positive and a negative collage together to form a work, the left and right sides of the work have large blanks of different levels, and the strokes are moving on both sides of the collage line, which is very exploratory.

V. Outlook

We can't make a definite judgment on the future hard-pen calligraphy, but we can imagine that with the further acceleration of people's life pace, the entry into WTO, the further deepening of foreign exchanges, the continuous expansion of the college entrance examination scale, the increasingly mature network information, the emergence of various advanced simulation techniques, and the intervention of various ideological trends, people's ideological concepts, spiritual pursuits and aesthetic tastes will be constantly updated, which will be linked with our spiritual world. It will be endowed with new connotation, from expressing traditional literati-style knowledge accomplishment to expressing modern people's complex and profound life experience. The long process of cultivating the ability of classical creation and appreciation will be impacted by the extremely fast-paced modern life, but the hard-pen calligraphy works with pure traditional style will continue to exist. However, what it has is a kind of "cultural relic" nature of classical art style, and more is to use various writing tools and calligraphy skills to expand people's vision of hard pen calligraphy art in time length and space span through the statement of space and time, to transcend tradition and self, and to provide people with a kind of abstract works of special visual art. The hard-pen calligraphy we expect is such a real modern visual art. ;