To analyze and appreciate calligraphy works, we can start from the following aspects: whether the stroke length, thickness and shade of characters are changeable and appropriate; Whether the "center of gravity" of the word can give people a sense of stability; Whether the potential word is natural; See if the composition and brushwork of the whole calligraphy work are integrated in one go; See if the brushwork in calligraphy works has statutes and originality; When appreciating calligraphy works, we should properly understand the background of their creation; Appreciating calligraphy requires a certain artistic imagination, and it is necessary to avoid discussing facts with facts.

Keywords calligraphy art calligraphy appreciation calligraphy works

The appreciation and practice of calligraphy are interrelated, which has never been seen by calligraphers. Calligraphers in past dynasties were mostly calligraphy critics with high appreciation ability. Everyone attaches great importance to "reading posts". The so-called "reading posts" is to understand the artistic style and techniques adopted or created by calligraphers by observing the traces of calligraphy and inscriptions, so as to improve their appreciation level. For a person who is interested in learning calligraphy, it is also necessary to pay attention to reading posts, gradually learn the ability of analysis and appreciation of calligraphy works, learn from their strengths and compete for their shortcomings, so as to continuously improve their calligraphy level. If we analyze and appreciate calligraphy works indiscriminately, we will often make slow progress and even take detours. This is an extremely complicated problem, and there are always different opinions. So far, there is no common appreciation standard.

Kang Youwei in "Guangyi Shuangzhen? Ten criteria were put forward in sixteen cases, namely, the so-called "Ten Beauties": "One is vigorous, the other is brilliant, the third is brushwork jumping, the fourth is bold and bold, the fifth is fantastic posture, the sixth is full of spirit, the seventh is full of interest, the eighth is full of bones, the ninth is natural structure and the tenth is full of flesh and blood. "Guo Shaoyu put forward six criteria on how to appreciate calligraphy:" First, the shape and structure are natural, horizontal, flat, vertical and peaceful; The second is courage, from the perspective of pen power and pen and ink; Third, attitude, to fly; Fourth, genre, do not stick to the tablet, do not read posts according to the standard of tablet; Fifth, the relationship between scholarship and calligraphy; Sixth, the weather is peaceful and peaceful. "

These can be used as a reference for us to analyze and appreciate calligraphy works. If further summarized, it is nothing more than the words "shape" and "god". The so-called "shape" refers to the shape composed of special strokes and lines, including the strokes, structure and layout of a word; The so-called "god" refers to the inner spirit in the above appearance, including pen power, momentum, emotion and so on. Therefore, to appreciate calligraphy works, we should not only look at the shape of each painting, every word and the whole word, but also look at its brushwork, momentum and manner. If the appearance is beautiful and the heart is full of energy, this is what people usually call a good work with both form and spirit. Analysis and appreciation of calligraphy works can be started from the following aspects.

First, whether the stroke length, thickness and shade of Chinese characters are changeable and appropriate;

Chinese characters are composed of several line strokes. If each stroke, especially the same stroke in a word, is not exactly the same in length, thickness and shade, it should and must be changed. For example, in the four "left-off" paintings of the word "many", Emperor Taizong thought that writing should be separated, with one contraction, two less contraction, three contraction and four show. The "contraction" mentioned here means that the pen gesture contracts without stretching, which means "short"; "Front" means that the gesture is extended without contraction, which means "long". This is the case with the apostrophe painting of the word "Duo", and so are other strokes. Otherwise, the glyph will appear dull and monotonous, and there is no art at all.

Second, the word "center of gravity" can give people a sense of stability:

The word posture can and should be varied, but it cannot be ignored that the center of gravity of this word must be "stable". Ou Yangxun's writing, at first glance, feels shaky, but on closer inspection, it is still like a Millennium ancient pagoda. Although the "center of gravity" is to be dumped, it is still as good as new. Some poorly written words look steady and impartial when lying flat on paper, but if they stand up, they tend to stagger and the center is unstable. Therefore, one of the easiest ways to judge the center of gravity of a word is to stand the paper up and see if it is "collapsed".

Third, whether the potential word is natural:

In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi had a famous saying in his book: "You don't have to force yourself to understand God." The so-called "no need to force" is the "natural appropriateness" that calligraphers and calligraphy theorists have always emphasized. When Wang Xizhi taught his son Wang Xianzhi's calligraphy experience, he said, "Words should be naturally wide and narrow" and "White words should be distributed in different places, the distance should be uniform, and the top and bottom should be naturally stable." The reason why Wang Xizhi's calligraphy is "unique in the beauty of a family" lies in "naturalness".

Fourth, see if the composition and brushwork of the whole calligraphy work are in one go;

A good calligraphy work, like a good landscape painting, must be coherent between words, with short but meaningful strokes. The juice is white and black with moderate density, which gives people endless reverie and strong artistic appeal. Inscriptions and seal cutting in calligraphy works are also an integral part of the whole, so we should pay attention to whether they are used properly and play a icing on the cake; If you gild the lily, it will also damage the artistry of the whole work.

Five, see whether the brushwork of calligraphy works has statutes and new ideas:

Calligraphy art has a strong inheritance, and writers must abide by certain statutes. But only inheritance, even exactly the same as what the ancients wrote, is not the real art of calligraphy. At best, it can only be someone else's "slave book" and must be innovated on the basis of inheritance. Therefore, when commenting and appreciating calligraphy works, we should see whether the relationship between inheritance and innovation can be handled well in the works.

Sixth, when appreciating calligraphy works, we should correctly understand the background of their creation:

Calligraphy works, like literary works, are closely related to the author's mood when writing, and its artistic style often changes with the author's age and mood. The same calligrapher can write different or even completely different works because of different periods and different moods. For example, Yan Zhenqing wrote "Duota Duobei" in the middle period, which was written in the lofty sentiments of a peaceful environment. The words were powerful, clear and pleasing to the eye, and became a masterpiece in regular script; In his later years, the Draft for Sacrificing My Nephew was written when the imperial court was in danger and my nephew died unfortunately. generate was filled with grief and indignation. As a result, a rough and chic stroke style with different shades, densities, sizes and even alterations appeared, which became a masterpiece of running script. Therefore, it is necessary to comment and appreciate the works in the historical background at that time, so that a correct conclusion can be drawn.

Seven, appreciate calligraphy must have a certain artistic imagination, to prevent divorced from reality theory:

China's calligraphy is pictographic, and the glyph consists of special lines and strokes. For such a special art, if we only give it a little realistic imagination, we can't appreciate its beauty. Therefore, calligraphers of past dynasties always endowed the art of calligraphy with imaginative and reasonable metaphors. For example, Wang Xizhi compared the two strokes of "horizontal" and "vertical" to "boat crossing the river" and "like mushrooms after rain pumping cold valley" respectively. Liang Wudi described Xiao Ziyun's calligraphy as "the book is like a dangerous peak blocking the eyes, and it is lonely and loose. A strong man can carry a sword, a strong man bends a bow, and a man hunts tigers, and his mind is fierce and his blade is difficult"; Xiao's calligraphy is compared to "the dancer's waist is low, and the immortal whistles to the tree", which vividly depicts two kinds of calligraphy with completely different artistic styles.

In addition, after seeing the overall beauty of a calligraphy work, we can also look at it from the first stroke of the first word. Our eyes have been shifting with the handwriting, which is "rewritten" with our eyes according to the original author's intention and is an "internal imitation" of calligraphy works. We can feel the direction and angle of the original author's pen, the key points of pen movement and the order of pen lifting, the direction and strength of the pen tip, the cohesion and retreat of strokes, the mutual support and mutual echo of strokes, and realize the speed and wildness of cursive script, the dignity and restraint of real books, and the leisure and grace of calligraphy, so as to grasp the vitality, interest, style and realm of calligraphy.