(1) The pre-Qin calligraphy that laid the foundation for China's calligraphy.
Although the consciousness of calligraphy art only happened in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, it originated from the formation of Chinese characters. The formation of Chinese characters has gone through a long historical period. At present, the information about primitive Chinese characters is mainly the descriptive symbols left by primitive society on pottery, but they are not words, but only play a role in the production of primitive characters.
It is recognized by academic circles that the earliest materials of ancient Chinese characters are Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions in the middle and late Shang Dynasty (about 14 to 1 1 century).
Oracle Bone Inscriptions was discovered in 1899 (the 25th year of Guangxu). It was written on tortoise bones, animal bones and human bones in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and recorded activities such as divination and sacrifice. Strictly speaking, it can only be called calligraphy in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Because Oracle Bone Inscriptions has possessed the three basic elements of China's calligraphy: writing with a pen, writing with Chinese characters, and composition. However, not all previous picture symbols have these three elements.
Bronze inscriptions refer to characters (also known as inscriptions) cast or engraved on ancient bronzes, which are mainly represented by Mao's inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Its structure is symmetrical and accurate, its lines are vigorous and steady, its layout is proper, and it is full of rational colors, which shows that the bronze inscription has developed to an extremely mature position.
From the perspective of calligraphy, these earliest Chinese characters already have many factors of formal beauty of calligraphy, such as the beauty of lines, the beauty of symmetry and change of single character modeling, the beauty of composition and style, etc. From the late Shang Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty's unification of China (22 1 year ago), the general trend of the evolution of Chinese characters was from complexity to simplicity. This evolution is reflected in the evolution of fonts and glyphs. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the bronze inscriptions tended to be straight, and the folk cursive seal script developed to ancient plum in the Warring States period, which greatly weakened pictographs. However, the artistry of calligraphy has been enriched with the development of calligraphy.
(b) Qin dynasty calligraphy, which is the first of its kind.
Qin Shihuang annexed the world, and Prime Minister Li Si presided over the unification of the national characters, which was a great achievement in the cultural history of China.
After the unification of Qin Dynasty, this script was called Qin Zhuan, also known as Xiao Zhuan, which was simplified on the basis of Jin Wen and Shi Guwen. The preface to Shuo Wen Jie Zi says: "Shu Qin has eight styles, namely, big seal, small seal, seal cutting, insect book, copy, official book and official book." It basically summarizes the face of the font at this time.
The appearance of official script is a great progress of China characters and a revolution in the history of calligraphy, which not only makes Chinese characters tend to be square, but also breaks through a single center in brushwork, laying the foundation for various calligraphy schools in the future. Calligraphy in Qin Dynasty left a brilliant page in the history of calligraphy in China. Like the majestic Great Wall of Wan Li and the spectacular Terracotta Warriors, it is the forerunner and the crystallization of the infinite wisdom of the Chinese nation.
(3) The calligraphy of Han Dynasty in which Lishu flourished.
Han Dynasty is a key generation in the history of calligraphy development in China. In the 300 years of the Han Dynasty, calligraphy developed from seal script to official script, and from official script to composition, regular script and running script. By the end of the Han Dynasty, the writing of Chinese characters was basically completed. Not only is the brushwork more and more sophisticated, but the style of the book is also diverse. At the same time, the official script has matured, and there has been a change in the official script, which has developed to Cao Zhang, and the running script and original works have also sprouted. The constant change and development of calligraphy laid the foundation for the smooth cursive movement and the wild cursive movement in the Jin Dynasty. In addition, inscriptions on bronze and seal script declined gradually because of their decreasing practical use, but they were still used in seals, tiles and Jialiang in Han Dynasty, which made seal script unique.
The main representative work of this period is 1973 Mawangdui Silk Book unearthed from No.3 Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province. It is the first-hand material to study the calligraphy of the Western Han Dynasty, and it has solved the problem of whether there are official scripts in the Western Han Dynasty, which has been debated by predecessors. "Mawangdui Silk Book" uses a steady and vigorous pen, which gives people a sense of meaning and roundness. Its composition is also very unique, different from simple books and stone carvings, wired and free in length. Have a strong sense of jumping rhythm. Generally speaking, it reflects the writing characteristics of the official system from printing to official.
(4) Wei and Jin calligraphy completed the evolution of calligraphy style.
Judging from the development of China's calligraphy, Wei and Jin Dynasties is an important historical stage to complete the evolution of calligraphy style, and it is a generation that all calligraphy styles of Zhuanli tend to be perfect. So far, Han Li has finalized the basic form of square Chinese characters. The emergence, development and maturity of official script gave birth to the original script (regular script), while cursive script sprouted almost at the same time as official script. Real calligraphy, running script and cursive script were shaped in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Their stereotypes and beautification are undoubtedly another great change in the history of China's calligraphy.
This great era in the history of calligraphy has produced two great calligraphers-Zhong You and Wang Xizhi.
(e) Calligraphy of folk calligraphers in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, calligraphy also inherited the ethos of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it was very popular from emperors to literati. They inherited the fine tradition of the previous generation of calligraphy and created excellent works worthy of their predecessors, which created the necessary conditions for the prosperity of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty.
Wei Bei was the best calligrapher in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Weibei is the general name of inscription calligraphy in the Northern Wei and Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it is the transitional period from official script in Han Dynasty to regular script in Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, some regular script writers, such as Ou Yangxun and Chu Suiliang, directly inherited the brushwork used in the annals of the Six Dynasties.
Zhiyong (Southern Dynasties-Sui and Tang Dynasties) was a major calligrapher in this period. He is the seventh generation grandson of Wang Xizhi, and his main works are: thousands of words.
(6) The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of calligraphy.
The culture of the Tang Dynasty was profound and brilliant, reaching the peak of China's feudal culture, which can be described as "books flourished in the early Tang Dynasty". The calligraphy of the whole Tang Dynasty is the inheritance and innovation of the previous generation. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were Yu Shinan, Ou Yangxun and Chu Suiliang, followed by Li Yong, Zhang Xu, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan and shihuaisu. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, and Li Bai, a poet, are also great calligraphers worth mentioning. Regular script, running script and cursive script all entered a new situation in the Tang Dynasty, with outstanding characteristics of the times, and their influence on later generations far exceeded that of any previous era.
(7) Calligraphy of the Five Dynasties and the Legacy of the Tang Dynasty
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there was a military war. Although the art of calligraphy continued after the end of the Tang Dynasty, due to the influence of war and fire, it formed a general trend of decline. During the Five Dynasties, Yang Ningshi's calligraphy was praised. In the five dynasties when calligraphy declined, his calligraphy was the mainstay. Besides Yang, there are accomplished calligraphers like Li Yu and Yan Xiu. At this point, the honest and rigorous style of calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty came to an end and gradually entered the vertical and horizontal directions. Later, the "four schools" in the Northern Song Dynasty followed suit and set off a new wave of the times.
(8) The calligraphy of the Song Dynasty by great calligraphers.
During the 300 years of Song Dynasty, calligraphy developed slowly. , Song Taizong people, pay attention to calligraphy, bought Mo Bao, a famous minister of the ancient emperor Wang, and ordered to copy the banned books, a total of ten volumes. This is the post of Chunhua Pavilion. Calligraphy in the early Song Dynasty was copied from Chunhua Pavilion. The difference between this engraving and the original will become bigger and bigger. The development of calligraphy in Song Dynasty was influenced and restricted by the popularization of calligraphy and the change of emperors' likes and dislikes to the calligraphy style of powerful officials. In the Song Dynasty, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fei and Cai Xiang were admired by later generations. Outside the four schools, harmony is unique and can also be called Tao.
(9) Tang Daizong Jin's calligraphy in Yuan Dynasty.
At the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, there was little economic and cultural development, and the overall situation of calligraphy was advocating retro, patriarchal clan system in Jin and Tang Dynasties, and less innovation. Zhang Kui Pavilion was built in Li Chu Tian, a literate scholar, and was dedicated to secretly playing with antiques. Yuan Wenzong has always been very lucky. Kuizhangge appreciates famous calligraphy and painting, and calligraphy once flourished. Zhao Mengfu, Xian Yushu and other famous artists are the representatives of calligraphy in this period. They advocate the same method of calligraphy and painting and pay attention to the posture of writing. However, the book circle in Yuan Dynasty was purely an inheritance from Jin and Tang Dynasties, without its own style of the times.
(10) Calligraphy in Ming Dynasty from Song and Yuan Dynasties to Jin and Tang Dynasties
For nearly three centuries in the Ming Dynasty, the emperors of the imperial court liked calligraphy very much. After Ming Taizu made Beijing his capital, he began to manage culture, recruit wise men, enrich the court and write letters. Ming Taizu Renzong, Xuanzong and Zongshen also like calligraphy very much. Therefore, scholars in the ruling and opposition circles attach great importance to calligraphy, and they all like elegant regular script and running script, which almost completely inherited Zhao Mengfu's style. The Ming Dynasty, like the Song Dynasty, was also a prosperous time of iron and blood. The passing and engraving of law posts is very active. Because of the popularity of scholar-officials and calligraphy, calligraphy creation was affected. Therefore, the calligraphy style of the whole Ming Dynasty was mostly running script, which could not be traced back to Qin, Han and Northern Dynasties. The works of seal, Li and Bafen are almost extinct, and the regular script is exquisite and delicate. In the nearly 300 years of Ming dynasty, although there were some successful people, there was no great breakthrough and innovation in the whole dynasty. The representative calligraphers are Wen Zhiming and Tang Bohu.
The above is a brief history of the development of ancient calligraphy in China. As descendants of the Chinese people, we should all know something about China, a unique art category.
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