A Study On Category System Of Calligraphy Aesthetics

The aesthetic categories of calligraphy possess abundance of thoughts and cultural connotation,which play a significant role in Chinese traditional aesthetics.However,the number of aesthetic categories of calligraphy is rather huge and they are scattered as well.In addition,the categories were penetrated a great deal of individuals' subjective comprehension,experience and understanding,which present the features of merging,penetrating,generalizing and synthesizing.Even though aesthetic categories of calligraphy are scattered and fragmented,the categories seem to be associated logically and could be constructed into a three-level system in accordance with the principles of combination of integrity and systematicness,the unity of logic and history and the combination of being general,particular and individual.Among the aesthetic categories of calligraphy,there are several the most vital categories,which are the foundation of the category system,and it is known as meta category.Meta category appeared fairly early and they are associated with Taoism and Confucianism,it possesses the intense ability of generating as well.The meta category of calligraphy aesthetics is not singular but multiple,which is composed of ‘Tao'‘air'‘image'‘force' and ‘harmony'.‘Tao' is the origin of calligraphy;‘air' is the soul;‘image' is the expression;‘force' is the core and harmony is the ultimate goal.‘Tao' generates ‘air',‘air' generates ‘image' and‘force',and eventually reaches the state of ‘harmony'.Meta category demonstrates the life spirit of calligraphy aesthetics and it is the logic commencing point of category system,‘Harmony' generates all.The meta category generates the second-level category group which is objective category ‘entity' and subjective category ‘spirit',‘Entity' can be the figurative object,which is the physical category,composing all the objective existence.The Chinese calligraphy originated from figurative symbols,which depict the natural objects.‘Spirit' is an infinite world.Confucianism features honesty and ambition.Taoism features inaction and purity.Buddhism features brightness and comprehensiveness.Calligraphy expresses the artists' unique inner mind which contains the personality,ambition and mood.The second-level category group is generated by the meta category,and it connects the firstlevel category and third-level category.The life noumenon of calligraphy aesthetics presents‘imitating the form of objects' and ‘expressing the inner minds of subjects'.It indicates the‘beauty of nature' and the ‘beauty of mind'.The objective category ‘entity' generates regulation category,shape category,body category and style category.The subjective category ‘spirit' generates inspiring category and experiencing category.These six category groups form the third-level category category.Regulation category group is based on ‘orderliness',expresses ‘fineness' and ‘refinement',and condenses to ‘law'.Shape category group is based on ‘shape',expresses a variety of categories of unity of opposite in terms of brush approaches,structure approaches and ink approaches.Such as ‘square and round',‘center forward and side forward' in brush approaches,‘thick and light',‘dry and humid' in ink approaches,‘sparse and dense',‘separation and unity' in structure approaches.The highest category in shape category group is ‘momentum',which demonstrates the sense of power and dynamics.Body category group regards ‘body' as the carrier,expresses ‘skeleton' ‘tendon' ‘flesh' ‘blood',and the highest category is ‘ vigor'.Style category group is based on ‘posture,expresses ‘manliness' ‘exquisite',‘classic simplicity',‘bizarrerie',which are based on ‘virile',‘suppleness' ‘classic'‘peculiar' respectively,and reach to ‘massiveness' ‘elegant' ‘modesty' ‘amusing'.Style category group regards ‘rhythm' as the highest category.Inspiration category group initiates with ‘inspire',expresses ‘personality' ‘ambition' ‘emotion',through ‘imagine' ‘ponder' and eventually condenses to ‘imagery'.Experience category initiates with ‘taste',marches with‘comprehend',and formed ‘artistic conception' eventually.The category system of calligraphy aesthetics initiates with ‘Tao',and constructs a hierarchical system which consists of meta category(first-level category),objective and subjective category(second-level category)and regulation category,shape category,body category,style category,inspiration category and experience category(third-level category).Each of the level possesses its own category group.The three-level categories end with judgement category which is the reconciling of objective category and subjective category.The category system of calligraphy aesthetics initiates with ‘Tao' and terminates with‘fugitiveness' in judgement category group.‘fugitiveness' achieves the harmony between the artists and the calligraphy works.The category system of calligraphy aesthetics regulate the fragments of various categories,formulates a clear,complete and stable unity.The components of the system in their own position,perform their own responsibilities,and interconnect and interact,forming a logic and dynamic system mansion.The construction of category system of calligraphy aesthetics could make the research of traditional categories transfer from fragmented forms to systematic ones,as well as direct thecalligraphy creation and appreciation,providing theoretical base for the subject of calligraphy aesthetics.It could also impel the connection between the Chinese category research and the international category study and enrich the content of the aesthetics of the world.