Research On Calligraphy Of Luyou, One Of The Four-calligraphers Of Nanjong Dynasty

At the beginning of Nanjong Dynasty, calligraphy was at the bottom of its bosom. The first Emperor of the empire Gaojong ZhaoGou himself devoted most of his time to the development of the art. And his effort led to the start of calligraphy of the empire, which also left a base for calligraphy to develop in the latter time. As a result of this, the-Four-Calligraphers of Nanjong Dynasty came into being. They were LuYou, ZhuXi, FanChengda and ZhangJizhi, amongst whom, Zhang was the most famous, and Lu, though less noted as a calligrapher for his fame from a poet, he cultivated a cute chactaristics of art, Zhu, as the master of Neo-Confucian, who was either less famed for calligraphy, held a realistic opinion of the art , and Fan was always meeting the style of his time despite of his perfect skill in the calligraphy circle. As a whole, the state of calligraphy of the empire was far from that satisfying the people's desire. Throughout Nanjong Dynasty, there was not prosperity in the calligraphy circle with a dull air in style. LuYou wasn't very famous in the field, though, he owned his own art style, and his calligraphy characterized by romantic style made himself different from other calligraphers of the era. LuYou's rich experience offered a colorful resource of subjects and creative materials of his poem and calligraphy creation. The best of LuYou's calligraphy was caoshu and xingshu. His kaishu endowed his deep strength. In kaishu, he learned from mainly YanZhenqing and OuyangXun, in xingshu, he learned from YangNingshi, SuDongpo, HuangTingjian, MiFu and in caoshu, from ZhangXu, Huaisu and HuangTingjian. Lu's study of calligraphy can be divided into four periods: youngster, manhood, middle age, and elder time. LuYou learned from different calligraphers and melt their virtues into his own, and developed his unique style in calligraphy. His power in the art of calligraphy was of strength and vigor. His calligraphy works displayed a big air with a vivid and lovely arrangement. However, an eccentric flavor can be found in his works, i.e., the contrast of the characters was strong; some of the characters were distorted with belittled heads ,enlarged bodies and lengthened figures, etc. That was the expression of LuYou's distorted and abstract character. Only with an all-round view, including his lifetime, poem and the like, can we get an intensive and all-side idea of LuYou's calligraphy. This dissertation employs such methods as comparison, textual research and plate illustration, etc. to offer an exhaustive discussion about LuYou's calligraphy from several aspects, including his art ideas, calligraphy features, ways of using brush and origin of his calligraphy. At the end of the dissertation, a comparison between Lu and the other three of The-Four-Calligraphers of Nanjong Dynasty (Zhu, Fan and Zhang) was given, which will offer the possible readers a better concept of LuYou's charm in calligraphy. It will surely be of some sense to enlighten us to recognize LuYou's calligraphy and calligraphy of Nanjong Dynasty.