Analysis On Calligraphy Study In The Writing Of Yigai-Shugai

Liu Xizai was a famous literature theorist in Qing Dynasty. Histhoughts on the Literature and aesthetic are concentrated in his writing of“Literature Overview”, which consists of six parts. Among them,“Calligraphy Overview” focuses on handwriting. Calligraphy is regardedas an art in traditional Chinese culture, and closely related to poem andpainting. Furthermore, the principle of creation and appreciation areinterlinked as well. Therefore, Liu’s insight on calligraphy is also anessential part of his overview of literature.The article analyzes and interprets the “Calligraphy Overview” fromfour aspects. Firstly, from the essence of calligraphic arts, Liu Xizai holdthe opinion the calligraphy was the art from the objective world, and therepresentation of the subjective conscious from the creative main bodiesin the meanwhile. There were countless ties between the main body andthe object as well. He discussed the issue on origins of “Meaning” and“Image” at the beginning of his writing, and put forward the calligraphicessence of “Make Image to Express Meaning”, that is, to make image toexpress meaning is the way to understand those Holly Men. Secondly,from the methodology of calligraphic creation, Liu proposed two ways ofstudying calligraphy definitely, which were “With Days for Arts” and“With Ancients for Arts”. Hereunder, Liu not only stood for learning fromthe ancients, and emphasized on changes and innovations, but alsostressed on the creation principle of “Be with Authors’ Spirits” in theprocess of calligraphic creation. It indicates that it is not just simple copyto learn from the ancients, but to master their spirits to form the style ofone self and to have the perfect combination and high unity of “Objects”and “Souls” based on being well acquainted with calligraphy creationprinciples. Thirdly, from the style of calligraphy, Liu definitely pointedthat it was one’s talents, aspirations and interests, etc that influenced the formation of calligraphic style directly. Besides, he also confirmed thatregion style, period feature and national flavor, etc were also theimportant objective conditions as well which influenced the formation ofcalligraphic style. By affirming the above-said feature fully, he repeatedlyemphasized that calligraphy learners should not study one style from thebeginning till the end, but make the innovations and must have thedistinctive styles of themselves. It is the reflection and extension of thepoint of Follow ancients’ footsteps and Make Innovations’ pointed outby him. Finally, from the techniques of calligraphy creation, Liudiscussed it in a speculative way on the basis of generalization ofpredecessors’ views. On how to use brushes, Liu proposed two concepts:“Centre” and “Outside”. Meanwhile, he defined the position and functionof brush’s lead. For Chinese Characters’ style, Liu illustrated that thelearners should not only follow the original way, but also makeself-configuration when writing to express their own feelings and set upnew meanings. Then, layout is the key factor to reach this point. He had adialectical discuss on “Density” layout particularly. For art ofcomposition, Liu stressed on two points: on the one hand, learners shouldreach the degree of “Make difference but be alike, Response to eachother” in the process of calligraphic creation; on the other hand, theyshould deal with the entirety and locality properly. These two aspectssupplement each other, and are united dialectically as well.