Research On The Calligraphy Thoughts Of Wan Shouqi

On the occasion of the Ming and Qing dynasty change, with painfulness of losing family and homeland, Wan Shouqi secluded in Huai’an, building the “Xi xi House” after the failure of repelling Qing dynasty. This paper firstly gives an introduction to his family, experience and friendship, and analyzes his experience of calligraphy of “obtaining the final calligraphy thoughts after many changes”, which was proved by his works in all periods or inscriptions. After that this paper, from the actual condition that Wan Shouqi respected classics but was not constrained by them and did not copy them, discusses his calligraphy thought of “integrating ancient and current thoughts”; and from three aspects of Wan Shouqi’s ideological implication of “Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism”, lofty character and gentle temper, discusses his calligraphy thought of “expressing the soul alone”. Then through uniting his thoughts in poetry, calligraphy, painting and typography, this paper discusses his art thoughts more deeply and precisely, getting their consistency, referring to “integrating ancient and current thoughts, expressing the soul alone”. Later, the author conducts further comparative analyses on Wan Shouqi and other three contemporary calligraphers-Dong Qichang, Wangduo and Huang Daozhou from aspects of calligraphy features and calligraphy thoughts. Finally, the author concludes that study on Wang Shouqi’s calligraphy thought is of great importance on studying calligraphy thought of adherents of the former dynasty and calligraphy thoughts of scholars in the area of Yangze River and Haihe River.