Riding the wind of rebirth

As a person who has done extensive research on Huang Tingjian's calligraphy, Zhou Zhi has of course conducted in-depth research on this volume of "The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru". It is precisely because he has studied the high-definition photo copies that when he came in front of the original, he was able to, as he just said, face the rich but unfamiliar details that were completely impossible to grasp in the copies, and could only be described as shocking.

It is more like killing time here than giving a lecture. The purpose is of course to observe as many details as possible that were not visible before.

The harvest will surely be huge.

Huang Tingjian was very confident in his profound understanding and mastery of the brushwork of cursive script. He once wrote in "Postscript to This Gentleman's Pavilion Poem": "Recently, scholars and officials rarely learn the ancient method, but they twist the brush left and right, and call it cursive script, not knowing that tadpole, seal and official scripts have the same method. For hundreds of years, only Zhang Changshi, Huaisu, the crazy monk in Yongzhou, and the other three people have understood this method. Su Caiweng had some understanding but could not fully express its essence, and the rest are mediocre."

He claimed that only Zhang Zhi, the cursive sage of the Tang Dynasty, Huaisu, the calligrapher monk, and himself had mastered the brushwork borrowed from the stone drum seal script and the official script, and thus "from Gao Xian's ink marks, one can glimpse the wonders of the brushwork."

Moreover, Zhou Zhi believed that Huang Tingjian was not bragging, and many of the brush strokes in the "Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru" came from what he called tadpole, seal and official scripts. However, Zhou Zhi himself thought that it was closer to Huaisu and was only slightly similar to Zhang Zhi.

Later generations are more familiar with another name for this brushwork - "rowing brushwork", which was realized by Huang Tingjian after his calligraphy level reached a certain level, combined with years of watching boatmen rowing and oarsmen pulling oars. It mainly focuses on the use of brush to grasp the momentum of the forward and backward, the implicit and open momentum.

Long oars and short paddles are both tools for rowing. Boatmen row and pull the oars on rivers all year round. Depending on the direction of the water flow, they sometimes go with the flow, sometimes go against the flow, sometimes use great force, and sometimes use gentleness like threading a needle. This is used to describe the scale, measure and weight of slowness and speed, strength and stiffness, tension and relaxation, opening and closing in calligraphy.

Because there are so many characters, this long scroll shows Huang Tingjian's skills to the fullest.

In addition to Huang Tingjian's calligraphy, there are a total of 192 seals on this scroll, including the "Neifu Shuyin" and "Shaoxing" chain seals of the Southern Song Dynasty court; the "Qiuhe Tushu" seal of Jia Sidao, the seal of Ouyang Xuan, one of the four scholars of the Yuan Dynasty, the "Xiang Zijing Family Collection" seal of Xiang Yuanbian, a famous collector in the Ming Dynasty, and the "Neishengzhai" seal of Tang Laihe, a famous scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, etc. There is also a postscript by Xiang Yuanbian. The order of inheritance is very clear and the authenticity is beyond dispute.

Just these seals are enough for Zhou Zhi to open a special topic for research, but unfortunately there is too little time, and he also has to deal with being listed as a big shot, which makes Zhou Zhi feel very regretful.

However, his attitude of cherishing books also made the bigwigs appreciate him.

However, the happy time was short-lived. At half past ten, Mai Xiaomiao called and asked him where he was. Only then did he realize that he should go back.

After expressing his gratitude to An Siyuan, Guan Shuning and others for the invitation again, Zhou Zhi hurriedly left.

An Siyuan watched Zhou Zhi leave and said, "When Elbow talked about these things, his eyes seemed to be shining and his spirit became different. It can be seen that he really loves these works of art."

"The level is also very high." Guan Shuning nodded: "It's a pity that my teacher didn't come today, otherwise he would like George very much when he saw him."

"Oh? It's rare to hear someone get such an evaluation from you." Lugensi smiled and said, "Mr. Fang has a very high vision."

"They are kindred spirits." Guan Shuning said: "Teachers often teach us that the foundation of oriental art actually comes more from philosophy and literature. Only after we have a deep understanding of oriental philosophy and literature can we better grasp the aesthetic connotation of oriental art."

"To master Eastern philosophy and literature, one needs to delve further into ancient books and build a large network of knowledge, so that one can navigate the ocean of Eastern art with ease."

"But it is said that this kind of Kung Fu needs to be initiated from a very young age, and then it needs to be improved all the way, with extensive knowledge and a strong memory, and it will not be until the age of fifty that it will achieve success." At this point, Guan Shuning couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly: "I was also recognized by my teacher after I was fifty, and I was the first to achieve success among my classmates. When my teacher saw that I was a little proud, he taught me that there is another kind of genius, one year can be equivalent to five years of others, and can be amazing in the early twenties."

"But from my personal experience, this is clearly a skill that can only be achieved through gradual accumulation. I don't believe there really is such a person in this world..."

"Now I know that the teacher really didn't lie to me. Even if George is not the kind of person the teacher said, he should be very close to him. At least he has reached the level of 'learning by analogy'."

……

"Ah Qiu!"

"Elbow, go take a shower quickly. You're all sweaty after running back, and then you turn on the air conditioner. Don't catch a cold." Mai Xiaomiao urged Zhou Zhi with concern.

"It's okay. I don't know who is talking about me." Zhou Zhi asked, "What did they take you to buy tonight? Hey... you didn't buy anything for yourself?"

"The clothes here are too big and the styles don't suit me." Mai Xiaomiao pointed out today's achievements to Zhou Zhi: "But I didn't save money for you. I bought gifts for grandma, uncles and aunts."

"Then you haven't bought enough gifts." Zhou Zhi counted on his fingers: "There are several people from the capital, several from Manzhou, several from Shudu, and several from Liangshan. There are quite a few of them, especially Tingting, Xueshan, and Sister Liulu. I forgot who dared to make trouble."

"Oh, what should we do?" Mai Xiaomiao covered her mouth in surprise: "Our relationship in China is really complicated."

Zhou Zhi felt warm at the mention of "we". He sat beside her and hugged her. "That's easy. A small bottle of perfume or something will do, or some small ornaments. The rest are intellectuals. A fountain pen is a good choice. Let's do it this way."

"As for yours, can we buy it when we get back, or maybe we can go to Tokyo on the way?"

"We're going back to Liangshan, there's no need to wear those nice clothes." Mai Xiaomiao asked, "How was your day?"

"It went relatively smoothly." Zhou Zhi said, "The other party's lawyer was quite capable, but he was not very familiar with new things like forums, so he suffered a little loss. The judge's attitude in the morning made us feel a little biased, but in the afternoon we found that he was actually quite fair."

"As long as there is no obvious bias, we have basically won 70% to 80% of this lawsuit." Zhou Zhi said: "In fact, the exhibition I went to see tonight was more important. I met several important people in the collection world and saw Huang Tingjian's long scroll "The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru."

"Huang Tingjian? Is he the ancient calligrapher you practice calligraphy every day?"

"Yes, and what I saw tonight was his cursive script, a type of calligraphy that best reflects one's personality and skills. It also contained more than a thousand words, all in one breath and with great momentum. I stayed there for almost an hour. It was so comfortable."

"Then let's go again tomorrow night?" Mai Xiaomiao said with a smile, "I believe you haven't seen enough." (End of this chapter)