When a person is appreciating a painting, he does not see the coloring of one part or a part of object; he views the whole work and judges whether it is beautiful or not. Then he carefully appreciates the details. While enjoying a piece of music, he does not appreciate parts of it, but the charm and rhythm of the whole piece.
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| The Summer Palace in Beijing. | It is the same with the appreciation of a calligraphic work. Calligraphy critics always comment on the whole work before studying its parts in detail. The critic moves from the whole work to the details, and then from the details to the whole work again.
While there are rigorous roles used in the formal, official or seal script, it seems that there are no rules in cursive or running hand. But, in fact, there are rules. Especially in wild cursive hand, the calligrapher does his best to write with vigor, dynamism, fantasy and grace. Cursive script also needs more consideration about the overall arrangement of the characters. Although the calligrapher may change his approach a little according to the situation, he sticks closely to the rules.
A good calligrapher is like a macro-control systems engineer. With his knowledge of maths,
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| Mid-Autumn Scroll, written in running-cursive hand by Wang Xianzhi. | especially in operational research, the engineer, with the help of a computer, draws up an ideal plan, and completes a design for a complicated project. When a system needs to be revised, he perfects the original plan immediately. The "calligraphic engineer," by relying on various kinds of data governing strokes, characters and lines, and the mastery of the art in his hand and heart, completes or revises his calligraphic plan, and finishes it on the paper at a speed as quick as a computer operation.
The most important thing concerning the composition of a calligraphic work is
liaison between the characters and lines, which demonstrates rhythm in changes
and dynamics in stillness.
The liaison can be realized in three ways, as follows:
The liaison between blood and vein. The characters in each line should
be linked to and match each other in both shape and manner. Writing characters is
like entertaining guests. You should look after all the guests, make them feel at ease so that they can talk cheerfully and humorously. No one should feel uncomfortable and lonely.
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| Part of Du Fu's ode to He Lanxian, written in cursive hand by Huang Tingjian. |
Wang Xianzhi, son of the famous Wang Xizhi, wrote Mid-Autumn Scroll (see next page) in running-cursive hand. This scroll since ancient times has been praised
as an excellent calligraphic model in the liaison between blood and vein. Only 22
characters are visible on this scroll, but they still demonstrate the feature of
coherence. On each line, the characters or their strokes are connected in a "one-
stroke way of writing." This scroll was collected by the Ming Emperor Qianlong in
his Sanxi Studio.
Coexistence of substance and blank. In a calligraphic work, the places with strokes are real things and the places between characters or lines are blank.
Both constitute an organic entity. As in a traditional opera, vocal music with words
is true while the independent instrumental music that precedes, follows or comes
in the middle of an area is empty, which arouses enthusiasm and heightens the
atmosphere. In a piece of Western music, the process in which the music decreases
gradually and even disappears is one of from substance to blank. The blank plays a role the substance cannot play. A line from a classical poem describes it
thus: "Here quietness seems better than the music itself."
Chinese horticulture also pays attention to the coexistence of substance and blank. The man-made structure always has a landscape in the distance as its background in order to increase its charm. The Summer Palace on the western outskirts of Beijing is a good example of this. It is mainly composed of the man-made Longevity Hill in the north and Kunming Lake in the south . On the slopes and at the foot of the hill there are pavilions, halls, the Long Corridor and courtyards. The Cloud-Dispelling Gate and the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha are the most magnificent of the buildings. Kunming Lake is beautiful. There is the West Dyke by the lake, and in the lake there is a small islet with a pavilion on it. The islet is linked to the land by a 17-arch bridge. If the hill and other buildings in the Summer Palace are main scenes, the vast lake surface is serving as a foil scene. In addition, in distance, there are Yuquan Hill and the Western Hills. Yuquan Hill changes in different seasons, on sunny or rainy days, and in the morning or at noon, which makes the garden more charming and attractive.
In calligraphy, the characters and blanks appear simultaneously when the dots
and strokes are placed on the paper. They can not be revised. Unlike other arts such as painting, especially oil painting, when there is time for the painter to think about and revise the painting time and again, calligraphy is strict, and needs a delicate,dexterous and proficient mind and hand.
Well-proportioned. This is another way to seek changes in strictness. The
seal. official and formal scripts follow a strict rule which demands that all characters are placed on the central axis of the line like beads on a hidden string.
But cursive and running scripts do not follow this rule closely. Most characters do not follow the central axis. and some are far away from it. On the same line, characters can be crooked and not well proportioned. In Du Fu's Ode to He Lanxian see next page) written by Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty in cursive hand, all the characters are crooked and free.
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