Essays on Chinese Calligraphy
Battle Formation of the Brushstroke
By Wei Shuo
In three respects of calligraphy,1 nothing is more important than brush control; in six branches of learning,2 nothing is more abstruse than the skill of stroke execution. Upon seeing the calligraphy of Ji Man,3 Li Si was so disappointed in its boneless strokes that he sighed in sorrow for a week; once admitted to the Art Academy,4 Cai Yong was so absorbed in its superb stone steles that he lingered on without thought of leaving for hundred days. The few got to the bottom while the many scratched the surface. To these days, people take less interest in our tradition. Opportunistic in brushmanship, limited in knowledge, shallow in technique, and poor in information, they are doomed to be fruitless in spite of their time and energy. Lacking in sensibility, they are simply beyond teaching. To set a yardstick for coming generations, now listed here are seven strokes and their descriptions after the wonderful example of Li Si.
The first thing to learn in calligraphy is how to hold a brush. For regular script, hold the brush at two inches from its tip; for semi-cursive and cursive script, hold it at three inches from its tip. To draw a stroke, apply the strength of the whole body to the brush. Always begin with big characters, not small characters. Those who write with vigour produce bony strokes, while those who write without vigour give fleshy strokes. A handwriting that has more bone than flesh is called rib calligraphy, and that has more flesh than bone is called ink pig. A bony and vigorous handwriting is sainted, and a boneless and unvigorous handwriting is diseased.
- Cirrus stretching to the horizon, indistinct at first glance but true in form.
- Rocks bounding down the hillside, knocking along and about to break.
- Cutting ivory or rhinoceros horn.
- Drawing a crossbow in full.
- Ten thousand years old rattan.
- Roaring waves and galloping thunders.
- Joints of a crossbow.
- Three respects of Chinese calligraphy are stroke, character and composition.
- Six branches of learning were rite, music, archery, driving, calligraphy and mathematics.
- Ji Man, a king of Western Zhou dynasty.
- Founded in 178 AD, Art Academy was the first art institute in China.
About
Wei Shuo (272 - 349)
Correspondence
Watercolor block print on rice paper, Copybook of Chunhua
Wei Shuo, often addressed respectfully as Mrs. Wei, was born in an aristocratic family with her grandfather Wei Guan and her uncle Wei Heng celebrated calligraphers. She was not only an important link in the relay of Chinese calligraphy by passing her family tradition to to her student Wang Xizhi, with whom a new chapter of the art began, but also was a remarkable theorist - her descriptions of brush control and stroke execution set ultimate laws for Chinese calligraphy.
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