Gu Zhong'an Calligraphy Book: Selections of Letters from Famous Figures at Home and Abroad

Author: Gu Zhong'an
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-11-01
Features: The author, Gu Zhong'an, has devoted long and arduous efforts to inheriting the tradition of calligraphy. In terms of exploration and innovation, he has also made diligent cultivation. His brushwork is bold, character forms are clear, vigorous, and elegant, with a rhythmic up-and-down stroke, giving this copybook an ambitious and upward momentum, making it suitable for a broad readership of beginners in calligraphy brush writing with a steel pen.
Steel pens, due to their smooth writing, convenience, and portability, have been widely used in daily life and have become the primary writing tool for current written communication. With the popularity of steel pens, people have discovered that the moderate elasticity of steel pen nibs can also reproduce the effects of lifting, pressing, and in brush calligraphy. The writing or reverse writing of a steel pen nib always stops along a point of expansion, which aligns with the requirement of "central axis" in brush calligraphy. Moreover, the structural principles of Chinese characters and the basic principles of stroke rhythm and layout in brush calligraphy and steel pen calligraphy are consistent. Therefore, steel pens inherently possess the fundamental conditions for calligraphic art creation. As a result, apart from their practicality, through the accumulation of long-term practical experience, steel pen calligraphy has been elevated to a higher level of artistic realm.
Comrade Gu Zhong'an, with years of calligraphy practice, started with the regular script of the early Tang Dynasty and, based on this foundation, traced back to the works of Zhi Yong and Lu Chanzhi, further ascending to the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi. From a high vantage point, he extensively studied the calligraphy of Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Cai Xiang, and Zhao Mengfu. What is particularly commendable is that he skillfully transferred the spiritual essence of brush calligraphy to steel pen calligraphy. Upon closer inspection of his handwriting, traces of masters can be seen within the Wang style system, demonstrating his long and arduous efforts in inheriting the tradition of calligraphy. In terms of exploration and innovation, he has also made diligent cultivation. His brushwork is bold, character forms are clear, vigorous, and elegant, with a rhythmic up-and-down stroke, giving this copybook an ambitious and upward momentum, making it suitable for a broad readership of beginners in calligraphy brush writing with a steel pen.