Northern Wei Longmen Fourth Grade General Pass

Author: Yang Yongjian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: After the publication of the "Historical Stele Copying Series," it was well-received by a broad audience of calligraphy enthusiasts. Therefore, following the editorial stance of this series, we continue to select stele copies suitable for calligraphy foundation learning. We invited contemporary master calligraphers to create comprehensive copies of each piece, launching the second volume of the "Historical Stele Copying Series" with eight titles. Faced with these familiar and highly selected stele copies for beginners, especially the renowned Tang and Song dynasty calligraphy masterpieces celebrated for their "strict adherence to rules" and "elegant and rigorous style," the calligraphers' seemingly simple comprehensive copying is not as effortless as one might imagine. They largely face three challenges. First, understanding, grasping, and reproducing the carved calligraphy that has suffered from erosion, wind damage, or even loss, ensuring that the resulting inkwork aligns with the technical characteristics and overall temperament of the original stele. Second, balancing the relationship between form and spirit, so that the copied works can reflect the "formal imitation" of each calligraphic style, strokes, and structures in subtle details, while also striving to convey the "spiritual resemblance" of a lively and harmonious composition. The third challenge is coordinating the relationship between the individual calligrapher's style and the style of the stele being copied. Comprehensive copying seems to be a reluctantly self-sacrificing process in pursuit of another's method, but calligraphers with decades of practice and well-established writing habits and artistic preferences cannot simply copy step by step like beginners. How to integrate their personalized understanding and practice into the technical features and artistic standards of the copied steles, making both complement each other, is a puzzle and challenge faced by almost every calligrapher. Based on this, the calligraphers combine decades of calligraphy expertise, repeatedly refining and practicing the original steles, accurately grasping the above requirements, and presenting works for readers that are both visually reference-worthy and artistically appreciable.