Zao Mengfu's Selected Characters from "Front and Back Records of the Red Cliff"

Author: Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-02-01
Features: This post is selected from the Running Script of "The Former and Later Essays on Red Cliff" by Su Dongpo, written by Zhao Mengfu. Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), styled Zi'ang, styled himself as the Pine Snow Taoist, was from Huzhou and held the position of Hanlin Academician. He was skilled in painting, calligraphy, poetry, and prose, as well as seal script, clerical script, cursive script, and regular script—essentially, he excelled in all. In calligraphy, he advocated restoring the regulations of the Wangs (Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi), with a style that was elegant, smooth, and round, deeply embodying the spirit and temperament of the Wangs. His influence on later generations was profound. When learning Zhao's calligraphy, one must pay attention to the lifting, pressing, stopping, and turning of the brush, avoiding a greasy and flat dragging motion. Even in rounded strokes, the full body's strength should be applied, using the wrist to move the brush, thereby conveying the essence and bone force of running script lines.