Tang Sun Guoting's "Shupu": A Step-by-Step Guide to Copying and Practicing Grass Script by Famous Artists Throughout History

Author: Zhang Baijun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: "The Calligraphy Practice Course for Famous Calligraphers of Past Generations" is specially written for calligraphy enthusiasts who love cursive script. "Hurry and no time for cursive script." Cursive script originated from practical needs. But now, it has completely shed its practical constraints, making its aesthetic quality its only characteristic. Recently, many people have been learning cursive script and using it for calligraphy creation because of its unique aesthetic feature of expressing emotions deeply. However, learning cursive script is not easy, and neither is calligraphy creation. The learning process and creative process always encounter various problems, especially for beginners. This series of books focuses on techniques and is a technical tutorial involving the strokes, character methods, structure, and layout of cursive script. This tutorial emphasizes making these techniques micro and specific, analyzing them in detail from small parts to make the readers' study of cursive script techniques more complete and thorough. In addition to techniques, this tutorial also covers the symbols of cursive script and the identification of similar characters, both of which are related to the recognition of cursive script for beginners. Only after passing the recognition hurdle will the path of learning cursive script become smoother. This tutorial consists of five books, selecting representative cursive script masterpieces from past generations, such as the "Seventeen Pieces" by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the "Shupu" by Sun Guoting of the Tang Dynasty, and the small cursive "Thousand Characters" by Huai Su, the "Zushangzuo Tie" by Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the "Red Cliff Ode" by Zhu Yunming of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Guoting's "Shupu" is a famous treatise on calligraphy and a masterpiece of Tang Dynasty cursive script. This scroll of cursive script has flowing and vigorous brushwork, dynamic and varied character structures, and breaks through while following the style of Wang Xizhi. Liu Xizai once reviewed this scroll of cursive script: "The brushwork breaks yet becomes more complete, becomes more chaotic yet more organized, becomes more ethereal yet more grounded, and becomes more graceful yet more robust."