Tang Ouyang Xun's calligraphy of the Stele of Lord Huangfu

Author: Editorial Board of Selected Calligraphic Works from Ancient Stele Collections
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-12-01
Features: The "Series of Enlarged Ancient Stele Calligraphy" takes commonly used calligraphic steles as the foundation for beginners and selects typical character examples. These are categorized and organized by stroke, radical, structure, or variant forms of the same character. Additional techniques such as character enlargement and stele flipping are employed to make it a preferred learning resource for calligraphy students and teachers. This volume is based on the selection from the Huangfu Jun Stele by Ouyang Xun of the Tang Dynasty. Ouyang Xun (557–641), styled Xinyen, was a native of Linxiang, Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan Province) during the Tang Dynasty. He served as the Director of the Imperial Guards and a Scholar of the Hongwen Academy, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Bohai. Initially, his calligraphy followed Wang Xizhi, but later he developed his own style. His brushwork was vigorous and strict, with a balanced yet daring aesthetic, earning him the nickname "Ouyang Style." He was ranked among the "Four Great Calligraphers of Early Tang" alongside Yu Shinnan, Chu Suiliang, and Xue Ji. His representative works include the Nine Dragon Screen Stele, the Huangfu Jun Stele, and the Huadusi Stele.
The Huangfu Jun Stele, also known as the Huangfu Dan Stele, is the full title Stele of Huangfu Fu Jun, Left Light Minister and Grand Tutor Hongyi Minggong of the Sui Dynasty. It was inscribed by Zhi Ning and is now preserved in the Stele Forest of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. This stele embodies the bold and elegant style of Ouyang's calligraphy, with a balanced use of round and square strokes, predominantly square. The strokes are decisive and distinct, with a rigorous structure, where the left-falling and right-falling strokes are well-spaced. The composition is strict yet exudes a sense of unrestrained grace. The Qing Dynasty scholar Weng Fanggang highly praised this stele, saying, "This is the essential starting point for learning Tang Dynasty regular script. Without mastering it first, how can one progress to the Nine Dragon Screen or the Huadusi Stele?"
When practicing this stele, one must grasp the meticulous and refined characteristics of Ouyang's style. The characters should be slightly elongated but avoid being simplistic, thin, or rigid. The structure should reflect the daring beauty of Ouyang's calligraphy, using oblique strokes to achieve dynamism but avoiding excessive tilting or unbalanced stability. The lines must be vigorous and elastic but should not be harsh or stiff, nor monotonous or rigid.