Friday, March 25, 2011

Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition 2011 中华书画展2011

The Senior Citizen Calligraphy & Painting Society in Singapore held its biennial art exhibition ‘Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Exhibition 2011’ at Sengkang Community Club from 18 to 20 March. The exhibition was declared open by Charles Chong, Member of Parliament of Pasir-Punggol GRC on 18 March 2011 at 7.30 pm.
The works exhibited included landscape paintings, paintings of birds and flowers, and various Chinese calligraphic works. During the exhibition, Chairman Tan Ching Yam, Vice-Chairman Sim Kwang Hun and other famous demonstrated the skills by painting and writing on the spot.
The Senior Citizen Calligraphy & Painting Society was formed in 1986 by a group of alumni of Chung Cheng High School. Currently it has more than 200 members. The Society organize two gatherings every month (on the first and third Sunday afternoon from 2 pm to 5 pm) at the Sengkang Community Club. The seniors who share the love of Chinese arts are welcome to join in the gatherings.

開幕儀式後,樂齡書畫會會員、俱樂部管委、嘉賓、工作人員大合照。
後排左起:巫振松、馬雙祿、余保榮、翁嘉毅、林永壯、陳德成、
鄧庭根、薛振傳、王麗娟、許惜芬、莊如琴、工作人員。
前排左起:吳雅妹、蔡錦添(晉恬)、蔡卓南、樂齡書畫會主席
陳清業傅士、張有福議員、樂齡書畫會副主席沈觀漢、
Dr. Janil Puthucheary、吳女仕、李婉兒、工作人員

新加坡乐龄书画会,于3月18日至20日在盛港民众俱乐部为会员举行的两年一度的常年美展《中华书画展览2011》。展览于3月18日傍晚7时半由榜鹅集选区国会议员张有福先生主持开幕仪式。
展出作品包括山水画,花鸟画和各体书法,作品110幅。画展期间,乐龄书画会理事以及会长陈清业博士和副会长沈观汉先生将即席挥毫作画,此外多位资深书画家也会到场挥毫助兴。
新加坡乐龄书画会于1986年由多名中正中学的校友发起成立,至今已有两百多名会员。每月的第一与第三个星期天下午2时至5时在盛港民众俱乐部举行雅集,欢迎乐龄同好者来参与。

沈观汉作品

陈德成作品

苏德茂作品

马双禄作品

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Celebrity New Calligraphy Style 名人新书风

Chinese calligraphy is one of the highest forms of Chinese art perfectly embodied the rhythm, lines and structure, serving the purpose of conveying the thoughts of the writer and displaying the abstract beauty of lines. It is not only a form of art, but also a Chinese way of life. It’s no exaggeration to say cultivated writing attracts attention and admiration, while poor writing form invites suspicion and scorn. Therefore, in the Chinese communities, it is a sort of tradition for the leaders to cultivate their calligraphic skills so that they can show off these skills whenever the opportunity arises.
Many of these leaders also do not shy away from taking the lead in introducing new and innovative style of writing. Here are some examples of new calligraphy style written by some contemporary famous people.
  1. Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976): He was a Chinese revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, calligrapher, political theorist, and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and was the leader of the nation until his death in 1976.
  2. Li Xiannian (1909 – 1992): He was President of the People’s Republic of China between 1983 and 1988 and then president of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference until his death.
  3. Guo Moruo (1892 - 1978): He was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official from Sichuan, China.
  4. Qi Gong (1912 – 2005): He was a renowned Manchu Chinese calligrapher, artist, painter, connoisseur and sinologist.
  5. Tan Siak Kwee (Chen Sheng Gui): Currently the President of the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore.
Click here to learn more about the new calligraphy style.
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书法是华人艺术的最高形式之一,其艺术完全体现于书法的节奏、线条与结构,以传达书写者的思想感情与表现线条的抽象美为目的。书法不单是一种艺术,还是华人的生活方式。可以毫不夸张地说,优雅的书写令人倾目与赞叹;而难看的字体受人质疑与鄙视。所以在华人社团里,领袖们传统上都会苦练书法,以便在适当的场合展示一下他们的技巧。
不少名人还很乐意为新书风起带头作用。这里介绍的是当代的一些名人所书写的新书风。
  1. 毛泽东(1893 - 1976):中国革命、游击战略家、书法家、中国革命领袖。1949年建立新中国的总设计师,国家的领导人,直到1976年逝世为止。
  2. 李先念(1909 - 1992):1983年至1988年担任中华人民共和国的国家主席,然后担任全国政协主席,直到逝世为止。
  3. 郭沫若(1892 – 1978):来自四川的中国作家、诗人、历史学家、考古学家与政府官员。
  4. 启功(1912 – 2005):中国著名的满洲籍书法家、艺术家、画家、鉴赏家与汉学家。
  5. 陈声桂:新加坡书协会长。
请点击这里阅读有关新书风的阐述。

Me Zedong 毛泽东
Mao Zedong 毛泽东
Li Xiannian 李先念
Guo Moruo 郭沫若
Qigong 启功
Tan Siak Kwee 陈声桂

Friday, March 11, 2011

Xue Ji: Stele of the Chan Master Xinxing 薛稷:信行禅师碑

‘Four Masters of Early Tang’ refers to Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji.
Stele of the Chan Master Xinxing 信行禅师碑
Ouyang Xun is famous for his square, energetic and ‘steep’ writing, whereas Yu Shinan for his robust, rounded, and smooth brush strokes. Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji are known for the spare beauty and boniness of their style.
The four calligraphers’ works were models of the Tang calligraphy in brush using techniques and stroke writing rules. Among the four, Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan created their new styles and developed the art of Chinese calligraphy into a new level; hence they had profound effect on later calligraphers.
Xue Ji was not only famous in calligraphy, but also skilful in painting, specialized in crane, the most popular bird in Chinese history and is a symbol of longevity and auspiciousness.
Xue Ji learned calligraphy from Chu Suiliang. Their calligraphic works are equally good and they both shared a similar style of writing. The saying was spread among the people at that time that “you can either buy Chu’s or Xue’s calligraphic works, it does not matter as their value will not depreciate.”
Unfortunately none of Xue Ji’s calligraphic works have been preserved until today, although the calligraphic work the ‘Stele of the Chan Master Xinxing’ is said to be written by him. The slender brushwork and the ‘open and airy’ character structure in this inscription had a direct influence on Liu Gongquan (778 – 865), master calligraphy of the Late Tang and foreshadowed the ‘slender gold’ style initiated by Zhao Ji (1082 – 1135), Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. For this reason, Xue Ji found himself a position in the history of Chinese calligraphy.
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初唐四大家是:欧阳询、虞世南、褚遂良与薛稷。
欧阳询以其方折笔法,活泼险绝的书写而出名,而虞世南以刚健、圆滑的笔法取胜。褚遂良与薛稷则以绮丽与多骨而闻名。
这四名书法家的书法成为唐代书法用笔、线条书写法则的模范。四人中,欧阳询与虞世南发展了新风格,把书法推上一个新的水平;所以他们对后代书家有深远的影响。
薛稷不但以书法闻名,亦精于画,专长画鹤。在中国历史里,鹤是最这名的鸟类,也是长寿与好运的象征。
薛稷跟褚遂良学书法,所以他们两人的风格相同。两人的书法同样好。当时就流传这样的话:‘买褚得薛,不失其节’。(不管是卖褚遂良或者是薛稷的书法,价格都不会掉。)
很可惜的是,薛稷并没有传世书法保留至今,虽然现存的《信行禅师碑》被认为是他写的。这个碑里细瘦线条笔法与疏松的文字结构对后唐大书法家柳公权(778-865)有很大的影响,还成为宋皇帝徽宗赵佶的《瘦金体》的前身。因为这个理由,薛稷就在中国书法历史中找到了他的地位。
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Friday, March 4, 2011

Su Demao: How to Perfect your Calligraphic Work 苏德茂:如何完善创作

Your have written your calligraphic piece, the next step is to continuously perfect and improve it.

1. Check the text to ensure that there are no wrongly written words
This is very important. The check is to find out whether the words are written wrongly by you or they are contained in the original source of the text.
It is not unusual to find wrong words in printed text. It is always better to use reliable text. Generally speaking, the books published by the Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House and Cultural Relics Publishing House in China are more reliable.

2. Mixing the Simplified script with the Traditional Scripts
The Simplified Chinese writing system has its role in popularizing the Chinese culture. However, it does not follow the scientific way of creating Chinese words and characters, and this has made it difficult for people to inherit traditional Chinese culture. Currently, the computing system of conversion between Simplified and traditional Chinese scripts is not working well, and it has caused unnecessary errors.
After thousand years of filtering, the writing scripts of Chinese calligraphy, namely the Official, Clerical, Regular, Zhang and Cursive scripts, have been meeting and fulfilling the aesthetic requirements. In principle, there is a need to accept tradition, as it is where the creativity originated. To be sure, we are not against new ideas and innovation, such as particular way of writing the cursive script.
In creating calligraphic work, the traditional scripts should be used as the first choice.

3. Continuously improve and make adjustments by taking the following points into consideration:
  • The size of characters (mixture of big and small characters)
  • The structure of words (upright or leaning structure)
  • Brush techniques (centered-tip or slanted-tip)
  • Harmony of ink effects: dark, light, moist, dried, penetrated, dull and bitter, flying white (threads of blank inline of ink)
  • Exaggeration and reservation, stretching and contracting
  • Brush techniques that produced flat or round effect on calligraphic lines
  • Thick or thin lines: the use of pressing or lifting brush techniques
  • The occupied and unoccupied spaces in cursive script writing: the solid or hollow (lingering) lines
  • Varied arrangement of words and rows
  • Joins and disjoins of lines
  • Scatted or dense spacing
  • Black (occupied) or white (unoccupied)
  • Levelled or unlevelled footing
  • Continuation of lines from end of one column to the beginning of another column
  • Main characters (words) and strokes
  • Adjustment of variations in word structure and shape
  • The need for varied ways of writing the same character
  • Natural and flawless composition: the spacing between strokes and words, the inscriptions and seal should be logically executed; the whole piece of calligraphic work should present the best visual effect.
苏德茂老师(中)与曾锦凯夫妇合影 Su Demao (Middle)
书法创作作品第一稿已经产生,接着如何去不断完善、改进?

 一:所写的内容是否有错字。

 此点很重要。查对是1。个人写错,2。原资料印错。
所依据原资料将字印错,是常有的事。查对中去查可信的版本。一般地说中国上海古籍出版社和文物出版社的版本可信程度高。

 二:繁简体的混淆。

 汉字简化为普及文化有意义,但简化却破坏了汉字造字的科学体系,而造成了混乱,为继承中华文化传统带来了不少麻烦。如今电脑的繁简互化功能的不完善,又产生不必要的错误。
书法中汉字的写法,篆、隶、真、章、草的书写,可以说经已过千、百年的筛选,符合审美的需要。为适合艺术创造的载体,原则上要继承。当然也不反对创造,如个别的草法,等等。
通用繁体字为书法创作中的首选。

 三:不断地完善、改进与调整。

大小
结字正、倚
正侧(中锋与侧锋的使用)
墨色和谐:浓淡枯润,涨墨与枯涩、飞白
夸张与含蓄,伸与缩
用笔的方、圆
笔画的粗细:用笔的重按与轻提
草书中的虚实:实连与虚连(牵丝)
字间、行间的错落
断连
疏密
黑白
字脚齐平与错落
隔行不断
主字与主笔
结体调整、字形的变化
重复字写法的变异
章法的完美自然:字、行、行间布白、款、印的合理、整幅作品黑、白块面的视觉效应等等。
苏德茂
2011.2.19