Zhao Mengfu (1254- 1322) is the 11th grandson of Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu. He is well-read, good at poetry, textual research, proficient in music, and concurrently engaged in seal cutting, and is known as the "round Zhu Wen". Zhao Mengfu experienced the change of Song and Yuan Dynasties, and was both an official and a hermit. Although he is a nobleman, he was born at the wrong time. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty was like a building about to collapse, and he spent his adolescence in rough and difficult years. Good seal, official script, regular script, calligraphy and cursive script are well-deserved leaders in the book circle of the Yuan Dynasty. He admired the simple style of calligraphy and painting, and his landscapes were taken from Dong Yuan and Li Cheng. Characters, pommel horse teacher, Li and Tang people; Bamboo, flowers and birds are famous for their mellow brushwork, stone painting is flying white, and calligraphy writes bamboo with a pen. He advocated changing the courtyard style of the Southern Song Dynasty, and advocated that "painting is expensive with ancient meaning, and without ancient meaning, there is no work", and traced back to the statutes of the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty. Critics said that "the Tang Dynasty had a desire to lose fiber and the Northern Song Dynasty had a desire to lose essence", which created a new painting style in the Yuan Dynasty. There are many books handed down from generation to generation, and the paintings handed down from generation to generation include Quehua Autumn Color Map, Red Lohan Map, Youyu Autumn Harmony Map, Drinking Horses in Autumn Suburb, and Jiangcun Fishing Music Map. He is the author of Collected Works of Song Xuezhai (volume 10).
Zhao Mengfu was a companion of calligraphy all his life. He has studied and copied the works of Zhong You, Wang Xizhi, Liu Gongquan, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fei, Zhi Yong, Chu Suiliang and Li Yong for many times, and has a special liking for Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi's books and posts, and has written hundreds of them. On the basis of extensive study of the ancients, Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy can integrate Jin Yun, Tang Fa and Song Yi, forming its own family. He is a calligrapher who is proficient in seal script, official script, regular script, calligraphy and cursive script. In his later years, he created a six-body thousand-character scroll, which concentrated six styles: inscriptions on bronze, seal script, official script, Cao Zhang, regular script and cursive script. It is a dazzling art treasure, among which regular script and running script have the most creative value and influence.
Zhao Mengfu founded the unique "Zhao Ti" in the history of regular script, which is called the four styles of regular script together with the European style, Yan style and Liu style. Zhao Ti is not as tall and slender as the European body or the Liu body, but its shape is flat and its structure is broad and simple. Different from Yan Ti and Liu Ti, they pay more attention to traditional procedures such as horizontal light and vertical heavy or lifting pressure, but use elegant round pens. This kind of regular script absorbs some elements of running script, and the movement between point, horizontal, left and right is just right, beautiful and moving. At the same time, his pen is not scrawled, unambiguous and ambiguous, and the path of pen use is very clear, which makes it easy for learners to understand and learn. Compared with the "three-body", Zhao Ti's regular script has both the charm of Jin people and the natural grace of Tang people's strict laws. Reading its words, you will feel that he can not only control his lines calmly, but also show his edge in peace and calmness. As far as calligraphy style is concerned, if the European style is bold and vigorous, graceful and generous, Liu style is strong and powerful, and Zhao Ti is elegant and elegant, it is a typical representative of literati's romantic temperament. Representative works of regular script include Danba Monument, Miao Yan Temple, and Rebuilding the Three Gates of Xuanmiao Temple. Sanmenji has a broad structure, profound knowledge and steady strokes, and is most suitable for copywriting. For example, Fu on the Red Wall is a calligraphy classic handed down from generation to generation, with meticulous brushwork and rigorous words.
In Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy art, the most handed down should be advocating grass. It includes a large number of letters and inscriptions. His cursive script absorbed the essence of the two kings from all aspects, and at the same time incorporated his own will, which was beautiful, handsome and romantic. Famous works handed down from ancient times include Gui Xi Ci, Thirteen Postscripts of Lanting, Luo Shen Fu, Chibi Fu, Seven-character Poems Collection and so on. In his later years, the running script "Seven Poems Album" said: "Refined into a crane shape, there are thousands of classics of Panasonic. I'll ask if everything's okay. The cloud is in the sky and the water is in the bottle. " The last sentence, "The cloud is in the sky, and the water is in the bottle", borrows the story that Li Ao asked the Zen master in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that the Buddha Huang Yao instructed Li Ao to learn to be carefree in the clouds in the sky, or to be as quiet and indifferent as water in a bottle. Zhao Mengfu used this language, perhaps just to prove it with his own life. This post is only a five-line Chinese character, and the glyph is gradually elongated from convergence to amplification. In the last sentence, the ink color also changes from thick to light, just like the writer's state of mind, it gradually sublimates in writing, opening up a piece of wisdom and meditation.
Zhao Mengfu's significance in the history of calligraphy lies not only in his colorful and exquisite calligraphy traces, but also in the artistic spirit advocated by his own calligraphy practice. After North Song Sijia, the world pursued the trend of "respecting meaning" and praised personal temperament, but more and more ignored the accumulation and practice of calligraphy skills, thus inevitably entering a strange circle of thinness and thinness. The reason why Zhao Mengfu admired ancient customs and imitated Jin and Tang Dynasties is because he clearly saw this drawback. Zhao Yisheng wrote famous posts almost all over the world and knew all kinds of calligraphy like the back of his hand. Reading his books, Zhong You's simplicity and composure, his elegance and elegance, his profoundness and Li Yong's pride can all be integrated into his pen and ink. Without such a profound artistic accumulation, it is impossible to achieve such a calligraphy master. If the calligraphy in Jin and Tang Dynasties gave Zhao Mengfu a double edification of verve and statutes, then the calligraphy in Song Dynasty gave him the courage and spirit to bring forth the new and follow suit. In this sense, Zhao Mengfu is not only the rectification of the "Shang Yi" book style in the Song Dynasty, but also the best inheritor. He is not only an admirer of the book style in Jin and Tang Dynasties, but also the most comprehensive player. Therefore, later generations evaluated him as "a great calligrapher after the Tang Dynasty". He is known as a calligrapher who has lived in Wan Li for 500 years, revived two kings, and created a generation of ethos. Almost all calligraphy in Yuan Dynasty was shrouded in his shadow, and many famous calligraphers in Ming and Qing Dynasties also benefited from other places. He is the third influential master in the history of calligraphy in China after Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing. Later generations learned Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy, and Zhao's calligraphy is also very popular in Korea and Japan.
In painting, he created a new trend of simplicity, respect for meaning and painting with books in Yuan Dynasty, which made literati painting fully mature. First of all. In terms of creative mentality, Zhao Mengfu's paintings seem relaxed, unlike the Song Dynasty painters before him, who regarded paintings as enemies and dared not neglect them. Therefore, his painting image is concise and general, with few details, but he pays attention to the overall momentum. As a master of literati painting, he emphasized painting with books. As a great calligrapher, Zhao Mengfu expressed different world images with different brushstrokes, such as stones sketched with a flying white pen, bamboos with eight points, and water for seal writing. His original lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf lotus leaf. He also advocated that "painting is expensive with ancient meaning", that is, taking the ancient as the facade to create new ideas. Zhao Mengfu's ancient style and works complement each other, which refers to the style of "slender pen and rich colors" in college paintings since the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhao Ti's painting is simple in detail, and his painting style has reversed the decline of painting circles since the Northern Song Dynasty, making painting jump out of the pattern of details and creating a simple and natural life.
Autumn Color Map of Que Hua is Zhao Mengfu's masterpiece, which depicts Que Mountain in the suburb of Jinan and autumn scenery in Huabu Zhanshan, and adopts Pingyuan method to compose the picture. In the painting, there are fishing boats in Changting, the trees and cottages are hidden, and the two mountains on the plain protrude, echoing each other from a distance. There are many kinds of trees in this painting, red and green, dry and moist; The height of the trees is varied, arranged properly and scattered naturally, so it is not complicated, but sparse. The author describes the trees on the shore with freehand brushwork, the trunk is simple and double-hooked, the leaves are randomly inked, the brushwork is clever, and the calligraphy is interesting. The mountains are close at hand and green. Houses, figures, animals, reeds and sails are all carefully drawn, and then green, red and green are rendered. The color is bright and light, and the style is quaint and handsome. He creatively combined ink landscape with green landscape. Throughout the whole picture, the land and water handover, the gathering and scattering of trees, the distance between plains, the confrontation between two mountains, house figures and many scenery are scattered and rhythmic, which shows the author's high generalization ability. Amin Wang Shizhen once said: "Scholars painted from Dongpo to Song Xue." Objectively evaluated Zhao Mengfu's position in the history of China painting.
Zhao Mengfu's elegant and serene posture of painting and calligraphy also influenced his family. His wife, Guan Daosheng, is good at painting and calligraphy of ink bamboo and plum blossoms, and her brushwork is absolutely clear. Son Zhao Yong is also proficient in calligraphy and painting. It is said that Zhao Mengfu wanted to buy a concubine, and once wrote a lyric to ridicule the pipeline: "I am a bachelor, and you are a wife. You haven't heard that there are peach leaves and peach roots, and Su has clouds and clouds, so I will marry more. Wu Jihe is too much. You are over forty years old, so occupy Yutangchun. " The pipeline wrote "I Nong Ci" to answer: "You Nong Nong, you are full of emotions, and many emotions are as hot as fire. Put a piece of mud, pinch a you and shape a me. Break the two of us together, mix with water, pinch a you, and shape a me. I got you into the mire, and you got me into the mire. I was born with you and died with you. " From beginning to end, the feelings are heavy and profound, and the bones are bloody. It is said that "Song Xue got the message, but stopped laughing", and the matter of concubinage was never mentioned again. When Zhao Mengfu's official career was faltering, it was Guan Daosheng who told him to go home with "fisherman's words": "Your life is extremely expensive for a vassal, and you can't be free unless you become rich and famous. Fight like a boat. Go home and rest after hitting the moon. " It is also the great fortune of Zhao Meng's life to disturb his wife with such talent and foresight.
After the demise of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Mengfu hid in his hometown and devoted himself to painting and calligraphy, and was later invited to the court by Yuan Shizu. Zhao Meng, with his imposing manner and outstanding demeanor, is a very talented person, and won the admiration of Yuan Shizu with his excellent poetry, calligraphy and painting. Since then, Zhao Mengfu has been at Yuan Shizu's side, even above the right Prime Minister Ye Li. On one occasion, Zhao Mengfu rode past the palace wall and accidentally fell into the moat with his horse. When Yuan Shizu knew this, he immediately ordered people to retreat the palace wall by two feet and widen the road to prevent such things from happening again. Although Yuan Shizu highly praised Zhao Mengfu's talent, he did not give him a heavy responsibility politically. Among them, Zhao Meng is the only one who knows bitterness and happiness. He even devoted himself to painting and calligraphy, seeking spiritual comfort and appeasement.
As a descendant of Zhao Songzong, Zhao was an official in the Yuan Dynasty, with a smooth career and a bumpy life. Fu Shan, the "first writer in the early Qing Dynasty", insisted on "Kaku Takashina, high-quality books", and his paintings also reached a high artistic level, filled with lofty character and lofty integrity. "Fu Qingzhu painted mountains and rivers, not much rubbing, mountains and valleys are Leike, winning with bones, and Mozhu is also full of gas" (Painting Collection). Fu Shan "emphasizes integrity all his life, and praises himself with sages". He thinks that "writing makes people stand first, and people have strange words since ancient times", so it is not enough to criticize Zhao Mengfu and Dong Qichang's books and evaluate their weakness. This kind of "judging books by people" is obviously unfair and biased. To be fair, Zhao deserves to be a master of art. He was immersed in the demeanor of Wei and Jin Dynasties, and his elegant and refined temperament and concise brushwork created a precedent for painting and calligraphy in Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Fu Shan also had to admit that Zhao Mengfu's ink was "round and beautiful" and he loved it very much. People's criticism of book reviews has plunged Zhao Mengfu into the history of art for hundreds of years, but he is still a rare all-rounder in the history of China literature and art, which can only be compared with Su Dongpo in the Song Dynasty and Dong Qichang in the Ming Dynasty.
Painting before writing is a piece of paper, and both are beautiful in a short distance. Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy, painting and poetry are four unique prints, which were well-known at home and abroad at that time. Both Japanese and Indians cherish his works. As a master, not only his good friends Gao, his wife Guan Tao and his son were all influenced by his painting skills, but also his disciples Tang Di, Zhu Derun, Chen Lin, Yao Yanqing, Wang Meng, his grandson, and even Huang, Ni Zan at the end of the Yuan Dynasty inherited and carried forward Zhao Mengfu's aesthetic view to varying degrees, which made the literati painting in the Yuan Dynasty prosperous for a long time and wrote a beautiful chapter in the painting history of China.
In view of Zhao Mengfu's achievements in the history of fine arts and culture, 1987, the International Astronomical Society named Mercury Crater after Zhao Mengfu to commemorate his outstanding contribution in the history of human culture.