Page 171 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts

Nobrush moved spiritedly, without urging. ideas;
—in other words, no intentions -just Zhu Yunming.
Wang Duo's large, standard-script (kaislui)
transcription of poems by the Tang dynasty poet
Wang Wei (699-759) taps into a rather different
tradition (cat. 181). This is unusual writing by Wang
Duo, who is better known for the highly
individualistic style of semicursive and cursive
calligraphy exhibited in the inscription at the left of
the scroll, following his transcriptions. The poems
themselves are written in the unmistakable manner
of the great Tang calligrapherYan Zhenqing
(709—785), whose bold, assertive standard-script
writing has served as one of the canonical models
for calligraphers throughout the ages (fig. 11). Wang
Duo, like Zhu Yunming, was a devoted student of
the art, and he avidly devoted himself to copying
classical models. It is not surprising to find him
writing a rather diligent rendition ofYan
Zhenqing's style. But Wang Duo was first and
foremost an individualist who commonly used the
ancient models as a point of departure for his own
Aexpressive means. more careful comparison is
merited, beginning with Yan Zhenqing.
Yan's style is one of the most easily recognized of
all Chinese calligraphers. The brush strokes are
muscular, the character compositions expansive.
Not everyone appreciated this style of writing. For
example, Li Yu (r. 961-975), ruler of the Southern
—Tang kingdom, found Yan's calligraphy offensively
direct "like an uncouth farmer facing forward
with arms folded and legs spread apart." 18 Almost
all, however, considered this confrontational style an
appropriate correlative to the larger-than-life image
Yan Zhenqing cast as a high minister of
unquestioned loyalty and courage. Yan Zhenqing
was well known as a stalwart defender of the court
and as a martyr who died at the hands of a would-
be usurper. This identification between the moral
qualities ofYan Zhenqing and his forceful style of
writing was well ensconced by the eleventh
century, when Ouyang Xiu (1007— 1072) announced
that Yan's calligraphy resembled a loyal minister:
correct, severe, and serious. 19 And so it has been
perceived through the later dynasties. Beginning
students of calligraphy are often given Yan
Zhenqing's writing as a model, no doubt in hopes
that some of the Tang minister's virtuous character
would be passed along with his particular brush
habits. Yan Zhenqing's style is so widely known that
one's immediate perception of any later rendition
ot the Yan style is colored by associations of
propriety, moral fortitude, and orthodoxy.
That is precisely what makes Wang Duo's scroll so
interesting. In the 1620s and 1630s, Wing had served
in high offices, culminating in his promotion to
Minister of Rites in 1640. He retired after only two
CALLIGRAPHY
months because of his father's death and remained
in mourning until spring of 1644, when he was
recalled to the same office. Unfortunately, before
Wang could resume his duties the Ming dynasty
collapsed. Wang Duo wrote this transcription of
Wang Wei's poems in the late autumn of 1643,
while staying with friends. Those were chaotic
times, and one is tempted to read into Wang Duo's
adoption ofYan Zhenqing's style a statement of
dynastic loyalty and political resolve. Yet the two
poems Wang chose to transcribe are largely
celebrations of a reclusive lifestyle, and Wang's own
inscription at the end speaks not of the nation's ills
but of the camaraderie of friends, the sweetness of
their wine, the clear sounds of a bubbling brook by
his window, and tomorrow's planned outing to
scenic spots. Viewed retrospectively, the writing is
even more curious, because Wang Duo would later
earn the unenviable historical reputation of a
turncoat: he was one of a number of high officials
who joined in ignominious surrender to the
Manchus, founders of the Qing dynasty
(1644— 1911), and he immediately began to serve
under the new regime, resuming his position of
Minister of Rites in the spring of 1646 (Wang's
official biography is listed in the section Er chen
juan ["Officials who Served Two Houses"].) 20
In the light of such infelicities, Wang Duo's copying
of the Yan style begins to appear somewhat
Aquestionable. closer look at Wang Duo's
inscription confirms that he was not exclusively
concerned with the state of the nation. He writes,
"Few are those who attempt to write standard-
script calligraphy on satin. One does not even find
such a combination among the works of Xuanzai
of Huating. ... In the future, upon opening this
scroll, those who have made some progress in the
myart of calligraphy will certainly reject this [i.e.,
writing], even wish to spit upon it. But what's to be
done???" Xuanzai is Dong Qichang.Wang Duo's
older contemporary and the dominant figure in the
world of calligraphy circa 1640. Whatever Wang
Duo's initial inspiration for this essay in the Yan
Zhenqing style, it quickly became a personal
challenge, an opportunity to do what tew, if any,
—had attempted before in other words, a forum for
the expression of Wang's individualism. The
decidedly unpolished quality ofWang Duo's
writing here helps to explain his last modest
remarks. At the same time, such self-deprecation
should not be taken seriously. One can imagine the
calligrapher being somewhat pleased with the
results, knobby strokes, bleeding ink, and all. This
calligraphy may not exactly be a work ot beauty.
but it certainly makes an impression; and that,
ultimately, was Wang Duo's goal.
The point here is not to question Wang Duo's
integrity or moral fiber, nor is it to accuse him of
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