Other attributes
For four millennia, calligraphy had the highest status among plastic arts in China and was a style-forming sphere of artistic practice, the aesthetics of which formed a special "calligraphic vision" focused on the energetic characteristics of linear plastic themes. The calligraphic interpretation of plastic movement is the main typological feature of kit. art of both its traditional types (painting, circus, opera, dance, wushu, etc.) and modern (photography, cinema, design, etc.).
For centuries, the art of calligraphy has been searching not for ideal forms, but for perfect movement. The main criterion for the perfection of plastic movement is its consistency with the life-giving forces of the universe. Traditional aesthetics endows calligraphic plastic with the basic properties of real living flesh. In the structure of calligraphic plastics, such elements as "backbone", "veins", "blood" and "muscles" are distinguished (see gu, jin, xue, zhou). Calligraphic plasticity requires vitality (shengming), which depends on the degree of its filling with the energy substance qi. In the art of calligraphy, energy circulations are visualized and their aesthetic elaboration is given, reflecting the individual outline of the personality. Calligraphic aesthetics distinguishes between "internal" (nei qi内氣) and "external" (wai qi外氣) energy. The modern researcher Yao Gan-ming explains it this way: "The term nei qi indicates that in each hieroglyph there are circulations of energy flows regulated, coordinated and coming from the center of the composition of the sign; the term wai qi indicates circulations between signs and columns" [Yao Gan-min. p. 190]. Chinese authors often use the term "columns of qi" (han Qi) to denote external energy.
The forms of spatial distribution of qi energy are designated by the term shi 勢, which can be translated as "energy flow", which does not exclude the variant of E.V. Zavadskaya's translations as "lines of forces" [Zavadskaya. 1978. p. 108] or "the energy of the brush" by S.N. Sokolov-Remizov [Sokolov-Remizov. 1985. p. 203]. Western scientists have started studying this category relatively recently and, just like domestic specialists, are taking only the very first steps in this direction. The term shi captures the form of spatial distribution of qi energy. The energy flow takes plastic themes from a potential state to an actual one and connects them into formations in which their artistic content manifests itself. In Zhong Yu's treatise "Reasoning about the energy flows of the brush" (Bi shi lun 笔勢論, in the III century), the term "to grasp the energy flow" (qu shi 取势) was introduced into calligraphic aesthetics. The same treatise says that energy flows are not created, but appear; having arisen, they are directed according to their own laws. The calligrapher only captures their structure and course through the brush. In this regard, the Tang authors will talk about the spontaneous nature of energy flows (zizhan zhi shi). In the treatise of Shen Tsung-qian 沈宗骞 (1736 1820) "Collection of instructions in the painting of Tse-zhou" (Tse-zhou xue hua bian 芥丹學畫编, 1781) it is said: "Qi is collected in the energy flow. The energy flow is controlled by qi. Energy flow can be seen, qi cannot. Therefore, those who intend to gain energy flow must first cultivate and cultivate their qi." The energy flow ensures the unity of the work, combining all its elements with a common circulation of vital currents, which the calligraphic plastic owes to the effect of self-movement. At the same time, the energy flow acts as a carrier, and the dots and lines as a carrier. A professional proverb says: "The brush feels, the ink carries away" (Bi Qing mo Qu 筆情墨趣). This means that the brush feels the energy flow, and the ink rushes into it. Treatises on calligraphy mention more than three dozen types of energy flows, the names of which use associations with different types of movements in living and inanimate nature. The study of these species remains an unsolvable task for Western specialists. It is possible that the terminology of the types of energy flows will be common with treatises on Chinese geomancy, which have not yet been completely studied in Western science. It is important to note that the term shi is one of the key terms not only in feng shui, but also in medicine, military affairs, chess, astronomy, etc. The structure of the energy flow has a wave nature and includes a phase of recoil, energy dissipation associated with the chaoticization of its manifestations, and a phase of accumulation accompanied by its structuring. The task of the calligrapher is to harmonize the diverging and converging waves of qi energy. The calligraphic composition should maintain the unity of the energy flow, in which stiffness (ban 板), breaks (ce 刻) and blockages (tse 结) are unacceptable.
Jokey's calligraphic handwriting represents different variants of localization of energy processes. The complexity of analyzing energy flows in a particular calligraphic work is compounded by the resonances of energy circulations and the inability to distinguish between what are the reference pulses and what are the intervals between them. Since Western art studies is focused on the study of forms, the background areas are taken as interval values, which gives the greatest number of errors when analyzing a calligraphic work, because the reference impulses of calligraphic plasticity in statutory handwriting are often set by the background environment, and dots and lines indicate the intervals between them. In cursive writing, the situation is usually the opposite. However, outstanding masters were able to vary the principles of the distribution of reference impulses, which allowed them to create their own individual style without changing the general formal features of the work of the ancient master interpreted by them.
The energetic properties of calligraphic plastics have led to the multidimensional application of the Yijing principle of distinguishing yin–yang polarities in calligraphic aesthetics. The following phrase, repeated from treatise to treatise, is attributed to Wang Xi-zhi: "Yang qi 阳 shines like the luster of sheer walls; yin qi 阴氣 is imperceptible as being born by the breath of the spirit (Shen神)." Liu Xi-tsai (1813-1881) in the "Calligraphic Essay" (Shu gai) explains it as follows: "In calligraphy, it is necessary to simultaneously use two types of qi: yin and yang. Everything that is heavy, collapses and accumulates, [is] yin. Everything that is unusually open and boldly spreads, [is] yang."
During the creative act, the calligrapher passes through the cosmic circulation of qi, and therefore the whale. critics have developed a method of wave analysis for studying the energy characteristics of monuments. The term yun 韻 is usually translated as "rhythm". In calligraphic aesthetics, it means the phases of wave transformations of yin–yang polarities that create dynamic properties of calligraphic plastic. The pattern of these wave transformations creates individual stylistic differences. Calligraphic aesthetics connects the concept of style with the type of cixi breathing. Through breathing, the wave rhythm of qi yun energy circulations penetrates into the hand and excites the spiritual rhythm (shen yun). The style of each dynasty, according to Chinese experts, had its own rhythmic characteristics. If during the copying process the calligrapher managed to catch the rhythmic wave of the original, then this was considered the most reliable connection with its author over the formal similarity with the original. A professional proverb says: "The rhythm ascends to a thousand years of antiquity" (Yun Gao Qian gu). At the technical level, calligraphers distinguish between the rhythm of the brush (bi yun 筆韻) and the rhythm of the ink (mo yun 墨韻). Speaking about the rhythm of the brush (see bi fa) in calligraphy and painting, Chinese authors mean the plastic rhythm of the brush movement. The rhythm of the carcass (see mo fa) consists in alternating gradations of procrastination and tones of the carcass.
The peculiarity of calligraphic plasticity is that at the level of microforms (dots, lines, a separate sign), the energy intensity is higher than in macroforms (columns of signs, paragraphs of text). Due to this, the product as a whole, as a zone of energy circulations of different power, is endowed with spatial depth without the use of any promising constructions. The difference in the energy intensity of calligraphic subspaces allows you to create the effects of spatial removal and approximation of individual points and features, as well as signs or groups of signs. Masterpieces of calligraphy differ from ordinary works by the effect of an unfixed spatial arrangement of features that are in a kind of living oscillation. It is significant that the spatial effects of calligraphic originals are preserved in prints (see kate), because for the transmission of energy flows, the plastic properties of calligraphic forms are important, not the coloristic ones.
Time in a calligraphic work has two hypostases: this is the time spent on the creation of the monument, and the time required for its full viewing. Since the calligraphic technique allows you to get a very accurate idea of the speed of the master's work, the time parameters of the creative act are the most important component of the artistic content of the calligraphic work. In the process of viewing a calligraphic work, both time parameters are synchronized, which is an indispensable condition for the viewer to understand the author's idea. In this respect, calligraphy comes into contact with music. In both arts, the author's sequence of rhythmic patterns is revealed in time. However, the viewer of the calligraphic work can afford viewing from any place and from any detail, as well as in any direction.
