Huang Ting-jian黄庭坚, tzu Lu-zhi 鲁直, hao, Shangu dao-ren (Mountain Gorge Taoist)山谷道人, Fu-wen 涪翁. 1045/50, Xiushui County (prov. Jiangxi) -1105. At the age of 20, he received a higher academic degree jinshi and he held high positions at the court, combining them with constant studies in calligraphy and poetry. Ranked among the four great ones (sy yes 四大) of calligraphers of the Northern Song Dynasty. The life of a calligrapher has been recognized as the standard of Confucian virtue. When his mother fell terminally ill, he left all his business and forgot about his own needs, and did not leave her bed for a year. For this display of filial affection, Huang Ting-jian was included in the honor roll of 24 examples of exemplary respect for parents. At the same time, he considered himself an adept of the Chan Buddhist school. In the life of Huang Ting-chien, as well as many of his contemporaries, Confucian ethics were organically combined with Chan psychotechnics and Taoist cosmism. For three decades, Huang Ting-jian has been intensely studying the calligraphic heritage of Wang Xi-zhi王羲之 Before I could call him my " friend through the ages." Yan Zhen-qing also had a significant influence on him颜真卿. At the same time, so did Su Shi蘇軾 Huang Ting-jian departs from the style of the Jin luminary in the direction of greater individualization of forms. In his compositional innovations, he was inspired by calligraphy on Zhou bronze, as he reports in his theoretical essays. He developed the brush movement technique on stelae from the Han Dynasty, as well as the Southern and Northern Dynasties. By the age of 50, Huang Ting-jian had developed his own method of writing, which enhances the energy of signs through a special brush technique, the principle of which was suggested to him by the strokes of a boatman's oars. Huang Ting-jian defines his technique as: "the brush in the center applies force" (bi joon yoon lee筆中用力) and "there is a brush in the middle of the character" (zi zhong yu bi字中有笔). This means that in the technique of working with a brush, the effort must be repeated and concentrated in a certain synchronicity along the central axis of the composition of the sign and the columns of hieroglyphs. In the charter and in the handwriting shin-shu 行書Huang Ting-jian's calligraphy is distinguished from Su Shi's strong and determined style by the subtle and nervous intensity of plastic variations. Huang Ting-jian's calligraphy combines brilliant craftsmanship with a childlike clumsiness that gives his work a rare charm.
Huang Ting-jian cursive writing a special twist of shapes is inherent. The style is based on a combination of ancient "tadpole writing" (ke-dou-wen蝌蚪文), the normal handwriting version zhuan shu篆書and handwriting li-shu隸書. This unique plastic synthesis significantly distinguishes his calligraphy from the cursive writing of the great Tang masters. Chinese critics emphasize the connection of Huang Ting-chien's cursive style with the Chan aesthetic and the more open identification of the emotional aspect through calligraphic rhythms than that of Tang luminaries. Huang Ting-jian himself spoke about the need to implement the "three wonders" (san chi 三奇): a wonderful brushwork, a wonderful composition, and an extraordinary plan in Chan.
In his later works, Huang Ting-chien sought to combine the plastic programs of writing and cursive writing to reveal the beauty and grace of forms. The hieroglyphs in its columns alternate like waves from the strokes of an oar, but at the same time they are opened into space like pine needles. The calligrapher's writing technique takes a risky approach to painting. A number of its features are perceived almost as picturesque strokes. When writing features, the calligrapher balances on the edge of two defects at once: a" broken hairpin" (jae chai gu 折釵股) and "leaks from a leaking roof" (wu lou hen 屋漏痕The first defect concerns the deflection of the features, and the second is associated with the abundance of liquid-diluted carcass. The highest professionalism of a calligrapher lies in the fact that he extracts rich artistic effects from such defects, which is possible only as a result of a well-honed writing technique.
Original scrolls of Huang Ting-jian have been preserved: Zhu Shang-tso te诸上座帖; handwriting cao-shu, Gugong Museum, Beijing; Hua qi shi te花气诗帖, 1087; handwriting cao-shu, Gugong Museum, Taipei; Song feng ge shi juan松风阁诗卷; handwriting kai-shu, Gugong Museum, Taipei, etc. Huang Ting-jian presented his aesthetic views in his treatise "Reflections on Calligraphy" (Lun Shu論書) and numerous epigrams, the collection of which is called "The Meeting of the [Taoist] Mountain Gorge" (Shan-gu ji山谷集).
