Consistency Between Painting And Calligraphy

The tablet style emerged in the early Qing dynasty.As the aesthetic tendency of calligraphy in the late Ming dynasty advocated singularity,calligraphy in early Qing dynasty opened up a simple and unadorned way of calligraphy and painting in epigraphy.Shi Tao was one of the calligraphers who practiced "the integration of epigraphy into calligraphy and painting" in the early Qing dynasty.Shi Tao had great achievement in poetry,calligraphy,painting and Seal cutting.Moreover,his complex identity,bumpy experience,broad vision,deep thought,and contradictory personality made his art works extremely powerful,which had a certain influence in South of the Yangtze river in the early Qing dynasty.Shi Tao learned calligraphy at the age of ten,and then he learned painting.His study of calligraphy was different from his painting.Although Shi Tao advocated the way of "no way" in calligraphy and painting,his calligraphic work exhibits the ancient methods of Wei,Jin,Tang and Song dynasties.He also borrowed the prevailing wind to create "my method." Shi Tao started by learning Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphy and took Su Shi’s calligraphy as a turning point to further integrate the epigraphic meaning of Han and the Southern and Northern dynasties tablets into his own calligraphy.From post learning orthodox to "Epigraphy learning into Calligraphy",Shi Tao persevered with the ideas of "Calligraphy into Painting" and "Painting into Calligraphy".This performance made Shi Tao quickly involved into the literati circle of epigraphic calligraphy and painting.At that time,he played an active role in the media of aphy scholars and painters.Among the extant calligraphic works of Shi Tao,there are few independent ones.Large numbers of inscriptions on painting make it possible to study the callipgrahies of Shi Tao.Shi Tao’s calligraphy plays a vital role in connecting his poems,paintings and seals.One can use one sentence— "poetry,calligraphy,painting,printing in one,fine,male,old,ugly and noble." — to explain his method of artistic integration and aesthetic orientation.Shi Tao’s calligraphy is extremely lyrical.In the early Qing dynasty,except for Fu Shan in calligraphy,no painters and calligraphers achieved better lyrical expression than Shi Tao.Although,in the contemporary of Shi Tao,his calligraphy was not best rated,his art demonstrates thought forethought,comprehensive,flexible use.He played an important role in promoting the practice of combining Jinshi(metal and stone)with calligraphy in the early Qing dynasty.Since Shi Tao’s art and his thoughts have a far-reaching influence,his calligraphy achievements are often overshadowed by his paintings.