Study On Weis’Family Calligraphy During Wei- Jin Dynasty

In Chinese calligraphy culture history, the Wei-Jin dynasty was a turning point for the character writing style, while the handwriting based on Chinese brush enhanced the artistic values following the culture arousal at that time, and the expression of cursive and semi-cursive script which replaced the old ones. The heritage of calligraphy by Wei’s family which lived to the east of Yellow River during Wei-Jin dynasty is an important part in Chinese calligraphy history, such as Wei Ji, Wei Guan, Wei Heng and Wei Shuo. They all made great exploits in calligraphy in nearly one century and had great influences both on the later writing styles and thinking methods.Although some researches on Wei’s calligraphy have been made, they are mostly focused on several aspects and seldom drew a systematic conclusion. In this thesis the activities on calligraphy of Wei’s family are studied and a complete conclusion is made. The main ideas are followed by this:Firstly, the literature consciousness in Wei-Jin dynasty set an inseparable culture background for the calligraphic development of Wei’s family. The calligraphic activities of the family can be directly or indirectly related to historical background which the calligraphic peculiarities in history are always conditional on. Secondly, four generations of Wei’s family mostly were experts in calligraphy, and innovations were made while absorbing the spirit of other calligraphic schools in the process of succeeding the family’s calligraphic wealth, which ascribed to the double impacts from both contemporary calligraphic development and aesthetic appreciation trends. The body part of this thesis holds time-sequence as a leading line, and combined with documents analyzing the representatives of the family respectively the thesis is completed the study from aesthetic aspect of calligraphic in its dynamic development. Meanwhile, based on comparative studies on calligraphic theories and values and significances that concluded from documents, a specific comprehension of Wei’s family calligraphy is completed. Lastly, relating with studies on the factors that resulted in the formation of calligraphic styles in the process of calligraphic inheritance various factors involved in the evolution of the style of Wei’s family are analyzed thoroughly, and the roles these factors played and their impacts they brought in the calligraphic history are discussed in this thesis as well.Based on classified researches and completed conclusion of the calligraphic activities of the four generations’ representatives, and analysis on the specialness of calligraphy as an intermediary for emotional expression and relevance between culture and calligraphy, together with elements in contemporary culture fashion, philosophical ideas and writing paper’s renewals, this thesis is made a relatively systematic exploration of the calligraphy of Wei’s family. In addition, from comparative studies between characters of calligraphic works modes and the contemporary calligraphic styles, this thesis is set out that Wei’s family has great influences on calligraphic activities of the later generations. This thesis is also elaborate in concluding the formation of calligraphic development of Wei’s family, therefore is given a completed and clear display of calligraphic activities of Wei’s family.