Research On Aesthetic Thoughts Of Xiang Mu’s Essays On Calligraphy

Essays on Calligraphy(《书法雅言》)is an important work on Chinese calligraphy,which was written by Xiang Mu,a famous calligrapher and calligraphic theorist in Ming dynasty.This thesis tries to figure out the systematical argument of Essays on calligraphy and analyze the aesthetic thoughts of it by means of text-reading and concept-analysis.The following are the summary of the three main parts of it.The first part tells the elements which affected the written of Essays on Calligraphy.There was a thought-liberty movement in late Ming dynasty,which had an effect on calligraphy.Xiang Mu regarded this movement as a rebellion to the Confucian tradition which is very import to him.Xiang Mu’s family also had an great influence on his work.At last,this part introduce some calligraphic theorists before Xiang mu,whose thoughts enlighten him.The second part tries to reconstruct the 17 essays of Xiang Mu’s work from five point of views,including the overall standpoint and the other four(the art work,the creation,the appreciation,and the development),in order to figure out the system and the logic of this work.The third part is about the aesthetic thoughts of Essays on Calligraphy.Xiang Mu made Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy as the model and advocated all the calligrapher to imitate his art.He also regarded the concept Zhonghe(中和)as the most significant principle to guide the written and appreciation of calligraphy.At last,Xiang Mu made an relationship between the moral and the artwork of calligrapher and suggested that people who has virtue can make excellent calligraphy,vice versa.