A Research On Ye Xiushan’s Calligraphy Aesthetic Thought

Ye Xiushan(1935-2016),as an aesthetician with profound philosophical theories and rich artistic practical experience,combined traditional Chinese calligraphy techniques with contemporary Western aesthetic theories,and achieved a complete grasp of calligraphy art from a broader philosophical perspective.He introduced the temporal and historical human "life" and the existence and significance of calligraphy into the research field of calligraphy aesthetics,and formed a unique aesthetics of calligraphy.This article attempts to put Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics thoughts in his entire thought development process,analyze its practical and theoretical background,systematically sort out and summarize the core of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics thoughts and outstanding features,and summarize its contribution to the development of the discipline of calligraphy aesthetics.This article mainly contains the following three parts:The first part analyzes the formation of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics.One is calligraphy enlightenment and interest development.In his early childhood,under the enlightenment of family education,Ye developed the habit of studying calligraphy,and later developed an interest due to changes in the social environment.The second is the transformation process of calligraphy theory research methods.The thinking mode and method of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy theory research has undergone a directional change from art-philosophy to philosophy-art.The third is the foundation of Chinese philosophy and the resources of Western philosophy.The "living principle" and the "top-down" research method are formed on the basis of traditional Chinese philosophy.To overcome the singularity of theoretical resources,Ye tried to explain traditional Chinese calligraphy art with Western philosophy,especially phenomenology and Heidegger’s ontology.By drawing lessons from the theory of Hegelian phenomenology,Ye Xiushan further clarified the principle of identity of subject and object in the "living principle".The phenomenology of Husserl’s life world influenced Ye Xiushan’s cognition of the nature,research object and scope of calligraphy aesthetics.Heidegger’s view of art inspired Ye to rethink the relationship between calligraphy and "life",and his ontology of language also influenced Ye Xiushan’s view of "the language of art".The second part analyzes and summarizes the core content of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics.One is the origin of calligraphy beauty.The prominence of the "feeling of freedom" in the lines and the religious significance carried by the early Chinese characters have enabled Chinese calligraphy to develop into an independent art.Calligraphy originated from the original form of "Dao Dao",and "saying" means "Dao Dao".The original "writing","carving" and "marking" witnessed and preserved people’s "presence" and "thinking".The second is the nature of calligraphy beauty.The perceptual form of calligraphy art contains content that cannot be expressed in the abstract concept of "character meaning".The art of calligraphy has become the expression of the inner "implication" of the calligrapher because of the indicative nature of the language.The beauty of calligraphy art is constantly revealed in time.The third is the form of calligraphy beauty.From the perspective of philosophical aesthetics,the beauty contained in the appearance of the three types of calligraphy works such as gold and stone,rubbings,and pen and ink is a kind of harmony and consistency achieved through specific communication between man and calligraphy.The interest of seal cutting lies in "carving",the interest of pen and ink lies in "writing",and the rubbings are somewhere in between.The fourth is the appreciation of the beauty of calligraphy.Calligraphy appreciation is a process of "live communication" between meaning and meaning,and the beauty of calligraphy is dynamically generated.Calligraphy appreciation should not only stay on the abstract beauty of the lines,but should "understand" the true "implication" of calligraphy through the lines.What aesthetic appreciation needs is direct "understanding".This "understanding" is the unity of "listening" and "seeing" in the phenomenological sense,and aesthetic perception plays a key role in it.Among various calligraphy styles,cursive script is the ideal style that best reflects the performance and freedom of calligraphy.The third part is the overall evaluation of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics.One is the characteristics of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics.Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics goes straight to the “root” and “bottom” of calligraphy art,from the perspective of multi-disciplinary integration,mutual learning and exchange,thinking about the fundamental issue of“being-non-being” and revealing it by drawing on western theories,reveal the universal aesthetic meaning of calligraphy.The second is the practical significance of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics.Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics has achieved the surpassing of the dualistic thinking mode,and has pioneering significance in the application of new research paradigms and thinking methods,and has made contributions to the continuous modernization of calligraphy aesthetics;Ye has returned to the realistic and specific "life" to explore the characteristics of calligraphy beauty and realize the meaning of the "existence" of calligraphy beauty.This broadens the horizon of calligraphy aesthetics research and promotes the integration of calligraphy aesthetics into the new trend of global aesthetics development;the application of multiple methodology and perspectives provides a new philosophical and aesthetic basis for the construction of the basic theory of calligraphy aesthetics,and also provides theoretical support for promoting Chinese calligraphy to the world.The third is the limitation and enlightenment.Ye Xiushan’s discussion of calligraphy aesthetics is too philosophical,and he focuses more on drawing lessons from Western theories,while neglecting to excavate theoretical resources from traditional Chinese calligraphy theories.The real significance of Ye Xiushan’s calligraphy aesthetics thoughts is not to construct a complete knowledge system and provide definite answers to calligraphy aesthetics questions,but to always inspire people to think and provide a "foundation" for the thinking of "others".