Well, dear friends. Today, we're going to talk about one of the greatest calligraphers of Song Dynasty. The case is that the masters of calligraphy off Song. They were not merely calligraphers, but at the same time, they were poets, officials, public figures, whatever. Our hero today wasn't an exception. One of the greatest poets, one of the greatest writers, and thinkers, of the early Song Dynasty, Su Shi, better known as Su Dongpo. This calligrapher, writer, poet, was an absolutely wonderful, and unusual person for his time. His being unusual is connected with his ideas that were totally traditional. It seems very strange, it sounds very strange. But it was really so. Because at his time, a lot of people were trying to invent something new in the system of education, in the system of training of officials, whatsoever. Some of them were going to make a big reform in the education, and to teach the future officials only things that are up-to-date. Not paying attention to the traditional, classical books and things.The others were very against it and were supporting the idea that, if you write something, you have to keep in mind, to remember all the great books for all the times and from all the spheres, starting from the classics and ending with some fiction of Tang Dynasty and whatsoever, and only then, you are going to be able, to create something new. As to Su Dongpo, he wasn't supporting the great reforms in the field of education. But at the same time, he was saying that the actual process of creation, that the creativity, cannot be fixed only on memorizing and reproducing some classical books and some books of the previous time. The main source of creativity, the main source of poetic mood, was the sudden feeling, was the motion of the soul, and if you have this motion of the soul, you have to find a proper way to embody it. It can be embodied in a poem, in can be embodied in the calligraphic work or even in a melody. Because these three spheres and plus fine arts, plus painting, these four kinds of creativity were inseparably connected and this was described by a lot of thinkers, by a lot of artists of Song Dynasty for instance, and it was of course known before that. The other thinker, and writer, and poet, and calligrapher, also great person of Song, [inaudible]. He actually formulated that, these spheres of creativity that music, calligraphy, poetry, it's all the same, they are all united in one process of creation of something immortal. These things, well, formulated or not, where the matter of Su Dngpo or Su Shi's life and works. Well, let us just have a look at the characters, by Su Shi. Starting from this here, we can see these samples of his kaishu style. Very official kaishu. Very structured. You see mighty, very thick lines, very strict structure of the symbols everything. Of course, it's beautifully done. But what makes this wonderful calligraphy, not only good calligraphy, what makes it ingenious calligraphy? The case is, this motion of the soul sometimes drives the calligrapher, drives the artist to do some unexpected things like here. For instance, here, the brush goes in the falling line. Very very broadly. Very very easily and it sort of makes a disproportion in this character, but disproportion in this character is at once compensated in the next character. Here, the left falling line goes with the same degree of freedom to the right. So, this pulsation of inner energy, this absolutely and unpredictable way, the individuality of Su Shi expresses itself, can be found even in this very strict form of the classical Kaishu, Or even here. Because here, the characters are even more formalized and yet the principle is quite the same. So, it is not nearly well done calligraphy. It's a calligraphy of a genius and it's obvious. Su Shi is one of those calligraphers who is regarded to be the greatest of all the times and whose works can be studied from the very beginning. Because they can be copied and can be worked at. If you're a beginner, if you're already a master, everything goes, everything is suitable. Those things are absolutely impeccable. Here is another sample of his ingenious work of brush. Here, this work is called the thoughts about calligraphy actually. It's his work that is dedicated to the art of calligraphy. Here, we find very special way of sort of designing these characters. They are not a 100 percent Kaishu, but not they are Xingshu as well. There's something in the middle. Some sorts of those characters that are called Xing Kai. We saw already in the works by [inaudible] at the beginning of time. But then, it was just one of the ways calligrapher was expressing himself in. Here, for Su Shi, this way of writing becomes the main and the most beloved way of expression himself. So, in some ways, the structure of the character also is a bit changed like their inclusive. Like here for instance, sometimes, the work with nib of a brush is more characteristic for Xingshu than for Kaishu. So, the lines become more plastic. The lines become more flexible. This process, this new aesthetic attitude that is absolutely obvious in the works by Su Shi, also can be observed in the works of calligraphers of the later times. So, just please have a look how marvelously this is done and how those things that I was just speaking about, how they are expressed in the structure of the lines and of the characters themselves. So, these things can be watched for hours and I just want you to remember this wonderful, this absolutely unparalleled master of calligraphy. One of the greatest calligraphers of Sung, Su Shi, Su Dongpo.
