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The Brief Biography of Wu Xizai Written and translated by Shi An Wu Xizai(1799-1870), a great calligrapher and seal carver in the late Qing Dynasty. His original name was Tingyang and Xizai. In order to avoid the taboo of Qing Mu Zong, he changed his name to Rangzhi. In his later years, he named himself as Rangweng, old student, Walker with square bamboo, etc.
Wu Xizai Wu Xizai was born in 1799 and died in 1870. His ancestral home was Jiangning (Nanjing now). When he grew up, he moved to Yizheng (Yangzhou now) and settled there. Wu was intelligent and enjoyed studying when he was childhood. He was quiet and liked thinking. He enjoyed reading and writing. At 13 years old, he got a seal of the Han Dynasty by chance. He was very excited and began to study seal cutting. In the next ten years, he tried to copy all the seal works he had seen, especially seals of the Han Dynasty, thus he had a solid foundation in the field of seal art.
Seal "Zhang Wen Zi Yin", cut by Wu Xizai One day at the age of 30, Wu XiZai visited a local calligrapher named Huang Yisheng and met Huang’s good friend Bao Shichen. Wu Xizai showed his calligraphy and seal cutting works to Bao. Bao was amazed at his art talent and agreed to be his master. Then Wu XiZai invited Bao home and began to learn from him. Bao ShiChen was a great scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. He was famous for his rich learning and was praised as "a great master". He was a calligrapher also. His master was Deng Shiru(1743-1805), a great artist from Anhui. Deng Shiru was the leader of the Wan School of seal cutting. Although Bao was Deng's student, he was not good at seal cutting actually. Bao Shichen has been stayed at Wu’s home for three years. Bao regarded Wu as the best candidate to inherit Deng ShiRu’s art. So he presented all his collection about Deng Siru to Wu, includes Deng’s seals, calligraphy works, some albums of Deng’s seal impressions,etc. Then Wu XiZai was able to study Deng's works deeply and went into Deng's art hall later.
Seal "Yi Yu Gu Hui", cut by Deng Shiru Since then, Wu XiZai concentrated on Deng’s art only and gave up study other seal style. "I will focus on Deng’s art until old." He said. He devoted himself to make Deng Shiru’s style to perfection. He Inherit it very well and even had innovation achievement even. When people talk about the greatest artists of Wan school in seal cutting, “Deng and Wu ” were always mentioned together. Because of Wu's great contribution, Wan school became one of the most influential school, while another one was Zhe School.
Seal "Shu Bo", cut by Wu Xizai Zhao ZhiQian(1829-1884), another art master of the Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem in praise of Wu Xizai: "Yuanzhu seal style began from the Song Dynasty, now Deng ShiRu is praised to be the most important artist. Deng’s seal cutting style is not disappeared. It should own to his inheritor Wu XiZhai." Another great artist Wu Changshuo(1844-1927) said: “Wu Xizai followed Deng’s step. He lay a solid foundation on Qin and Han’s seal style. He was good at seal cutting skill. His seal works have no effeminate or winding problem. I suggest others that if he want to study Deng Shiru, he can learn from Wu Xizai first.” Wu CangShou practiced it by himself, he taught his sons with Wu Xizai’s cutting skills. Gao YeHou, a modern painter, commented that Wu Xizai was such a high-level master that he use the carving knife like Chinese brush.
Seal "Bo Hai Yao Shi Zheng Cang Shu Hua Yin", cut by Wu Xizai According to Shi An’s view, Wu Xizai understood Deng Shiru’s idea very well. He sought seals from calligraphy also. He combined calligraphy skills to his seal cutting works. The lines are fluent, vigorous and beautiful, vivid and colorful. They are from seal script calligraphy, especially Xiaozhuan script. The works have strong flavor of calligraphy. The composition was ingenious and natural. The layout was appropriate and skillful. When we watch Wu’s seal works, we can found that the wide place could be walked through for a horse and the narrow part could not be inserted by a needle. Epecially the composition was very natural. Wu Xizai combined calligraphy and seal together on his works very well. He was skilled and varied, he used the carving knife as Chinese brush. He engraved the works by push cutting skill in most cases. And he used various cutting techniques like push, press, flap and slice very skilled and freely. It made his seal works very beautiful. Others regarded him "green out of blue" when they compared him with Deng Shiru. When Wu Xizai was young, he studied very hard and tried to be an official. He had taken the scientific examination for several times. He went back and forth between Yi Zheng and Tai Zhou. However, he just got a junior scholar after several attempts. He was unsuccessful on seeking official fame. But he get to know many scholars in Taizhou, such as Liu Hanchen, Cen Rong and Chen Shouwu. They went on well with each other. These friends gave him a lot help during the later years. In his middle age, Wu Xizai had lived in Yangzhou for more than ten years. He was famous for high achievement on calligraphy and seal cutting. He began to study painting from a famous painter named Zheng Qi, who introduced by another painter Wang Su. Wu named himself "late student". According to the records of “Nostalgia in Wu City” written by Dong Yushu of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Xizai and Wang Su lived in a nunnery of Yang Zhou together. People said widely that " Only Wu’s calligraphy can be well matched with Wang’s paintings" At that time.
A calligraphy work, by Wu Xizai In the 29th year of Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1849), entrusted by Suqian Wang Xi'an from Suqian, Wu Xizai engraved the latter half of “the History of Inkstone” which compiled by Gao fenghan on jujube boards. After four years (1853), Wu Xizai moved to Taizhou in order to avoid war, and he had lived in his many friends’ homes successively, such as Yao Zhengyong (made 120 seal works for him), Wu Yun, Cen Rong, Chen Shouwu, Zhu Zhuxuan, Xu Zhenjia, Liu Luqiao (made 88 seal works for him), etc. In his old age, Wu Xizai made seal works less and less for the eyesight declining, and made living by calligraphy and painting. He lived alone there, no family members around. It’s not easy for the old man to escape from poor and difficult situation. Wu Xizai wrote a couplet to laugh at himself: " I have children and grandchildren but I live alone far away from them, I am old but I have to arrange everything by myself. "
Seal "Hua Mei Qi Mi", cut by Wu Xizai In the ninth year of Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1870), Wu Xizai died of illness at the age of 71. the bright art star has been disappeared since then.
Seal "Dan Shi Can Nian Bao Chi Fan", cut by Wu Xizai Wu Xizai, a great artist with high reputation, always poor in his life. He lived far away from his hometown alone, lived in no fixed place for many years. He lived in a small nunnery in his later years. The old artist had to make living by himself and try to escape from hunger by his calligraphy and painting works. It was such an astonished tragedy. Although Wu Xizai was always poor and difficult always, he had made more than ten thousand seal works and written many books in his life. He had high achievement in poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal cutting. We can see hard work behind high achievements from many great artists. It’s not easy for them to be great actually. Wu Xizai made a seal work "Hao Xue Wei Fu(learning is happy)" with Bai Wen style. Maybe we can find his ambition from the work.
Seal "Hao Xue Wei Fu", cut by Wu Xizai Shi An’s mark: Most artists look spiritual satisfaction more important than material profit. It’s not easy for them to achieve balance between them. If they were focus on art, they will ignore the material profit. They keep on working hard, while regardless of poverty. Few people can be great artist and rich in the history. It should be prefect if the artist can make great achievement in art but also very rich. 吴熙载传 著/译：石安 吴熙载者，晚清篆刻大家也。原名廷扬，字熙载，为避清穆宗载淳讳，更字让之、攘之，晚年增号让翁、晚学居士、方竹丈人等。 吴氏生于清嘉庆四年（1799年），卒于同治九年（1870年），祖籍江苏江宁（今南京），后随父迁居仪征（今扬州），世人多以其为仪征人氏。 熙载自幼聪慧好学，性静乐思，辄以读书习字为乐事。岁在甲戌（15岁），因缘际会得汉印一方，喜之，始沉迷印艺，后十年，遍临所见印作，尤以汉印为甚，遂得印学根基。 近而立，某日熙载游于当地书家黄乙生宅第，恰逢黄氏挚友包世臣来访，遂以所作书法印刻示观。包氏见其所作，惊其慧能，乃收熙载为弟子。熙载迎师寓于家中，潜心从其学焉。 包世臣者，晚清大学者也。学问时负盛名，有“一代宗师”美誉。世臣亦能书，师从皖籍大书家邓石如。邓亦为印坛皖派宗主，印有威名。包氏虽列邓氏门墙，却不以印家之名显矣。 包吴师徒相洽三年有余，熙载而立之年（30岁），包氏以熙载为薪传石如衣钵不二良才，遂于临别之时，命熙载跪于邓氏画像之前，授其邓氏亲拓《完白山人印稿》，倾囊相赠所藏邓之原石印章、书法诸件。熙载得以深窥邓氏精作，日久遂登邓氏之堂室。 自此，熙载尽弃他学，专研邓氏书印一脉。“笃信师说，至老不衰”，且能推陈出新，终成大家。 熙载既得邓氏印学精髓，技艺又有青蓝之誉，后人谈印坛皖派大成者，往往“邓吴”并论。 皖派亦因熙载之功，终为世人所重，与西泠浙派一时瑜亮，被后人视为明清以降文人流派印之两大巅峰。皖派能得以卓耀当代，影响披及后世，熙载于其中功不可没也。 晚清篆刻大家赵之谦有诗赞曰：“圆朱入印始赵宋，怀宁布衣人所归。一灯不灭传薪火，赖有扬州吴让之。” 后世印家吴昌硕云：“让翁平生固服膺完白，而于秦汉印玺探讨极深，故刀法圆转，无纤曼之习，气象骏迈，质而不滞。余尝语人：'学完白不若取径于让翁’”。并身体力行，癖斯者亦即有年，且时以家训示其（让翁）用刀之法。 近代画家高野侯评称，让之刻印使刀如笔，转折处，持续处善用锋颖，糜见其工。 石安观吴氏篆刻，篆法以书入印，印从书出，线条劲健流美，生动多姿，具篆意，有笔墨；章法妙造自然，布局妥帖工巧，有走马容针之能，无矫揉做作之迹，深得书印相契之妙；其刀法精熟，运刀如笔，变化万端，虽主冲刀，然冲、切、披、削诸法运用自如，心手相应，举重若轻，技艺臻于化境。后世印家往往视其技艺较于邓石如有青出于篮之誉，此评不虚。 青年之熙载，尝求学优而仕，数度赴应科考，往返仪征、泰州两地之间。然时运不济，屡试不应，仅得生员（秀才）之名。虽无功名，却得以结识刘汉臣、岑镕、陈守吾等诸多泰州文士，交游甚契，后诸友于熙载晚年寓居泰州相助良多也，是为后话。 岁至中年，熙载侨居扬州，历时十余载，书法治印之声皆名重于当时，其间经画家王素介绍，拜名画家郑箕为师习画，自号“晚学生”。据清董玉书《芜城怀旧录》载，吴氏居扬州时，曾与画家王素同客石牌楼观音庵，时人以“非王画吴书不足相配”论之。 清道光二十九年(1849年)，受宿迁王惜庵之托，熙载以枣板续刻《砚史》（高凤翰集撰）后半部分。又四年（1853年），为避战乱，熙载迁至泰州，辗转寓居于旧友新识之姚正镛（为其刻120方印）、吴云、岑镕、陈守吾、朱筑轩、徐震甲、刘麓樵（为其刻88方印）等诸君家中。后渐入晚年，熙载自觉目力衰退，润印渐少，后遂以书画谋生，然终因孤老于外，未能脱贫苦困窘之境。吴氏曾撰联自嘲：“有子有孙，鳏寡孤独，无家无室，柴米油盐。” 清同治九年（1870年），吴熙载因病辞世，时年七十有一，一代大家就此陨落。 若吴氏熙载，负艺术盛名，然一生清苦，常年漂泊于外，居无定所，晚年憩于僧舍，画梅乞米，以求“但使残年饱吃饭”,岂不令人感慨如斯？ 熙载清贫如斯，一生却治印逾万方，且时有著述，诗文书画亦得时名。由此可窥艺术大家成就背后之艰辛劳苦往往非常人所识，诚为不易之事也！ 熙载尝刻“好学为福”白文印，或可见其志于斯哉。 石安曰：予观古今艺术大家，芸芸者众，多重情轻利，双全者寡也。又往往专注于艺，物质经营往往少谋，虽穷且益坚，困顿不减其志，辛劳增益其能，终得艺业大成。然艺者，亦为人，非不食凡间烟火者也，若能物艺两全，岂不美哉？！ ———————————————— |
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