On the Commentary and Aesthetic Orientation over the Side Inscriptions of Huang Shiling
In the history of seal cutting in China,Huang Shiling,as one of the"four masters in the late Qing Dynasty",was not bound by the wind of the times.Tracing back three generations to Qin and Han Dynasties,he built up a highly personalized"Yishan School"seal style with his rich learning,profound skills and broad insight.Huang integrated different schools and rich stone materials for his own use,critically inherited and absorbed the essence of tradition,strengthened the aesthetic consciousness of the creative subject,not following others'heels,daring to create alone,and finally creates both classical and modern artistic style.For the seal field,he can be said to carry on the past and bring forth the new.This article combs out the four words of"beautiful","thin","bright"and"ancient"from the edge of its seal cutting,and discusses the aesthetic orientation of Huang's engraving wis-dom based on relevant materials.