Wu Daozi

Wu Daozi

Wu Daozi (about 680-759), also known as daoxuan, was a famous painter in the Tang Dynasty. He was honored as the saint of painting in the history of painting. The Han nationality is from Yangzhai (now Yuzhou, Henan Province). He was born in 680 ad (the first year of Yonglong) and died around 758 ad (the first year of Qianyuan). When he was young, he had a painting name. He once served as the county captain of Xiaqiu (now Ziyang, Shandong Province) in Yanzhou, and soon resigned. Later, he was exiled in Luoyang and engaged in mural creation. During the Kaiyuan period, he was called to the court as a good painter, and successively served as a worshipper, doctor of internal education, and friend of King Ning. He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and he Zhizhang, and learned how to use pen by watching Gongsun's sword dance. He is good at Buddhism, ghosts, figures, mountains and rivers, birds and animals, plants, pavilions and so on. He is especially good at Buddhism, figures and fresco creation.

Life of the characters

Young and hardworking

Wu Daozi was born around 685 A.D. (during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty). He was lonely and poor when he was young. He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and he Zhizhang, who were great calligraphers. Later, he worked hard to study painting and gradually mastered the art of painting. As a result of his hard-working and studious, at the end of his life, he was already "poor and talented".

In 709 A.D. (the third year of Jinglong), Wei Sili was promoted to be the Minister of Zhongshu and the Minister of tongzhongshu. At this time, Wu Daozi was a minor official under him. He said: "good wine makes Qi, every time you want to spend a little, you must drink.". Later, he served as the county captain of Xiaqiu (now Yanzhou, Shandong Province). Around the early years of Kaiyuan, Wu Daozi stopped being an official and began to "roam Dongluo".

Painting in the palace

He was famous in the painting world because of his ability to be poor, talented, and outstanding. Around 713, he was called by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty to Chang'an, Kyoto, where he became a doctor of internal education and ordered him to "not draw without an imperial edict.". After the official to "Ning Wang you.". After Wu Daozi was worshipped in the palace, he mostly painted in the palace, and sometimes traveled around with Xuanzong. Once, he accompanied him to Luoyang, the eastern capital of China, where he met with general Pei min and calligrapher Zhang Xu. Each of them performed his own unique skills: Pei min was good at sword dancing, and he immediately danced a sword song; Zhang Xu was good at cursive writing, splashing ink, and making calligraphy walls; Wu Daozi was also diligent in painting, "it's like God's help.".

In 725 A.D. (the 13th year of Kaiyuan), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty granted Mount Taishan the East, accompanied by Wu Daozi. Later, he went to Luzhou (now Changzhi, Shanxi Province) and drove over Jinqiao, where the royal road "twists and turns". Xuanzong was very excited when he saw that "the flag was fresh and clean, and the Yuwei was cleaned up" for thousands of miles. He said to the left and right attendants, "Zhang Shuo Yan said," the army is 300 thousand, the flag is thousands of miles, the party is on the right side of Shaanxi, as for Taiyuan. ". It's a real talent. " Long live, left and right. So Wu Daozi, Wei Wuyao and Chen Hong were called in and ordered to draw the Golden Bridge together. Chen Hong painted Xuanzong Zhenrong and Zhaoye white horse, Wei Wuyao painted dogs and horses, mules and donkeys, cattle and sheep, while Wu Daozi painted bridges, landscapes, chariots, figures, grass and trees, wild geese and birds, weapons and curtains. After the completion of the painting of the Golden Bridge, "time is called the three wonders".

From 742 to 755 ad (Tianbao years), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty suddenly remembered the beautiful scenery of Jialing River in Shu. He ordered Wu Daozi to go to Jialing River for sketching by post. When he arrived at the Jialing River, Wu Daozi wandered on the river and looked far away. The mountains and waters here were good, and the scenes passed by. His experiences and feelings at that time were deeply remembered, and he did not draw a sketch. When Wu Daozi returned to Chang'an after touring the mountains and rivers of the Jialing River, Xuanzong asked him about his paintings. He replied, "I don't have a copy of it. I'll keep it in mind." Xuanzong ordered him to paint on the wall of Datong hall. Wu Daozi did not list the landscape of Jialing River on the surface, but grasped the fascinating realm of Jialing River with one mountain, one water, one hill and one ravine. That is to say, he highly summarized the magnificent and beautiful mountains and natural characteristics of this area, and concentrated on writing in one day. The beautiful scenery of Jialing River in three hundred Li was vividly on the paper, which was praised by Xuanzong. Before that, Li Junjun (Si Xun), a great painter, was good at landscape painting. He also painted the landscape of Jialing River on the wall of Datong hall. Although the painting was very wonderful, it was not as fast and good as Wu daoxuan's. Therefore, Xuanzong said with emotion: "Li sixun's achievements in several months and Wu daoxuan's achievements in one day are extremely wonderful." It can be seen that Wu Daozi has superb painting skills and skillful brushwork. Wu Daozi is not only good at landscape painting, but also vivid in animal painting. He once painted five dragons on the hall of Datong, "Lin Jia flies, and every time he wants to rain, smoke comes out." it's really a living dragon.

Legend of old age

From 758 to 759 A.D., Wu Daozi was still alive. Lu Zhuoga was a student of Wu Daozi. "In the early Qianyuan period, he painted several famous monks in the East and West corridors of the hall.". Later, he painted at the three gates of the solemn temple, which was "open and wonderful". When Wu Daozi saw Lu Zhuoga's paintings, he felt that he had made great progress, which was very similar to his own writing skills. He exclaimed, "this painting was inferior to me at that time, but now it's like me. It's the son. It's the essence. " Because of his painstaking efforts and painstaking efforts in painting, Lu died after a month. During the Qianyuan period, Wu Daozi was an old man who was over the age of an old man. As for Wu Daozi's life and official career in the future, due to the loss of historical records, there is no way to verify it.

About 759 ad (the period of emperor suzong of Tang Dynasty), Wu Daozi died.

Main achievements

Painting attainments

The reason why Wu Daozi has made such outstanding achievements in painting art is that he deliberately seeks novelty and has the courage to create. There are two sentences recorded in the notes of famous paintings of past dynasties: "all the people are close to each other, while I leave them to paint, and all the people are sincere to the likeness, while I leave them to be vulgar." This shows his unconventional and innovative spirit in painting. Therefore, his works have become models for painters to learn, and his paintings are called "Wu Jia Yang". Therefore, in preface to the famous paintings of Tang Dynasty, Zhu Jingxuan of Tang Dynasty commented on the painters of Tang Dynasty: "it's lucky that modern painters are good at painting, but Wu Daozi has the ability to walk alone in the world, and can trace Lu and Gu together."

be a model for others

Wu Daozi also carried forward the art of painting, taught his disciples carefully, and passed on his superb skills to the next generation, so that the art of painting could be inherited. According to the records in the treasure book of painting and the records of famous paintings of all dynasties, he had many disciples, among whom Lu Luojia, Li Sheng, Zhang Zang, Han Qiu, Zhu you, Zhai Yan and so on were the most famous. Han Qiu "defiled himself with the color of Danqing, learned from Wu daoxuan, and was especially good at Daoshi.". Zhu Yao studied in Wu daoxuan, and he was also "skillfully influenced by daoxuan". Wu Daozi told his disciples to recite the pithy formula and study the color, or let them copy his paintings, or fill in the color according to his instructions. There is such a record in the records of famous paintings of all dynasties: "Wu Sheng (Daozi) wrote every painting, and then he went, and most of them made Yan (Zhai Yan) and Zhang Zangbu color." Sometimes, when Wu Daozi painted the murals, he only gave a general description, and the rest was done by his disciples. In the Jingai temple in Luoyang, Zhai Yan finished the "change of the sun, the moon, and the scriptures" described by Wu Daozi. Wu Daozi's painting art has a profound impact on the painting of the Tang Dynasty. He was respected as the "saint of painting" by later generations, and his apprentice later took over the name of "saint of painting".

Character evaluation

Influence of later generations

The reason why Wu Daozi made such outstanding achievements in painting art is that he can innovate. He is good at absorbing the essence from the complex shapes of objects. He sums up the concave and convex surfaces and the Yin and Yang surfaces into irreducible "lines". Combining with the internal movement of objects, he forms the organization rules of lines, such as the high, side, deep, oblique, rolling, folding, floating and lifting posture of clothing lines, which completely describes the character of objects based on the organization of lines. The requirements of this kind of line are strict. Each line meets the requirements of vivid modeling, and each line is full of rhythmic beauty. This line is a combination of the great achievements of the previous generation and has been created.

Wu Daozi's painting style has been imitated and used for reference by many painters since Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty.

Song Dynasty painter Li Gonglin's simple and elegant "white line drawing" is developed from Wu Daozi's "not to dress the back, but only to ink trace". White line drawing has become a new style of painting in China.

Wu Daozi is still well known in the field of painting today, when his remains are completely obliterated. This is because he created a school of painting that has dominated the history of folk painting for more than a thousand years -- the traditional folk painting school. The murals we see after the Tang Dynasty all have the influence of Wu Daozi. Yongle Palace in Yuan Dynasty and frescoes in fagang temple in Ming Dynasty are all in Wu Daozi's style, and Dunhuang frescoes are also full of works with Wu style.

Historical evaluation

the tang dynasty

Zhang Yanyuan: looking after Lu Yijiang, there are few paintings, so it's hard to know them in detail. The only way to observe the Wu daoxuan's trace is to have a complete set of six methods. All things will be exhausted. The artifact of God and man is also extremely fatalistic. Therefore, it is magnificent, and can hardly be tolerated by ordinary people; its handwriting is upright, so it is willful on the wall; its fine paintings are very dense, which is also a miracle. Because he wrote the mountains and waters of Shu Road, he created the body of mountains and waters. He is a family of his own, and his calligraphy is like Xue Shaobao.

Wu daoxuan of the state Dynasty walked alone in ancient and modern times. He didn't see Gu Lu in front of him and didn't come after him. He taught Zhang Xu the method of writing, which is the same as that of painting and calligraphy. Zhang was named Shudian, and Wu Yi was the saint of painting. God made it in heaven, and the spirit is not poor. When all the people are close to each other, I will leave them to paint; when all the people are sincere to the image, I will shed their worldliness. Curved arc tappet blade, planting column structure beam, no false boundary pen ruler. Qiu Xu Yun bin, a few feet flying, hair roots out of meat, more than strong. When there is a formula, no one knows. The number of Ren painting, or from the arm, or from the foot first. The giant shape is strange, and the skin is connected with veins, which is too much for sengyou. (notes of famous paintings of all ages)

Five Dynasties

Jing Hao: Wu Daozi's pen is better than an elephant's, and he is self-confident. Trees don't speak of pictures, and they hate ink. (a record of brushwork)

Song dynasty

Guo Ruoxu: the two styles of Cao and Wu, which scholars believe in. According to Zhang Yanyuan's famous paintings in the Tang Dynasty, Cao Zhongda in the Northern Qi Dynasty was a native of the state of Cao,

Chinese PinYin : Wu Dao Zi