Zhangwenzi calligraphy

Zhang Xu was a calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. Born in the third year of Shang Dynasty (675), he died in the ninth year of Emperor Xuanzong Tianbao (750). At the beginning, he was the commander-in-chief of Changshu, named "Zhang Changshi", and later he was the Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty. His mother Lu is the niece of the calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty, that is, the granddaughter of Yu Shinan. Lu's books have been handed down from generation to generation, which is famous in history. Zhang Xu is free and easy, generous, outstanding, brilliant and knowledgeable. Du Fu befriended Li Bai and He Hao, and was listed as the "Eight Immortals of Drinking". He is a master of cursive script with great personality. Because he is often drunk, clamoring for madness, then writing books, and even writing with his hair dipped in ink, he has the nickname "Zhang Dian". After Huai Su inherited and developed his brushwork, he also got his name from cursive script and called it "drunk". Zhang Xu is unrestrained, likes to drink, often dances after getting drunk, and then returns to the table with a pen and ink. Some people called him rude and gave him a crazy nickname. In fact, he is very careful. He believes that everything he touches in his daily life can inspire his writing. To get something occasionally is to melt it into your own calligraphy. At that time, as long as people got a piece of his paper, they all regarded it as a treasure, and it was hereditary and true. At that time, Zhang Xu had a neighbor and his family was very poor. I heard that Zhang Xu was very generous, so I wrote to Zhang Xu, hoping to get his support. Zhang Xu sympathized with his neighbor, so he said in his letter: You only need to say that this letter was written by Zhang Xu, and the asking price can be several hundred gold. Neighbors sold letters in the street according to his words and sold them out in less than half a day. The neighbors are happy to go home, and thank Zhang Xu very much.

Zhang Xu's calligraphy began with Zhangzhi and Erwang, with cursive script as the highest achievement. History is called "the sage of grass". He himself is proud of inheriting the tradition of "two kings" and writes very well. On the other hand, he imitated Zhang Zhi's cursive art and created an unpredictable wild grass, which shocked the world. According to legend, he saw the princess arguing with her husband, and he heard the advocacy and got the meaning of brushwork; When I was in Yexian County, Henan Province, I loved watching Gong Sundaniang dance the sword of Xihe River, so I got the grass god. Yan Zhenqing resigned twice and asked him for his brushwork. Zhang Xu is a pure artist. He pours his emotions into stippling, and no one looks at it, and he is as intoxicated as a madman. Tang Hanyu praised in "Preface to Send a Noble Sage to a Master": "Emotion, embarrassment, sadness, happiness, resentment, longing, drunkenness, boredom and injustice, if moving in the heart, must be expressed in cursive script. Looking at things, we can see mountains and rivers, cliffs and canyons, birds, animals, insects, fish and flowers, the sun, the moon and stars, storms and fires, lightning and thunder, singing and dancing battles, and changes in heaven and earth. Congratulations, one is in one book, so the book of Xu is still as unpredictable as ghosts and gods, and it will eventually be praised by later generations. " This is a true portrayal of a real artist's obsession with art. No wonder later generations talked about calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty and praised Europe, Yu, Chu, Yan, Liu and Su, but they all admired Zhang Xu, which is unique in the history of art. He was honored as a "sage of grass" by later generations. Xiong Bingming's "China and calligraphy theory System" said: "Zhang Xu is an extremely important figure in the history of China's calligraphy. The Wild Grass he created limited the development of free expression. If you are more free, the words will be difficult to identify and calligraphy will become an abstract painting. " Nirvana in fire's Annotations, handed down from ancient times, is the most reliable original work of Zhang Xu. The original stone has long been lost, and only Wang Shizhen's Song Tuo Jiu Ji has been handed down from generation to generation. Yan Ren's epitaph was unearthed in the first year of Tianbao (742), 1992.

Edit this cursive four poems.

Zhang Xu's calligraphy skill is profound, and he created a model of wild grass style with his exquisite brushwork and bold temperament. Zhang Xu wrote four ancient poems by Xie Lingyun and Yu Xin, two great writers in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, on a rare "five-color stationery" with a unique cursive script (see photo, partial). The work is full of strength, leaning down, writing tactfully and freely, and rippling in a comfortable rhythm. His handwriting is bold and unrestrained, and his strokes are continuous, which is in danger of flying over the eaves and walking over the wall. In fact, the beauty of cursive script is that it is readily available, in one go, giving people a feeling of agitation. Legend has it that whenever Zhang Xu was inspired, he spread rice paper on the ground and wrote weeds with a long brush, just like singing when he was drunk, so free and easy. In his wild grass works, the exquisite brushwork shows a high artistic level in controlling the calligraphy form and the rhythm of point-and-line movement. This has created the perfect charm of cursive art with charm and spirituality. This work is collected by Liaoning Provincial Museum. Zhang Xu took off his hat.