Wu Daozi (about 680 ~ 759) was a painter in the Tang Dynasty. Painting history is called warrior sage. Also known as Daoxuan. Han nationality, from Yangzhai (now Yuzhou, Henan). Born in the first year of Yonglong (680), he died around the first year of Gan Yuan (758). Small lonely and poor, starting from a folk painter, he had a painting name when he was young. He used to be the county commandant of Qiu Yan (now Ziyang), and soon resigned. After that, he settled in Luoyang and engaged in mural creation. During the Kaiyuan period, he was called to the DPRK for his good painting, and successively served as a doctor, an internal teacher and Wang You. He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and He, watched sword dancing and experienced the skill of using a pen. He is good at Buddhism, ghosts and gods, figures, landscapes, animals, plants, pavilions and so on. , especially good at Buddhism and figures, and good at mural creation.
Wu Daozi, known as the "painting sage", was named by Xuanzong. He was the largest painter in China in the Tang Dynasty, and was honored as a "painting saint" by later generations (Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in 847), and was honored as the founder of the mountain by folk painters. Painting history is called warrior sage. Yangzhai, Henan (now Yuzhou, Henan) was born in Tang Gaozong (about 685) and died in Tang Suzong (about 758). Little lonely, according to legend, he studied under Zhang Xu and He, but failed to do so, but switched to painting. He used to be an official of the Wei shogunate and a county commander of Yanzhou (now Yanzhou, Shandong Province). When Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty roamed Luoyang, he heard his name, served as a doctor in the inner corner, became friends with Ning, changed his name to Daoxuan, and painted in the imperial court. During the Kaiyuan period, Xuanzong knew his name and called him into the palace to teach the children of the Imperial Palace to learn painting, because he taught doctors in the Imperial Palace. Later, he taught Wang Ning, the younger brother of Xuanzong, to learn painting, and was promoted to Wang Ningyou from the fifth grade. In Taoism, people even call it "Wu Daozhen Jun" and "Wu Zhenren". Su Dongpo said in the article "After Painting Wu Daozi": "Poetry is about (Du Fu), literature is about Han Tuizhi (Han Yu), literature is about Yan (Yan Zhenqing), and painting is about Wu Daozi. The changes of ancient and modern times can make the world complete!" Generations of masters have been handed down from generation to generation.
Wu Daozi was born in the Tang Dynasty, and once served as the county commandant of Qiu (now Ziyang, Shandong Province) in Yanzhou County, and soon resigned. After that, he settled in Luoyang and engaged in mural creation.
During the Kaiyuan period, he was called to the DPRK for his good painting, and successively served as a doctor, an internal teacher and Wang You.
He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and He, watched sword dancing and experienced the skill of using a pen. He is good at Buddhism, ghosts and gods, figures, landscapes, animals, plants, pavilions and so on. , especially good at Buddhism and figures, and good at mural creation.
Wu Daozi painted history and respected Wu Sheng. Also known as Daoxuan. Han nationality, from Yangzhai (now Yuzhou, Henan). Born in the first year of Yonglong (680), he died around the first year of Gan Yuan (758). Small lonely and poor, starting from a folk painter, he had a painting name when he was young.
It is reported that he has painted more than 300 murals in temples in Chang 'an and Luoyang, which are strange and have no similarities, especially "Hell in disguise" is famous all over the world. Wu Daozi's painting style is unique. His landscape paintings have the power of change, and the characters he painted are full of wrinkles and thick lines, which are called long paintings of water shields. It has the effect of flying, full of wind, and is known as the "Five Dynasties when the wind". He also used Jiao Mo's lines as an understatement, and was called Wu Zhuang. The lines of the painting are concise, "the pen is just one or two, and the image is right", which is known as the sparse body. Wu Daozi's paintings have a great influence on later generations. He is respected as a painting saint by people and as the founder of the mountain by folk painters. Su Shi once praised his art as "innovation in statutes, bold and imaginative". Wu Daozi's paintings have not been handed down from generation to generation, and Born of Gautama Buddha, which has been handed down to this day, may be a copy of the Song Dynasty. In addition, there are copies of the Buddha statue of Bao Jialuo and the Taoist priest, and the Vimalakīrti Sutra in Cave No.1 103 of Mogao Grottoes is also considered as his painting style.
He lost his parents when he was a child and lived in poverty. In order to make a living, he learned from folk painters and sculptors. Thanks to his hard work and outstanding talent, he was already famous at the age of 20. The emperor of the Tang Dynasty called him into the palace as a court painter and renamed him Daoxuan. As a royal painter, he can't paint without the emperor's order. In this way, on the one hand, it is a constraint and restriction for an artist with a strong sense of common people, on the other hand, he gets the most generous living conditions, no longer wanders around, and can display his artistic talent. Wu Daozi is generous and likes to draw when he is drunk. Legend has it that when he painted the round lamp on the Buddha's head in murals, he used a pen instead of a ruler. When painting in longxing temple, the audience was packed. He painted quickly, like a whirlwind, in one go. Chang 'an, the capital at that time, was the cultural center of China, where many famous literati and painters gathered. Wu Daozi often stays with these people to promote each other and improve their skills.
Wu Daozi
When Wu Daozi was a teenager, he was lonely and down and out. He studied calligraphy with calligraphers Zhang Xu and He, but failed. Later, he became angry from embarrassment, attacked painting, and gradually mastered the magic method of painting. Because he is diligent and studious, he is "poor and refined" when he is not weak.
In the third year of Jinglong (709), Wei Sheng, assistant minister, and Tong Zhongshu were the three products, and Xiaoyao Palace was established. At this point, Wu Daozi served as a beadle under his command. He "makes him angry with good wine, and he drinks it every time it costs him money." Later, he served as county commandant (now Yanzhou, Shandong Province). In the early years of Kaiyuan, Wu Daozi stopped being an official and began to travel eastward. Because he can "be a poor painter", he is famous in the painting world. Soon after, he was summoned by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty to Chang 'an, Kyoto, as a doctor in Neijiao, and ordered him to "not paint unless there is a letter". Later, it was officially changed to "Your Excellency Wang Ning".
After Wu Daozi entered the temple, he painted in the palace and sometimes followed Xuanzong. On one occasion, he drove to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and met General Pei Min and calligrapher Zhang Xu, who showed their unique skills: Pei Min was good at sword dancing and immediately danced a sword; Zhang Xu is good at cursive writing, splashing ink and making book walls; Wu Daozi also painted very hard. He said, "If God helps me, I will paint in a moment." . Luoyang scholars feasted their eyes for a while, and people said happily, "You can see three wonders in one day." Later, at his mother's funeral, General Pei Minzhi asked Wu Daozi to draw several ghost walls in the Temple of Heaven in Du Dong, in order to "help the ghosts and gods for capital". Wu Daozi replied, "This painting has been abandoned for a long time. General, if you are interested, entangle me and dance a sword. Because of fierce encouragement, he will get ghosts. " Pei Minzhi took off his clothes, dressed as usual, and went to Ma Rufei with a sword in his hand. Suddenly, he threw his sword into the air, dozens of feet from the ground, and it fell to the ground like lightning. Pei Min raised the scabbard, not left or right, just inserted it. Thousands of spectators cheered in unison. Wu Daozi saw Pei Min's heroic sword dance and was inspired for a moment, so he painted it cheerfully. "The wind is rustling, the wonders of the world." This is the masterpiece of Wu Daozi's life, "there is no reason for complacency".
In the 13th year of Kaiyuan (725), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty sealed Mount Tai in the east, accompanied by Wu Daozi. After that, I went to Luzhou (now Changzhi, Shanxi) and drove over Jinqiao, which was "tortuous". Xuanzong was very excited to see that "the flag was fresh and clean, and the Yulin army was purged". He said to the left and right attendants, "Zhang said,' There are 300,000 troops, thousands of miles of banners, Shaanxi Right Party, and Taiyuan'. What a genius. " Long live around. So he called Wu Daozi, Wei and Chen Hong and ordered them to draw a map of Jinqiao together. Chen Hong painted the true face of Xuanzong and the white horse he rode at night, Wei painted dogs, horses, mules, donkeys, cattle and sheep, and Wu Daozi painted bridges, landscapes, cars, figures, grass trees, wild birds, warships, curtains and other thematic parts. After the "Golden Bridge Map" was drawn, "time is called three musts".
During the Tianbao period (742-755), one day, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty suddenly remembered that the Jialing River in Shu was beautiful and interesting, so he ordered Wu Daozi to take a post station to sketch the Jialing River. Arriving at the Jialing River, Wu Daozi roamed the river. Looking from a distance, there are good mountains and good waters, and a scene passes by. He remembered the experience and feelings at that time deeply and did not draw a sketch. When Wu Daozi returned to Chang 'an after touring the mountains and rivers of Jialing River, Xuanzong asked him about his paintings, and he replied, "I don't have a chalk book, keep it in mind." Xuanzong ordered him to paint on the wall of Datong Temple. Wu Daozi did not list the landscape of Jialing River, but grasped the charming realm of Jialing River with one mountain, one water, one mountain and one valley, that is, he highly summarized the magnificent and beautiful mountains and rivers and natural features in this area and concentrated on writing for one day. The beautiful scenery of Jialing River in three hundred miles jumped from the paper, and Xuanzong was amazed at it. Prior to this, the great painter General Li (Si Xun) was good at landscape painting, and once painted the landscape of Jialing River on the wall of Datong Temple. Although it is also wonderful, it took several months to finish painting, which is not as fast and good as Wu Daozi's. Therefore, Xuanzong said with emotion: "Li Sixun's achievements in a few months and Wu Daozi's achievements in a 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 painting landscape paintings, but also can vividly paint animals. He drew five dragons in Datong Temple. "Our armor flies, and every time it rains heavily, it produces smoke." It's really alive.
In the first year of Gan (758-759), Wu Daozi was still alive. Lu Lengjia is a proté gé of Wu Daozi. "At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, he painted some high-ranking monks blocking the streets in the east and west corridors of the temple." . Later, he painted in Sanmen of Zhuang Yan Temple, where he was "keen and open-minded, quite wonderful". One day, when Wu Daozi saw Lu's paintings, he felt that he had made great progress and was very similar to his own brushwork. He exclaimed, "This son's brushwork was not as good as mine at that time, but now it belongs to me. This is a child, great. " Because Lu Lengjia tried his best to paint, he died a month later. Therefore, in his first year in office, Wu Daozi was an old man in his seventies. As for Wu Daozi's later life and career, due to the loss of historical records, there is no textual research.
Wu Daozi is good at landscape painting, and his main painting "Golden Bridge Map" is amazing. In the process of drawing "Three Hundred Mile Map of Jialing River Landscape" by himself, his painting techniques are more innovative. Zhang Yanyuan, a Tang Dynasty man, spoke highly of this: "Because he wrote Shu Dao mountains and rivers and created mountains and rivers, he became a family of his own, and his books were like Xue Shaobao." Chen Huaikui also praised "animals, mountains and rivers, flowers and trees in temples, all without exception, ranking first in the country."
Wu Daozi's Eighty-Seven Immortals (Partial)
Buddhism and Taoism were very popular in the Tang Dynasty, and religious art also developed by leaps and bounds. Therefore, Wu Daozi's Buddhist painting art has made great achievements. He made more than 40 murals (400 in one work) in temples on the east and west sides of Beijing. "No one accompanied him." King Kong Yuan Jing in Xiking Xingtang Temple, Manjusri Pu Xian in front of Ci 'en Temple Tower, Panlong in the west, Bodhisattva in front of the small hall, Dragon God released by the Emperor of Hell in Gong Jing Temple, and Er Shen in Yongshou Temple were all wonderful works at that time. In Wu Daozi's paintings, the door keeper and the round light are the last and one stroke. Every day, hundreds of people, old and young, "wait and see"; When writing, "the wind is blocked", I saw him "the wind falls and the electricity turns, and the rules become a full moon." The onlookers saw that his painting skills were so brilliant that "the sound shocked the other side, or called God". The characters he painted make people feel that "the beard covers the clouds, the feet fly, and the roots are fleshy, and the strength is more than enough." It can be seen that the characters he painted are vivid and touching. He paints figures, and the proportions of various parts of the human body are very accurate.
Wu Daozi's Hell in disguise is his masterpiece. In "On the East View", when Wu Daozi painted "Hell in disguise" in Jingyun Temple, he said, "It's very different to see what you see in the temple. The images of five forests, boiling iron pots, tauren and Afang are eerie, which makes the audience shudder. " Since there is no horrible visual image of "a knife boiling in a wok" in the painting to assist the "gloomy" of the picture, there must of course be a force that can touch people's hearts more strongly than ghosts and gods. According to Xuanzong, an old monk of Jingyun Temple, "After the martial artist (Daozi) painted this mansion, everyone was afraid of sin and good deeds. The two cities slaughtered the fish and sold them. " Its artistic effect is so amazing that it shows Wu Daozi's outstanding achievements in Buddhist painting.
Wu Daozi's outstanding achievement in painting art stems from his deliberate innovation and courage to create. His two words are recorded in the famous paintings of past dynasties: "Everyone is close at hand, but I am far from painting. Everyone is alike, but I am far from the mortal world." This shows his unconventional and bold spirit of innovation in painting. So his works became painters.
Wu Daozi mural
The model of learning, painting is called "Wu family". Therefore, Zhu, a native of the Tang Dynasty, commented on the painters of the Tang Dynasty in the Preface to Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty, saying that "modern painters are good at their names, but fortunately, Wu Daozi is talented and can be unique in the world."
Wu Daozi also promoted the art of painting, carefully taught his disciples, and passed on his superb skills to the next generation, so that the art of painting was succeeded by others. According to the Records of Calligraphy and Painting and the records of famous paintings in past dynasties, he has many disciples, among which Lu Lengjia, Li Sheng, Zhang Zang, Zhu Yao and Zhai Yan are famous. Qiu Han "defiled Danqing, studied under Wu Daozi, and was especially good at Taoism and Buddhism". Zhu Xi studied under Wu Daozi, and he was also "wonderful". Wu Daozi taught by example, or asked his disciples to recite formulas and learn colors. Or ask them to copy his paintings or fill in the colors according to his instructions. There is a record in the Record of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties: "When Wu Sheng (Daozi) painted, he put pen to paper and left, making Yan (Zhai Yan) and Zhang Zang paint more colors." Sometimes, when Wu Daozi paints a mural, he only sketches and gives the rest to his disciples. In the revered temple in Luoyang, Zhai Yan completed the book "The Changes of the Sun, Moon and Tibetan Scriptures" described by Wu Daozi. Wu Daozi's painting art had a far-reaching influence on the painting in the Tang Dynasty. He was honored as a "great master" and a "painting saint" by painters, and later his apprentice took the title of "painting saint".