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Judging from the history of painting, a large number of Buddhist, Taoist and ghost painters appeared in the middle of Tang Dynasty, and most of them were concentrated in Xuanzong period. Moreover, many of them have excellent skills and excellent performances. One or two people's performances are enough to cover the achievements of the whole era, such as Wu Daozi.
Wu Daozi is an important figure in the history of Tang Dynasty and China, which deserves special introduction.
Wu Daozi's stories can be found in Records of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties, Records of Famous Paintings in Tang Dynasty, Records of Luo Jing Pagoda, Old Biography of Jing Erzhi, Du Gongbu Collection, Xuanhe Painting, Lu Yong, History of Haiyue Painting, Postscript on Painting in Guang Chuan, Su Dongpo Collection and Huangshan Valley Collection. His original name was Daozi, and later Xuanzong was renamed Daoxuan, a native of Yangzhai, Henan. Born in Yonglongyuan (A.D. 680), Su Zonggan Yuanyuan (A.D. 758) was alive, and the year of his death is unknown.
He is a poor boy. In his early years, he studied calligraphy under Zhang Xu and He, but failed to learn painting, which may be closely related to his emphasis on and good at using pens in his later paintings. He was poor before he became weak. When I was young, I worked as a small official under Wei Men, who was named Xiaoyao Palace by Zhongzong, and also worked as a lieutenant in Qiujun County, Yanzhou County. Later, he left his job and went to Luoyang to develop and concentrate on making temple murals. So he became famous and soon spread to Xuanzong's ears. He was called into the imperial palace to offer sacrifices, and was given the post of doctor of Neijiao, and was recommended as you. Since then, the technique has become more and more famous, and even the emperor has ordered that "painting is not allowed unless there is an imperial edict", which enjoys a supreme position in the painting world.
Zhang Yanyuan introduced him in "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" and quoted Zhang Huaiguan as saying: "Wu Sheng's paintings, when written, are the afterlife of Zhang Sengyou";
In "On Gu, Lu, Zhang and Wu's Pen", he said:
Wu Daozi, the national dynasty, is unparalleled in ancient and modern times. He didn't care before, but he didn't see Lu after, so he taught brushwork in Zhang Xu. Zhang is famous for his calligraphy, martial arts is a saint of painting, and God is a false heaven, and his spirit is not bad.
Su Shi especially praised him in the Northern Song Dynasty and once commented on his paintings like this:
Daozi, painting saints, creating new ideas within the statutes, making brilliant ideas outside the bold, and covering the so-called room for manoeuvre.
Say it again:
As for writing poetry, writing as for Korea, writing as for Yan, and painting as for Wu Daozi, the changes of ancient and modern times have made the world great.
Therefore, the world is respectfully called "painting sage". At the same time, later generations also called him, Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei and Zhang Sengyou "the four great Buddhist painters" in the history of China. All of the above is enough to show his lofty position in the history of China's painting.