Zhang Xu (685-759), born in Wuxian, Suzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu), was a calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. He is good at cursive writing and likes drinking. He and Huai Su are called "Zhang Dian", He, Zhang and Bao Rong are called "Wu Sizi", and with whom he is called "Eight Immortals of Drinking".
Zhang Xu was born in a family with a high family background. He studied calligraphy under his cousin Lu Yanyuan, and was highly praised by Wu Daozi and Yan Zhenqing after his success. When he was old, he was promoted or recommended, recruited talents, entered the official position, and was released as a captain of Changshu County. He has served as the left governor and the governor, so he is called "Zhang Changshi" by the world; He died in the second year of Gan Yuan (759) at the age of 75.
In calligraphy, Zhang is good at observing objective things and combining objective natural images with personal subjective feelings. He not only inherits tradition, but also dares to innovate. By inheriting and innovating the calligraphy achievements of predecessors, his own weed art reached a peak in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Zhang Xu's Calligraphy Thought
In the aspect of calligraphy thought, Zhang Xu advocated learning from nature and emphasized seeking inspiration from nature and human social life. In Zhang Xu's eyes, all natural images and all traces of life are the objects of learning from nature, which can inspire his creative inspiration.
According to historical records, Zhang Xu enriched the thought of white cloth structure from "contending for Tao", gained the inspiration of speed, weight, richness and thickness of brushwork from "following the wind", and found the compact, powerful, reasonable and ethereal charm of wild grass calligraphy from "sword dance", which made the calligraphy have a qualitative change.
From these records, we can see that Zhang is good at observing objective things, combining objective natural images with personal subjective feelings, and understanding the way of calligraphy from all kinds of beings in nature. It is a combination of objectivity and subjectivity, and the combination of natural beauty and artistic beauty just fits the "natural" way in Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts.
With the eyes of a real artist, Zhang Xu searched for symbols corresponding to his emotions and personalities in nature and life, combined the situation of all things in the world with his subjective modality, painted wantonly, and took techniques as the means of spiritual expression, thus turning everything in technology into Tao and everything into his own artistic language, and finally formed the expression form and style of Wild Grass flying wildly.
The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Zhang Xu.