Zhang Xu advocates wild grass.
The Tang Dynasty occupies an absolute leading position in the entire history of Chinese calligraphy. It is not only the period when regular script matures, but also the period when cursive script matures. This period produced the masters of cursive script represented by "Dian Zhang Zuisu" , especially the cursive sage Zhang Xu, who is famous for his wild cursive writing and has become a model for future generations to learn from. When mentioning Zhang Xu, we will not hesitate to think of cursive script.
The Kuangcao art created by Zhang Xu had a completely new look, and he was hailed as the "Sage of Grass" at the time. Du Fu's "Song of the Eight Immortals" contains: "Zhang Xu's biography of the three-cup grass saint, taking off his hat and uncovering his head in front of the prince, swiping paper like clouds of smoke." Later generations rated his cursive script even more highly. Su Shi praised: "The state of mind is self-sufficient, and it is known as divine ease." Mi Fu once wrote: "Zhang Xu is like a divine dragon soaring into the sky, Xia Yun comes out of Xiu, and the movement is so strange that it is impossible to predict it."
There are not many Zhang Xu's cursive calligraphy works that have been handed down to this day, and none of them have been completely confirmed. Cai Xizong of the Tang Dynasty said in "Dharma Calligraphy Theory": "After (Zhang Xu) took advantage of his excitement, he would use his brush strokes, either on the wall or on the screen, and then the group of animals would be free and flying." This is like Yang Ning's style in the Five Dynasties. , the works that are "painted on the wall and painted on the screen" are not easy to preserve.
"Four Notes on Ancient Poems" is said to have been written by Zhang Xu, in cursive script, on paper (written on five-color paper). The first two poems are Yu Xin's "Buxu Ci", and the last two poems are Xie Lingyun's "Prince Jin Praise" and "Yan Xia Husband's Four or Five Young People's Praise". This post has been mistakenly believed to be written by Xie Lingyun since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang reviewed and determined that it was written by Zhang Xu.