Who is the painter Wu Daozi?

Wu Daozi, also known as Daoxuan, was born in Yangzhai (now Yuxian County, Henan Province) and lived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. His date of birth and death is unknown. Wu Daozi was called "the sage of painting" in Tang Dynasty, which had a far-reaching influence in the history of painting in China. According to legend, he studied under the great calligraphers Zhang Xu and He, and then specialized in painting. He used to paint in the court, and later painters also regarded him as the founder, addicted to alcohol and passionate.

Wu Daozi is good at painting Buddhist and Taoist figures, and he studied under Zhang Sengyou and Zhang Xiaoshi in art, and later created "Wu Jiafeng". With exaggerated techniques and vivid images, he became a school of figure painting with great historical influence. Wu Daozi's figure painting lines are straight, round and undulating, which is called "Orchid Map". Between the light and heavy ups and downs, it presents the characteristics of combining rigidity and softness, and the length and reality coexist, and the picture has a three-dimensional effect, which is called "the wind in the Five Dynasties". Wu Daozi changed the skillful and meticulous style of predecessors Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei in brushwork and lines, and formed his own quick, bold and free and easy style. Wu Daozi has painted more than 300 Buddhist and Taoist murals in temples in Chang 'an and Luoyang, among which the figures are different. It is said that his painting "The Camouflaged Hell Map" did not draw a cow's head and a horse's face, but it has a strong artistic appeal. This is because he often observes the different characteristics of different characters in real life in folk activities, and then attaches importance to painting with exaggeration. His painting method used Jiao Mo to cross the line, with a little faint color and exquisite handwriting, which was called "Wu Zhuang".

Wu Daozi's "The Heavenly King Delivers the Son"

In landscape painting, Wu Daozi's paintings also have a great influence. His landscape paintings, like figure paintings, have a strong three-dimensional sense, which is very different from the single-piece rocks painted by people in the Sui Dynasty. So some people think that the development of landscape painting has entered a new stage, starting from Wu Daozi. Legend has it that Wu Daozi's most famous landscape painting is the 300-mile landscape mural of Jialing River that he completed in Datong Hall in one day.

Wu Daozi's paintings have not survived. Legend has it that the picture of the heavenly king sending a son is a copy of Li, a painter in the Song Dynasty. There are many people on the screen, and the lines of clothes are drawn with sharp orchid leaves, creating a vivid image. Due to the popularity of Wu Daozi School of Painting, in the Tang Dynasty, folk painters used to reprint his paintings as a painting style, but they were distorted after repeated copying.