There have been many famous painters throughout the ages, such as Gu Kaizhi, Zhou Wenjue, Yan Liben, Han Di, and so on, but only one person is called a painter! He is the great painter Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty!
Michiko Hajiki Images
Wu Daozi (c. 680 ~ 759 AD), a famous painter of the Tang Dynasty, was honored as The Painting Sage, also known as Daoxuan. Han Chinese, a native of Yang Zhai (present-day Yuzhou, Henan). He was born around 680 (the first year of Yonglong) and died around 758 (the first year of the Qian dynasty). Less lonely and poor, he has a painting name when he is young. He served as a lieutenant in Yanzhou (兖州 flawed qiu) (present-day Ziyang, Shandong), and soon resigned. Later, he moved to Luoyang and engaged in mural painting. During the Kaiyuan period, he was summoned to the court with good paintings, and successively served as an offering, a doctor of internal education, and a friend of Ning Wangyou. He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and He Zhizhang, and experienced the way of using the pen by watching Gongsun Da Niang dance the sword. He is good at Buddhist Taoism, gods and ghosts, characters, landscapes, birds and beasts, grass and trees, pavilions, etc., especially proficient in Buddhist Taoism and characters, and is good at mural creation.
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Wu Daozi was born in the grassroots, and his parents died early,
How did he become a painter without a background?
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▲ Wu Daozi Guanyin Bodhisattva statue rubbing
Grounded religious paintings
Wu Daozi's artistic achievements are manifested in many ways, the most popular of which is his unique style of religious painting and figure painting.
Wu Daozi came from a grassroots background, and his religious paintings also have a strong secular tendency, which is what we now call grounded gas.
In his masterpiece "Sending Sons to the Heavenly King", the image of the warrior he depicted was taken from the warrior figurines of the Tang Dynasty.
▲ "Sending Son Heavenly King" 35.5 cm in length and 338.1 cm in width
It is now in the collection of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Japan
▲Left: Martial General Right: Tang Dynasty warrior figurines
In addition, when he helped the Senfuku-ji Temple to paint the murals in the West Pagoda Courtyard, he directly painted the bodhisattva into his own form.
In the "Hell in Disguise" chart, he depicts in detail the various experiences of people going to hell after death, whether it is high-ranking officials and nobles, or ordinary people, as long as they commit evil deeds, they are beaten into the eighteenth layer of hell and experience all kinds of torture, and it is rumored that butchers and traders will shudder after seeing it, and they have changed their professions, afraid that they will be punished for killing.
Wu Daozi's religious paintings are good at shaping the characteristics of the characters, the images are real and vivid, with a strong appeal, and have a great influence at that time. Wu Daozi also circled a large number of fans, and when he painted at Longxing Temple, there were too many fans and blocked the entire temple.
▲ Wu Daozi Wei Mo Jie Sutra Variation Of "Treasure Cover Offering"
▲ Wu Daozi Wei Mo Jie Sutra Variation Diagram of "Asking the Disease"
The all-rounder of the painting world conquered Tang Xuanzong
Wu Daozi can not only paint all kinds of grounded religious paintings, in fact, he is a painting all-rounder, landscapes, flowers and birds, bridges, houses and other aspects are all exquisite, but also to conquer the current Tianzi Tang Xuanzong in minutes.
For example, the "Golden Bridge Map" completed in cooperation with Wei Wuchen and Chen Hong (depicting Tang Xuanzong passing through Jinqiao when he returned from Mount Taishan, and the army on both sides of the road was solemn and stretched for thousands of miles) was praised continuously, "when it is said that there are three absolutes".
From 742 to 755 (the year of Tianbao), Tang Xuanzong suddenly remembered that the Jialing River and Water Show in Shuzhong were interesting, so he ordered Wu Daozi to go to the Jialing River to sketch. Arriving at the Jialing River, Wu Daozi roamed the river, looking at the distance, here are good mountains and rivers, one scene after another, the experience and feelings at that time, it was deeply remembered in the heart, and did not draw a sketch. When Wu Daozi returned to Chang'an after touring the landscapes and rivers of the Jialing River, when Emperor Xuanzong asked him about the painting, he replied: "The subject has no powder copy, and he remembers it." Emperor Xuanzong ordered him to paint on the walls of the Datong Temple. Wu Daozi did not list the surface of the Jialing River, but grasped the fascinating realm of the Jialing River, one mountain and one water, one hill and one valley, that is, the magnificent and beautiful mountains and rivers in this area were highly summarized, and the pen was condensed in a day, and the beautiful scenery of the Three Hundred Miles of the Jialing River jumped on the paper, and Xuanzong looked at it and praised it. Prior to this, the great painter General Li (Si Xun) was good at landscape painting, and also painted jialing rivers and mountains on the wall of the Datong Hall, although the painting was also very wonderful, but it was "several months of square completion", not as fast and good as Wu Daoxuan's painting. Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong said with great emotion: "Li Sixun's achievements for several months, and Wu Daoxuan's one-day traces, are all extremely wonderful." It can be seen that Wu Daozi's painting skills are superb and his brushwork is skilled. Wu Daozi is not only good at painting landscape paintings, but also painting animals. He once painted five dragons on the Datong Temple, "the armor flew, and every time there was a heavy rain, it was smoke", which was really a living dragon.
▲ "Eighty-Seven Immortal Scrolls"
There are very few all-round painters in history, but Wu Daozi is not satisfied with this, he always thinks positively and constantly innovates. It is said that Wu Daozi created the landscape "loose body", making landscape painting an independent kind of painting; he also created a "lettuce strip" style depiction (also called "orchid leaf drawing") to depict the characters, the strokes are round, the twists and turns, the figures, sleeves, and streamers painted have the momentum of dancing against the wind, known as "Wu belt when the wind".
▲ Wu Daozi The first master Confucius practiced the teachings of the statue rubbing
Zhu Jingxuan's "Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty": "When Wu Daozi painted the circle light of the gods inside the gate of the Xingshan Temple"... Sweep with a standing pen, like a whirlwind. Song Sushi's poem "Wu Daozi Wang Wei Painting" has two sentences describing Wu's brush: "When he is quick to wind and rain, the pen has not yet reached the breath and swallowed." And Song Guo Ruoxuan's "Picture SeeIng The Chronicle and On cao wu body method": "Wu's pen, its momentum is round, and the clothes are fluttering,...... Therefore, the descendants called it Wu Belt dangfeng. According to these accounts, it can be known that he wrote very quickly, and the lines he depicted, with special agility and circle, and the shape of the clothes formed, also showed a fluttering side, and there was a feeling of being blown in front of the wind. The so-called "Wu Belt Dangfeng" is specifically to describe this characteristic of him.
Pass on the skills for future generations
Wu Daozi is proficient in landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, Buddha, from the emperor to the commoners, everyone likes his paintings, and it is reasonable to say that such a person is enough to call him a painting saint! But there are always people who are not convinced! A painter like Wu Daozi, who has a wide range of knowledge and innovations in art, is not without ah, why is he a painter? Because Wu Daozi stood tall and thought far, he taught classes and carried forward the art of painting, so that the "Wu family style" could be passed on to future generations.
▲ Wu Daozi's "Ming Emperor Guan Ma Tu" (partial) [Biography]
Tang Zhu Jingxuan's "Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty": "Every time Jing Xuan looks at Wu Sheng's paintings, he does not think that it is wonderful to pretend to be back, but when he uses his pen, he is full of loose momentum, and there are several pictures of the walls, only ink traces, and in modern times, he cannot add his paintings." This means that Wu Daozi has several murals, all of which are "white paintings".
▲ Wu Daozi Beiyue Temple Dragon
According to the "Illustrated Treasure Book" and the "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties", Wu Daozi had many disciples, among whom the more well-known ones were Lu Lingjia, Li Sheng, Zhang Zang, Han Qi, Zhu Xuan, zhai Yan and so on. From generation to generation, Wu Daozi's painting art has had a profound influence on many painters in later generations, such as the murals of Dunhuang in the Tang Dynasty and Yongle Palace in the Yuan Dynasty, all of which have Wu Daozi style. The simple and elegant "white painting" of the Song Dynasty painter Li Gonglin was also born from Wu Daozi's white painting.
▲ Li Gonglin "Statue of Vimal Resident" Kyoto National Museum Collection
According to Mi Fu's "History of Painting": "Li Tasted Master Wu Sheng, and in the end he could not get rid of his anger." Tang Gao's "Painting Book": "Li Gonglin is the first to paint characters in Song Dynasty, and he is a master of Wu Sheng."
▲ Song ▪ Wu zongyuan 'Chaoyuan Xian Battle Map' (partial)
In the Northern Song Dynasty, Wu Zongyuan was famous for learning from the Wu Daozi school, and by the rise of Li Gonglin's school, Wu's momentum in the painting world seemed to be covered up by Li. His brush, on the other hand, is recognized as Wu Daozi. As mentioned earlier in the "Chaoyuan Immortal Battle Map", in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was always used as a Wu Daozi brush, until the Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu thought that "I dare not think of Wu Pen". For hundreds of years, he acknowledged Zhao's views and was affirmed.
▲ Part of "Sending Son Heavenly King Diagram"
In addition, Wu Daozi also created the folk traditional painting school that dominated the folk painting world for more than a thousand years, and to this day folk painters still respect him as the grandfather...
Wu Daozi is a rare painting all-rounder in history who is loved by the emperor and the people. Painters like him who are involved in a wide range of paintings are not as skilled as he is, those who are as skilled as him are not as innovative as he is, and those who are as innovative as him are not as good as he is all over the world... Such a person is not a "Hundred Generations Painting Sage" and who else is?