In the history of Chinese calligraphy, there are two people known as: "Cao Sage", one is Zhang Zhi in the Later Han Dynasty, and the other is Zhang Xu in the Tang Dynasty. "Cao Sheng" generally refers to Zhang Xu. "Zhang Xu was born in the third year of Shangyuan of Tang Dynasty (675) and died in the ninth year of Tianbao of Xuanzong (750). His courtesy name was Bogao and his first name was Jiming. He was a native of Wu County (Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). He served as a captain of Changshu, and later became a long-time official in Jinwu, and was known as "Zhang Changshi". His mother, Lu, was the niece of Lu Jianzhi, a calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty, and was the granddaughter of Yu Shinan. The Lu family passed down their business through books from generation to generation and was well-known in history.
Zhang Xu is free and uninhibited, open-minded, outstanding, talented and knowledgeable. Being friendly with Li Bai and He Zhizhang, Du Fu listed the three of them among the "Eight Immortals in Drinking". He is a very unique cursive calligrapher. Because he often gets drunk, he screams and runs away, and then writes a book. He even writes with his hair dipped in ink, so he is also known as "Zhang Dian". Hou Huaisu inherited and developed his writing style, which was also named after cursive script, and was also called "Dian Zhang Zuisu".
Zhang Xu has a bold personality and is fond of drinking. He often dances when he is drunk, then returns to the table, picks up the pen and writes ink, and writes in one stroke. Some people said he was rude and gave him the nickname Zhang Dian. In fact, he is very careful. He believes that everything he touches in daily life can inspire writing. What I get by chance is melted into my own calligraphy. At that time, as long as people got his scraps of writing, they regarded them as treasures and inherited them hereditary treasures. At that time, Zhang Xu had a neighbor who was from a poor family. Hearing that Zhang Xu was generous, he wrote to Zhang Xu, hoping to get his support. Zhang Xu sympathized with his neighbor very much, so he wrote in the letter: As long as you say that this letter was written by Zhang Xu, the price can be hundreds of gold. The neighbor took the letter to sell on the street according to his words, and sure enough, it was sold out in less than half a day. The neighbor returned home happily and expressed his deep gratitude to Zhang Xu.
Cursive script, as a kind of "freehand writing", is difficult for the writer to accurately grasp the lyricism and freedom without outstanding talent and profound knowledge. On the one hand, Zhang Xu, the Saint of Cursive Calligraphy, inherited the traditional calligraphy method of the "Two Kings", and on the other hand, he imitated Zhang Zhi's cursive calligraphy skills and created a smart, refined and unpredictable cursive calligraphy. According to legend, he saw the princess and her husband fighting for the way. , and got the meaning of brushwork. Later, I saw Gongsun dancing with swords, and got the magic of it. Zhang Xu is a pure artist. He devoted his emotions and life-long energy to pointillism, intoxicated, crazy, and crazy. Crazy. 99% of the hard work makes the calligrapher his own school, but 1% of the talent is the key to Zhang Xu becoming a grass sage.
Zhang Xu is not only a great calligrapher, but also a great calligraphy educator. Among his disciples, there are 23 great calligraphers who have left their names in the history of calligraphy. For example, the well-known top great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing , his disciple Zhang Xu is good at teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. He cannot teach people without talent and perseverance. When ordinary people ask him for advice on brushwork, he always smiles without saying a word, picks up the pen and dances on the paper. The person who asks for advice After getting Mo Bao, they all left happily without any advice from Zhang Xu. Although some people worked very hard, Zhang Xu did not teach those who thought they were not talented enough. He only asked them to work harder and realize themselves.
The process of Yan Zhenqing learning brushwork from Zhang Xu was also tortuous. It was only after repeated tests by Zhang Xu that Yan Zhenqing learned the true teachings. When Yan Zhenqing was in his twenties, he studied under Zhang Xu in Chang'an for two years, but Zhang Xu did not teach him brushwork ("Servant"). "I was studying under Zhang Gong in Chang'an, but I was not taught by him.") At the age of thirty-five, Yan Zhenqing went on a study tour in order to learn from his teacher! When he heard that Zhang Xu was staying at his friend Pei Zhen's house, he immediately resigned and went to Luoyang to visit Zhang Xu and continue to seek advice ("I gave up Zhiliquan and went to Dongluo to visit Zhang Gongxu, the long history of Jinwu, and ask for his brushwork"). At that time, Yan Zhenqing's Calligraphy has become somewhat famous, but Zhang Xu did not immediately agree to teach him the skills. Just like that, he wandered around Pei Zhen's house for more than a month and found nothing. One day, Yan Zhenqing drank tea and chatted with Zhang Xu and Pei Zhen. After they left, , Yan Zhenqing came back and asked Zhang Xu for advice on brushwork. Zhang Xu ignored him, looked around, and walked away! ("Chang Shi didn't say anything for a long time, but he glanced left and right, and became frightened.") Yan Zhenqing was indeed very intelligent, and did not give up. Instead, he followed closely and came to a small hall in the bamboo forest to the east where Zhang Xu sat down. He said to Yan Zhenqing: Calligraphy is a very mysterious thing. I cannot teach it easily. If you are not a high-minded person, how can you talk to him about the mysteries of it? So, Zhang Xu officially began to teach Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy ("The servant returned from his trip to the small hall of Dongzhulin Courtyard. Zhang Gongnai sat on the bed in the hall, and ordered the servant to sit on the small couch. He said: "Calligraphy is mysterious and difficult to teach. If you are not a person with high aspirations, how can you tell me what you want to do? The book seeks abilities and attacks the true grass. Now it is awarded, so you need to think about it.")
Zhang Xu is a pure artist. He pours his full emotions into the dot paintings, as if there is no one else around, as drunk as crazy, as crazy as crazy. Hanyu of the Tang Dynasty praised him in his "Preface to Master Gao Xian": "Joy, anger, embarrassment, sadness, joy, resentment, yearning, drunkenness, boredom, injustice, whatever moves the heart, must be expressed in cursive writing. Looking at things, one can see mountains, rivers, cliffs and valleys, birds, beasts, insects and fish, vegetation and flowers, the sun, moon and stars, wind, rain, fire, thunder and thunder, singing, dancing and fighting, and the changes in the world. The joy and astonishment are all contained in the book, so the book of the rising sun , Changes like ghosts and gods, cannot be traced, and will be famous for future generations for the rest of their lives."
