Wu Daozi
Tang master of dynamic ink figure painting
Wu Daozi (around 680–759), also known as Daoxuan, was a famous painter of the Tang Dynasty, highly respected in art history as the 'Sage of Painting.' He was Han Chinese, from Yangdi (present-day Yuzhou, Henan). He was born around 680 AD (the first year of Yonglong) and died around 758 AD (the first year of Qianyuan). He was orphaned and poor as a child, but he became known for his painting talent at a young age. He once served as a county officer in Xiaqiu, Yanzhou (today Ziyang, Shandong), but he resigned shortly after. Later, he drifted to Luoyang and worked on mural painting. During the Kaiyuan period, he was summoned to the court because of his painting skills and served as a court painter, an inner tutor, and a friend of Prince Ning. He studied calligraphy with Zhang Xu and He Zhizhang, and learned the technique of brushwork from watching Lady Gongsun sword dance. He was skilled in painting Buddhist and Daoist subjects, ghosts, figures, landscapes, birds and animals, plants, and buildings, especially excelling in Buddhist and Daoist themes and figure painting, and was known for his murals.