Zhang Xu (ca. 675 – 759 AD) (pronounced ‘jang shoe’) is one of history’s great eccentric artists.
Calligraphy flourished like never before during his lifetime.
Yet his innovation still stood out.
In Chinese calligraphy, individual’s styles are said to reflect their character.
Zhang’s ‘crazy cursive’ style is a great example of this…
Contents
Life and official career
Zhāng Xù (张旭), courtesy name Bógāo (伯高), was born in Wu County (today’s Suzhou, Jiangsu Province) in 675 AD.
His maternal great-grandfather was the celebrated calligrapher Yu Shinan (558 – 638 AD). Yu served as an official during the Chen, Sui and Tang dynasties.
And one of his maternal great-uncles was another well-known calligrapher, Lu Jianzhi (585 – 638 AD).
Zhang worked as a relatively lowly government official. This still meant appointment to various roles and locations, including:
- In the imperial capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an, Shaanxi Province), in the mansion of the Tang crown prince
- In Shangjing (in today’s Heilongjiang Province)
- At the level of wei (尉) (a rank approximate to county magistrate) for Changshu County
The High Tang: The golden age of Chinese culture
Much of Zhang’s life took place a golden age of Chinese culture. Today, it is often referred to as ‘the High Tang’ (盛唐) period.
It is generally considered to have lasted between 712 and 755 AD. (The exact dates vary according to different historians.)
Tang poetry reached its zenith thanks to poets like Wang Wei (ca. 701 – 761 AD), Li Bai (701 – 762 AD), and Du Fu (712 – 770).
Great painters also appeared, including Wu Daozi (680 – 740 AD) and Han Gan (706 – 783 AD).
And many art historians consider High Tang dynasty calligraphy to be the golden age of the art.
Unfortunately, the An Lushan Rebellion (755 – 763 AD) ultimately ended this period.
This violent civil war brought profound carnage and change to the Tang society and state for decades afterwards. (Zhang likely died about halfway through it).
Contact with fellow literati
Zhang knew many eminent High Tang cultural figures.
He was friends with Li Bai and Du Fu.
He also met fellow legendary calligrapher and cursive-script practitioner Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785 AD).
Yan is said to have come to him for instruction on more than one occasion.
The first time, he left disappointed when Zhang simply told him to ‘learn from nature’… The second time, he taught Yan.
He also tutored the great seal script reviver and master Li Yangbing (721 or 722 – 777 AD).
One of the ‘Eight Immortals of the Cup‘
Zhang’s contemporaries noted his eccentricity and love of drinking.
He is remembered as being one of the Eight Immortals of the Cup – a term coined by Du Fu.
It describes a group of Tang dynasty intellectuals, including the poet Li Bai, known for their love of drink.
!['Ode to the Eight Immortals of the Cup' by Du Fu in Chinese and English translated by Kain Jagger. Text reads: 1. 知章骑马似乘船，眼花落井水底眠。Zhizhang riding his horse like a bobbing boat, / His eyes dim, he falls into a well, where he sleeps. (He Zhizhang (ca. 659 – ca. 744), poet and politician.)
2. 汝阳三斗始朝天，道逢麴车口流涎，恨不移封向酒泉。The Prince of Ruyang drank three dou [30 litres] before attending court. / A passing brewer’s cart still makes him salivate,/ and long to be appointed the Prince of Wine Spring. (Li Jin (? – 750 AD), the Emperor Xuanzong’s nephew.)
3. 左相日兴费万钱，饮如长鲸吸百川，衔杯乐圣称避贤。Our Minister on the Right spends 10,000 daily. / He drinks like a whale inhaling 100 rives. / He claims he drinks to escape politics and make / way for new talent. (Li Shizhi (694 – 747), politician and poet that served as prime minister. Also a member of the Tang imperial family. Later purged by the notorious Li Linfu and committed suicide.)
4. 宗之潇洒美少年，举觞白眼望青天，皎如玉树临风前。Zongzhi is handsome youth. / He raises his glass and white eyes to the clear sky, / he shines like a jade tree in the wind. (Cui Zhongzhi (? - ?), poet)
5. 苏晋长斋绣佛前，醉中往往爱逃禅。Su Jin fasts and avoids meat in front of / the Buddha. / But when he’s drunk, he loves to lapse. (Su Jin (676 – 734), scholar-official.)
6. 李白一斗诗百篇，长安市上酒家眠，天子呼来不上船，自称臣是酒中仙。Li Bai could compose one hundred poems / when drunk. Drunk, he would fall asleep in Chang’an / restaurants, and declined the emperor’s invitation. / He called himself an immortal of drink.
7. 张旭三杯草圣传，脱帽露顶王公前，挥毫落纸如云烟。Zhang Xu the Cursive Sage could write a / book after three cups of wine. He would take his hat off in front of princes and nobles, and wave his brush over / paper [and words appeared] like floating clouds and rising. (Zhang Xu (ca. 675 – 759 AD), scholar-official, poet and - most famously - calligrapher)
8. 焦遂五斗方卓然，高谈雄辩惊四筵。Jiao Sui will need at least five dou [50 litres] to wake / His eloquent talk and judgement impresses all. (Jiao Sui (? - ?), a common man known for his drinking.)](https://ink-and-brush.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Eight-immortals.png)
Anecdotes about Zhang
Zhang using his hair to write
In the Tang dynasty, many Chinese elites had long hair, which they tied up above their head.
One story is that Zhang would dip his hair in ink and write with it by swinging his head about.
This earned him the nickname ‘Zhang Crown-of-the-head’ (张颠).
A relative writes asking for money
Another story has it that a relative (in some accounts it’s a neighbour) wrote to Zhang asking for money.
Zhang answered by telling him to simply bring his (Zhang’s) letter of reply to any educated people. They would no doubt be willing to buy it for a high price.
The persistent old man’s letter requests
Whilst Zhang working as a county magistrate in Changshu, an illiterate old man asked him for help writing a petty legal complaint.
Zhang helped him, but was surprised when the man kept re-appearing to ask for similar letters.
Eventually, a vexed Zhang confronted the old man about this, asking him if he really felt this was worth Zhang’s time.
The old man instantly explained his true motivation. He told Zhang that his father had been a calligrapher and that he still loved to collect beautiful calligraphy.
Gongsun Daniang
Gongsun Daniang was a famous Tang dynasty dancer.
Her dancing is considered to be one of the ‘Three Wonders of the Tang Dynasty’ (大唐三绝), a phrase coined by the Wenzong Emperor (809 – 840 AD).
The other two are Li Bai’s poetry, and Zhang Xu’s calligraphy.
It’s said that Zhang style of calligraphy was inspired by her dancing.
The comparison of dancing to calligraphy has long been popular. In the 20th century, scholar Lin Yutang wrote in his biography of Su Dongpo:
[Calligraphy] is like secretly tracing the artist’s movements from the first to the last stroke, reading a whole chapter like this is like watching a dance on paper.
Du Fu’s famous poem helps add more detail to the kind of dance Zhang saw.
昔有佳人公孙氏，一舞剑器动四方。
– Extract from ‘Watching Gongsun Daniang’s Brother’s Sword Dance’ 《观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行》 by Du Fu
观者如山色沮丧，天地为之久低昂。
In the past, there was a beautiful woman named Gonsun, she would dance with a sword moving in all directions.
The audience, numerous like mountain colours, watched in awe, as heaven and earth swayed.
Zhang Xu’s calligraphy
Zhang is especially famous for his cursive (or grass) script calligraphy.
Before Zhang Xu, there were a few figures particularly famous for their cursive script, including:
- Zhang Zhi (? – 176 AD): The ‘Grass Sage’ and earliest known creator of a version of cursive script
- Wang Xizhi (303 – 361 AD): Considered the ‘Calligraphy Sage’ since a couple of centuries after his death
- Wang Xianzhi (334 – 386 AD): A son of Wang Xizhi, who was considered by many a better calligrapher than his father throughout the 5th and 6th centuries. Zhang’s contemporary Cai Xizong called Zhang ‘Wang Xianzhi reborn’.
Zhang admired and studied these three exponents of grass script.
His own style is often labelled ‘crazy cursive’ (狂草).
Many experts say that it reflects the full force of his vigorous personality and moods.
And that his compositions reflect a level of almost trance-like concentration.
His most famous piece is the Four Ancient Poets Model.
However, it should be noted that the Qing dynasty Stone Drain Treasure Book (1816) (石渠宝笈) argued that this piece is a forgery.
Zhang Xu’s poetry
Forty of Zhang’s poems survived trials of time. No small feat considering the scale of destruction of the An Lushan Rebellion.
One of them made it into perhaps the most popular collection of Chinese poems today: the 300 Tang Poems.
Zhang’s legacy
Zhang had already been immortalised by his friends and contemporaries during his lifetime.
So, his legacy as the ‘sage of grass script’ lived on until today.
However, other factors contributed to his legacy.
For example, one his disciples, Wu Tong, taught another great name in grass script calligraphy’s history, the monk Huaisu (737 – 799 AD).
And later on. The Tang dynasty’s most celebrated essayist, Han Yu (769 – 824 AD), further cemented Zhang’s reputation:
张旭善草书，不治他伎。喜怒、窘穷、忧悲、愉佚、怨恨、思慕、酣醉、无聊、不平，有动于心，必于草书焉发之。观于物，见山水崖谷、鸟兽虫鱼、草木之花实、日月列星、风雨水火、雷霆霹雳、歌舞战斗、天地事物之变，可喜可愕，一寓于书，故旭之书，变动犹鬼神，不可端倪，以此终其身而名后世。
‘Preface to Seeing off Monk Gaoxian’ 《送高闲上人序》
Zhang Xu excelled grass script calligraphy only. He would express everything in calligraphy – whether he was moved by joy, anger, distress, destitution, sorrow, delight, loathing, admiration, drunkenness, boredom, or injustice.
And whatever he saw – mountains, streams, peaks, valleys, birds, animals, insects, fish, flora, fauna, the sun, the moon, the stars, wind, rain, floods, fire, lightening, song, dance, warfare – all of heaven and earth’s transformations, joyous or troublesome – all these he infused into his calligraphy.
So, Zhang Xu’s calligraphy simmers with unfathomable ghosts and spirits. He worked this way until the end of his life and so his name lives on.
Jiang Kui (c. 1155 – c. 1221), writing during the Southern Song period, noted that:
张颠、怀素最号野逸，而不失此法。
– Jiang Kui, Sequel to the ‘Treatise on Calligraphy’ (1208)
Zhang ‘Crown of the Head’ and Huaisu are the most unconventional in their [cursive script] methodology, but they did not violate its rules.