Wu Daozi (吳道子, ca. 680-759), a native of Yangdi (阳翟), Henan province, was a painter of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907) who was so praised by later critics that his contributions are almost buried in myth.
He is recorded as having painted a wide variety of subjects, perhaps painting large wall compositions of essentially Buddhist characters more than anything else. He is especially noted for his imagination and the expressive vigor of his brush—which is cited even by Tang critics who lavished a “divine” (shen, 神) rating upon him. His brush probably created vividly expressive lines of alternately thick and thin tensions—seen then and remembered still in distinct contrast to the more preciously colored and evenly controlled delineations of the contemporary courtly style.
The Eighty-seven Immortals
