Wu Daozi
The Life and Art of Wu Daozi Wu Daozi, also known as Daoxuan or Wu Tao Tzu, was a highly influential painter of the Tang dynasty. Born in Chang'an, he endured a childhood of poverty following the death of his father. He initially mastered calligraphy under the guidance of Zhang Xu and He Zhizhang before specializing in the art of painting. His technical mastery was revolutionary, as he pioneered realistic techniques, the formal establishment of brushwork, and the genre of landscape painting. He was particularly renowned for his ability to paint figures with round strokes, a technique used to…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Wu Daozi's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.