Xu Wei

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: Xu Wei was the most creative master of freehand flower-and-bird painting in the Ming Dynasty, a genius with comprehensive cultivation, excelling in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and drama. Due to his turbulent and destitute life, unable to achieve success, he vented his frustration and indignation onto the brush, unrestrained and unbound by conventions, showcasing a rebellious and boundless personality, thereby pioneering an unprecedented new realm in freehand flower-and-bird painting. In his later years, Xu Wei was "extremely poor, selling his hands to eat, with thousands of books, nearly all sold off, his bed and coverings worn out, sleeping on straw, and dying at the age of seventy-three" (as recorded in Qian Qianyi's Biographies of Poets from the Ming Dynasty). Thus, this "genius of the ages, standing alone in his time" completed his life's journey.