Beijing

Xu Wei is one of the greatest Xie Yi (free and unrestrained style) artists China has ever known.  His flower-and-bird-paintings were a model for later generations and influenced outstanding painters such as Bada Shanren and Qi Baishi. Xu Wei was the typical model of the miserable and unsuccessful artist who struggled for recognition all his life but repeatedly failed. The interesting thing is that Xu Wei’s dream of recognition was not confined to the world of arts and one may argue that his main ambitions were focused on the political arena. A sharp and intelligent young man, Xu passed the tough imperial examinations at the early age of 20 but it seems that after this early climax in his life and some success as a statesman, Xu failed to be promoted and fulfill his well established political agenda, he also lost his wife which many believe resulted in mental instability. Painting was a channel to escape this misery and express his views but it did not stop him from repeatedly trying to put an end to his life.

 Xu was an extremely prolific intellectual, on top of his deep understanding of politics, military affairs, economics and his great talent in painting and unique and fresh style of Cursive Calligraphy, Xu also wrote and composed noteworthy musical Dramas. Xu’s painting style reflects the turbulent life he lived and the strong emotions and agony he experienced, he demonstrated a wild and unrestrained form of expressionism which he accommodated with poetry that expressed his inner world. Calligraphy, poetry and his ink splashes unite beautifully into an organic whole. He is responsible for establishing paper, as opposed to silk, as the preferable surface for ink painting, after Xu, paper becomes the standard and most favorable medium in Chinese painting.

 About 20 years after dying in poverty, Xu Wei was discovered by the head of the Gong An School, Yuan Hongdao, who detected Xu’s Genius and vowed to expose his art to the world. Due to Yuan Hongdao’s success, Xu is now recognized as one of China’s greatest master painters and a symbol of man’s uncompromising need to express feelings and create.

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