Lu You

CHINA, Zhejiang, Shaoxing; Southern Song dynasty

Lu You was a poet and calligrapher from Shanying, Yuezhou (present day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). He became an Imperial Scholar during the rule of Emperor Xiaozong (reigned 1162–1189) of the Southern Song dynasty. Lu was known to express his grief and indignation with the political state of the country at that time through solemn and bold poetry. In this regard, the people heralded him as something of a patriot and renowned him as one of the top poets of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279).
Lu’s calligraphy exhibits an unrestrained and powerful style with an intense personality. He claimed to have learned cursive script from Zhang Dian and running script from Yang Feng. Although his works have an uninhibited style, his execution is meticulous. His calligraphy includes Poem on Learning to Be a Buddha, which is engraved on the Stele Wall of Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Poem About Self, at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang.