Zhang Daqian

Author: Chen Zulong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: This book is collected and categorized based on the painting sayings of Zhang Daqian, interpreting Zhang Daqian's painting sayings through his paintings. This allows the paintings and words to complement each other, serving as annotations for one another, making it clear for beginners to understand the subtleties of the paintings and the depth of the words. It also provides a reference for researchers of Zhang Daqian, enabling a better understanding and study of him.
Zhang Daqian (1899—1983), originally named Zhengquan, later changed his name to Yuan; known as Ji in childhood, and styled as Ji Yuan. He was from Neijiang, Sichuan. He was once a monk, with the Dharma name Daqian, and later resumed lay life, using his Dharma name as his alias. He excelled in landscape, flower-and-bird, and figure painting, as well as meticulous, freehand, and ink-and-wash (color) styles. He was versed in various schools and drew upon the strengths of many. He spent three years studying at the Dunhuang cave temples, which led to a significant leap in his art.
Zhang Daqian's outstanding achievements in painting were not only due to his rich artistic practice and genius but also because he successfully handled the relationship between tradition and modernity, inheritance and renewal in painting. He surpassed the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, connecting to the Northern Wei and Sui-Tang periods, and established his own artistic style. He was hailed by Xu Beihong as the "greatest painter in five hundred years," and is one of the most renowned masters of Chinese painting in the 20th century.