Prince Yun's Western Painting Selection 1940-1945

Author: Wang Ziyun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Wang Ziyun created and sketched a vast number of artworks throughout his life, with a particular emphasis on sketches. Especially during the period from 1940 to 1945 when he organized the Northwest Art and Cultural Relics Survey Team, he conducted comprehensive artistic and cultural surveys of the provinces in the northwest. Everywhere he went and everything he saw—whether landscapes, famous scenic spots, cultural relics, or folk customs—were vividly depicted in his works. Many of his famous cave temple panoramic sketches are not only appreciable landscape paintings but also detailed, dimensioned field data for research. Representative works include the panoramic view of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. This nearly five-meter-long scroll was drawn by Mr. Wang Ziyun over the course of a month. He meticulously measured the positions, distances, sizes, and heights of each cave, and densely annotated clear numbering. To create the panoramic view of the Mogao Caves, he ran around, climbed up and down, and used his skilled painting techniques, as well as his unskilled measurement methods, expending immense effort to finally complete the work. This is an extraordinary scroll painting. At the time, it was impossible to capture such scenes with cameras; today, even with advanced tools, the original appearance has been lost. Therefore, it is irreplaceable historical material. "This precious Dunhuang scroll was donated to the Dunhuang Academy without charge, becoming an important archival resource for them. Additionally, works like the panoramic view of the Tang Dynasty's Eighteen Tombs and the Han Dynasty's Maoling Tomb are arranged according to their geographical positions, forming a unified whole. These works are neither purely artistic paintings nor entirely engineering survey maps, yet they truthfully reflect the terrain at the time. Some of these historical relics have been damaged or disappeared, while others have been completely transformed, making these scrolls even more invaluable. Moreover, the sketches drawn along the survey team's journey—such as landscapes, street scenes, and folk customs—though brief, vividly capture the essence, presenting us with the true face of society half a century ago, as if we were there in person. Those paintings depicting the rear-area people's active participation in the Anti-Japanese War further showcase Mr. Wang Ziyun's boundless patriotic spirit and unwavering belief in victory. In addition to the long scrolls, the dimensions of most of these sketches are 56cm × 35cm.