Zhang Daqian

Zhang Daqian a Chinese painter of the twentieth century (1899-1983) renowned for his versatility, his mastery of both meticulous and freely expressive styles, and his bold splashed-ink landscapes. He travelled widely, studied the ancient murals at Dunhuang, and became one of the most celebrated and prolific artists of modern China.

Early Life and Formation

Zhang Daqian was born on 10 May 1899 in Neijiang, in Sichuan province, one of a large family of modest circumstances. His mother was a painter of flowers and his elder brother Zhang Shanzi was already an artist, and the household gave the boy an early apprenticeship in brush and ink. He showed unusual talent and before he was twenty had begun to earn a living by painting and by copying the works of earlier masters.

In 1917 he travelled with his brother to Japan to study textiles and painting, and the following years took him to Shanghai, where he entered the circle of the painter Zeng Xi and the connoisseur Li Ruiqing. Through them he gained access to important private collections of old paintings, which he studied and copied with astonishing industry.

He became famous as a brilliant forger, producing imitations of Song and Yuan masters that deceived many collectors and experts. This practice, though controversial, gave him an unrivalled knowledge of historical techniques and materials, and it trained the hand and eye that would make his own later work so accomplished.

Travels, Dunhuang and Fame

During the 1930s and 1940s Zhang Daqian travelled throughout China, painting landscapes of the great mountains and rivers and building a reputation as a connoisseur and collector. Between 1941 and 1943 he led an expedition to the cave temples at Dunhuang in the far northwest, where he spent nearly three years copying the Buddhist murals and wall paintings that spanned many centuries.

The Dunhuang experience transformed his understanding of colour and figure painting. He studied the line, pigment and composition of the ancient murals at close range, and his own work gained a richness of colour and a fluency in the depiction of the human figure that distinguished it from that of his contemporaries.

In the late 1940s he left China, and after a period in Hong Kong and Argentina he settled in Brazil, where he built a Chinese-style garden and studio. He later moved to California and finally to Taipei, where he spent his last years. He exhibited throughout the world and became one of the best-known Chinese painters of the age.

Style, Technique and the Splashed-Ink Method

Zhang Daqian was acclaimed for his command of an extraordinary range of manners. He could paint in a delicate, meticulous gongbi style with fine outlines and layered colour, and he could also work in a free, ink-driven manner that seemed to spill across the paper with controlled abandon. He moved between these modes throughout his career, refusing to be limited to a single manner.

In his later years he developed the technique of splashed ink and splashed colour, in which ink or pigment was poured or flung onto the paper and then guided and completed with the brush. The results are turbulent, atmospheric landscapes that suggest drifting cloud, mist and mountain without literal description. This method, drawing on ancient precedents but pushed to new extremes, became his signature and won him international admiration.

His palette ranged from the monochrome austerity of literati tradition to brilliant mineral colours of blue, green and gold. His sense of composition was equally broad, embracing the tall hanging scroll, the horizontal handscroll and the monumental screen. This range, together with his technical perfection, made him a legend among his peers.

Connoisseurship, Collecting and Influence

Zhang Daqian was as famous for his eye as for his hand. He collected old paintings and calligraphy, advised dealers and museums, and was consulted as an authority on authenticity. His deep familiarity with the materials and methods of the past made him uniquely able to judge the age and quality of a work, and his opinions carried great weight among collectors.

His practice of imitating the old masters has been the subject of enduring controversy, but it also demonstrated the closeness of his engagement with tradition and the technical brilliance that allowed him to inhabit another artist's manner. Scholars continue to debate how many works in collections around the world are by him rather than by the masters they are attributed to.

He exerted a powerful influence on the painters who followed him, particularly in the use of colour and in the free handling of ink, and he helped to present Chinese painting to audiences in Europe and the Americas. His energy, productivity and personal flamboyance made him a larger-than-life figure in the art world of his time.

Late Life and Legacy

In 1976 he settled permanently in Taipei, where the government provided him with a residence, and he continued to paint prodigiously until failing eyesight and illness slowed him. He died on 2 April 1983 in Taipei. He had donated a large number of his own works and of his collection to public institutions, and a memorial museum was established in his honour.

His career spanned the upheavals of revolution and war and exemplified the cosmopolitanism of twentieth-century Chinese art. He was at home in the classical tradition and in the international art market, crossing between them with ease and drawing new audiences to Chinese painting.

He is remembered as perhaps the most versatile and technically gifted Chinese painter of his century, an artist whose mastery of the past enabled him to break new ground. His splashed-ink landscapes in particular opened possibilities that later painters continued to explore.

See also

• Chinese painting
• Dunhuang
• Ink wash painting
• China Academy of Art