Zhang Daqian and his journey between worlds

More than 30 artworks by Zhang Daqian are on display at the "Masters of the Ba-Shu Region" exhibition at the Hong Art Museum. The prodigious artist excelled at traditional Chinese painting and was a recognized master in transcending genres. His artistic style, rooted in classical Chinese art while incorporating global culture, mirrored his legendary life journey between East and West.

"Masters of the Ba-Shu Region", held until June 17. [Photo/Wang Yantong]

Originally named Yuan, Zhang was given the name Daqian when he briefly became a monk at a young age. Zhang learned painting from his mother as a child and traveled to Japan and Shanghai, where he learned to weave, dye, write calligraphy, paint, write poetry and engrave seals.

During his stay in Shanghai, he began replicating famous works and learned the techniques of various schools of Chinese painting. Some of his imitations successfully deceived world-class connoisseurs.

With his uncanny imitation skills, he brought the hidden gem of Dunhuang into the public eye. In his early 40s, Zhang spent three years in Dunhuang studying grotto art and replicated over 270 Buddhist wall paintings.

The sojourn was a turning point for his artistic style. For instance, in Zhang's early paintings of lotuses, one of his favorite motifs, he mostly used the Xieyi technique, which employs freehand brushwork to evoke a simple, abstract ambiance. While inspired by the richly-coloured, sumptuous wall paintings, he started to paint lotuses in a heavy-color style, which allows a vivid presentation through fine strokes and layers of pigmented hues. His painting of court ladies, a frequent motif in traditional Chinese painting, transferred from delicate, fragile figures to graceful, vivid ones.

Zhang's painting of lotus. [Photo courtesy of Hong Art Museum]

His journey between East and West started in 1950 when he was invited to exhibit his paintings in New Delhi. Following his stay in Darjeeling, Zhang extensively traveled and exhibited his works before settling in Brazil, where he built his Garden of Eight Virtues, a classical Chinese garden that eased his homesickness and altered his artistic path.

While constructing his Garden, Zhang had an accident that damaged his eyesight. This made it difficult to paint using delicate brushstrokes, and so he developed a unique technique of splashing ink and color. The seemingly spontaneous technique lacks precise delimitation, yet retains the charm of traditional Chinese paintings while incorporating a hint of the abstract style prevalent in modern Western art.

The technique started a new chapter in Zhang's artistic journey and further established his name in the West. In the early 1960s, he created the Giant Lotuses, an enormous splashing ink painting that measured 3.6 meters high and more than 6 meters wide. The work, created for his special exhibition in Paris, sparked excitement in the following exhibitions in South and North America.

In 1956, Zhang met Spanish painter Pablo Picasso during his first visit to Europe. In the meeting, which was publicized as an artistic meeting of East and West, Picasso showed Zhang his Chinese-style drawings. Being very particular about his painting tools, Zhang commented that Picasso had not used the right tools. A decade later, Picasso received a gift from Zhang, two writing brushes made of ear hair selected from 2,500 oxen.

About half a century after their encounter, Zhang surpassed his acquaintance to become the best-selling artist in the world in 2011. The demand for his works has remained high since then. In 2022, Zhang's Landscape after Wang Ximeng generated a record-breaking 370 million HKD (approximately $47 million) and became his most expensive work ever auctioned off.