ON ZHANG DAQIAN'S FIGURE PAINTINGS

 

        In his early years Zhang Daqian’s figure and lady paintings resembled the styles of Ming and Qing dynasties. His figure paintings transformed and matured after his two trips to Dunhuang where he spent great efforts to copy and study the murals. He had travelled there in 1941 and 1943 and stayed there for 31 months. He had copied more that 270 murals with his students and followers.

        The Mogao Grottoes were in the southeast of Dunhuang, at the foot of Mingsha Mountain. The thousands of murals in the Mogao Grottoes ranged from Wei to Song dynasty. For thousands of years, the place had been deserted until some Westerners came in 1900 and 1907 and stole the relics away, hence the treasures in Dunhuang became known to the world.

        The Mogao Grottoes were built before the Sui dynasty. All the murals in them inherited the traditional style of Han dynasty folk paintings. Paintings in the Northern Qi period brought forth a sudden conspicuous change which was linked to the literary paintings of the south. Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin dynasty became a leader of the new style.

        Zhang Daqian said when he first encountered the Dunhuang murals, he felt dazzled and confused. He found his previous study of ancient works quite inadequate. Zhang met a number of problems when he began copying the murals. All the grottoes faced east, hence they became completely dark in the afternoon and copying work could only be done in the morning. The silk and paper they brought from Chengdu were too small and had to be sewn or glued together for the huge paintings. The seams affected the pictures. The ordinary colours they brought looked dim and gloomy when compared to the original colours of the murals.

        To solve the problems, Zhang sent his son Zhang Xinzhi to Xining with two other persons. They invited the lama painters from the monastery to join them in Dunhuang. The lama painters could draw religious paintings, they could also make colours and sew canvas. They treated the canvas in a special way so that it looked similar to the ancient paintings. The special colours they made were also close to those on the murals.

        As there was a lot of copying work to do, Zhang could only drew the outlines himself and let the lamas did the colouring. One day when Zhang was working in grotto numbered 20, he suddenly discovered that at the right bottom corner where the mural was torn, there seemed to be colours and lines underneath. After repeated discussions with his students, they decided to tear down the outer layer. When they did, they found a richly coloured Tang dynasty mural beneath the outer layer. Zhang described the event in an article later.

        Zhang Daqian spent a long time in Dunhuang. He was completely overcome with admiration for the glamorous Tang murals. He studied them hard and copied them, hence his later figure paintings were in the Tang dynasty style. They became marvellous in spirit.

        Zhang Daqian had said that according to his own experience, one should first work on outlines, then on sketching before one turned onto freehand style. He said one should start by copying ancient masterpieces in order to develop one’s outlining skills and understand the painting rules. He summarised his experiences into the following points:

        1. copy and outline to learn the rules

        2. sketch, observe and understand the objects

        3. set the inner meaning of the picture

        4. develop an innovative atmosphere

        5. pursue an elegant style

        6. avoid unnecessary and improper details

        7. place the spirit and mood in the first priority, the second priority is the composition

        8. capture the spirit of the objects and does not contradict the natural rules

        9. not to be arrogant for one’s talent

        10. copy ancient masters and learn their essence, but does not steal from their works

       Apart from doing ordinary lady paintings, Zhang Daqian had later gone to sketch in Tibet. He drew many outstanding pieces on Tibetan women which revealed techniques and atmospheres learned from the Dunhuang murals.

       Zhang had said that painting should not achieve too close a likeness with the real object, yet there should not be deliberate unlikeness. One had to strike a balance between likeness and unlikeness for conveying the natural beauty. This was the art of painting.