THE EPOCHAL SIGNIFICANCE IN
ZHANG DAQIAN'S COPIES OF
DUNHUANG FRESCOES
Researcher, V ice Curator of Sichuan Provincial
Museum
WEI XUEFENG
Mr. Zhang Daqian is one of the great masters in modern Chinese art
history. Throughout his life, he had been dedicated to the sorting,
exploring, innovating and developing of traditional art of Chinese
painting. Identified himself as a cultural envoy, Zhang Daqian had
traveled widely and left his footsteps in North and South America and
many European countries, disseminating and carrying forward with all his
efforts the Chinese culture and art. Due to his great contribution to
art, he had won worldwide acclaim. In 1957, the International Fine Arts
Association in New York elected Mr. Zhang Daqian as 孏he Best
Contemporary Painter in the World A versatile talent, Mr. Zhang
Daqian was unparalleled in his poetry, calligraphy, painting, seal
cutting and artistic appreciation. As Mr. Xu Beihong put it, Mr. Zhang
Daqian was the 濖irst most talented artist in recent five hundred
years. /font>
Bamboo seals made by Macau Artists, Li Ruizu, Xu
Yunzhai, Lin Jin and offered to Zhang Daqia.
Mr. Zhang Daqian had been probing the profound theory of Chinese
painting. He had comprehensively inherited the essence of rich ancient
Chinese culture, meanwhile, he had also absorbed the strong points of
modern world art, and, by doing so, he had developed a brand new realm
in his painting, calligraphy and artistic conception. Making a survey of
Mr. Zhang DaqianY lifetime artistic creative styles, we can roughly
divide the development of his artistic styles into three periods. The
first period, from early 1920s to late 1930s, Mr. Zhang Daqian had been
a pupil of two famous calligraphers and painters, Zeng Xi and Li
Ruiqing, which was before he went to Dunhuang. In this period, he
imitated the elegant styles of the 焅our Buddhist Monks (Shi Tao,
Zhu Da, Shi Xi, Jian Jiang) in Qing dynasty, Qing Teng and Bai Yang, and
concurrently the styles of 濖our masters of Wu School (Sheng Zhou, Wen
Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying) Later, he also adopted the
delicate and graceful styles of Fanyuan School in his landscape
painting, using blue and green colors in large scale. Mr. Zhang Daqian
learned from 懀he four masters (Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, Wu Zhen and
Wang Meng) in Yuan dynasty, as well as from Li Tang, Ma Yuan, Dong
Yuan, Fan Kuan, Ju Ran, Guo Xi, and others. The general painting style
of Mr. Zhang Daqian can be described as a humanistic quality of lofty
beauty and elegance.
The second period, from early 1940s to late 1950s, in this period of
time, Mr. Zhang Daqian went to Dunhuang. After this period, he initiated
his own splashed-ink painting style. In nearly three years of reclusive
artistic cultivation in Dunhuang, he had been deeply enlightened by the
great art works of ancient painters. Thereby, delicacy, elegance and
vigor marked his painting style in this period.
Bamboo seals made by Macau Artists, Li Ruizu, Xu
Yunzhai, Lin Jin and offered to Zhang Daqia.
The third period, from early 1960s to 1980s, this was a period in which
his splashed-ink style passed exploration period and entered its
maturity. He completely broke off the traditional painting techniques
that used lines as the molding language and lines and strokes as the
essence in composing a painting. Combining the traditional methods of
landscape painting, that is, framework concealing, splashed-ink and
thick coloration, emphasizing both the subjective enthusiasm and natural
presentation, he successfully reached a balance between the real and the
romantic, perception and reason, concrete and abstract, painting and
passion. The influence of western painting did not make him abandon the
Chinese tradition, and he digested the strong points of western painting
and developed them. Consequently, he created a brand new style of
Chinese painting marked by Chinese spirit and national characteristics.
Some people have regarded these three periods as the three
婫difications and baths by traditional art. He endeavored to seek
for momentum from his predecessors and from nature, so as to correct the
mistaken painting tendency of his time and make known the great art
tradition of Chinese painting. The paintings of Mr. Zhang Daqian are
elegant and natural, profound and sublime, as some people put it, as
though the painting masters of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have
made a unison, then there comes Daqian, a giant of modern art. This
article is to discuss the most important turning point in Mr. Zhang
DaqianY art career: his journey to Dunhuang and its cultural value.
As is known to all, from 1941 to 1943, in a period of two years and
seven months, Mr. Zhang Daqian led over ten people, including his
disciples and several Tibetan monks, into Dunhuang after a long journey,
this brave deed composed a majestic stanza in modern art history. At
that time, he was already a famous painter in China, so what caused him
to abandon the intellectually leisure life of the city without
hesitation and seek for his dream in Dunhuang? As Mr. Zhang Daqian
explained, Ds for the reason for my journey to Dunhuang, itY
because I heard Mr. Zeng and Li talked about the Buddhist sutras and
sculptures of Tang dynasty, but then I didnZ know there were
frescoes. When I returned to Sichuan Province after the Anti-Japanese
War, my friend Ma Wenyan, who was an official in the Supervision Bureau,
told me about his journey to Dunhuang. He used every good word to
describe its greatness. I like travel all my life, and I knew itY
historical site, naturally I had the intention of going there, so I
decided to make a journey to Dunhuang. (Xie Jiaxiao: Briography of
Zhang Daqian, p.135). Besides, Mr. Ye Gongchao also suggested Daqian
indirectly that he should take a trip to Dunhuang when he had chance.
Mr. Zhang Daqian recalled this in the Preface of Collections of Mr. Ye
XieyanY Calligraphical Works and Paintings, 灙Thus Mr. Ye said to
me, 毴igure painting has its root in Wu Daoxuan (Wu Daozi), and passed
its prime time in Li Gonglin. The paintings of Qiu Shifu (Qiu Ying) were
too charming and tender; Chen LaolianY were too eccentric, in three
hundred years of Qing dynasty, there had been no great painters of
figure painting. So Mr. Ye spared no efforts in persuading me to quit
the painting of landscape, flowers and bamboos to concentrate on figure
painting in order to revitalize it. Soon I went westward to the sandy
land, stayed in Yulin and Mogao Grottoes for nearly three years, copying
nearly three hundred pieces of frescoes of the Northern Wei, Sui, Tang
and Song dynasties, this could happen all because of the suggestion of
Mr. Ye. Mr. Zhang Daqian met Mr. Zeng and Li around 1920. From these
two teachers, he was first inspired by Dunhuang Art. Then it was the
beginning stage of his art career, so journey to Dunhuang was a
necessity for him to follow the teachers instruction on the one hand,
and on the other hand, it was also the need for change of his own
painting style. The famous scholar Lin Sijin wrote in Preface of
Collections of Da Feng HouseY Copies of Dunhuang Frescoes, 岞y
friend Zhang Daqian, is an ambitious artist dedicated to the art of
painting and calligraphy and has won worldwide fame. He is always busy
and does not have many words. He had seen many paintings of Song and
Yuan dynasties and Fayuan School. Yet, he was not satisfied, so he
decided to go to Dunhuang to search the pearl of art. He prepared
everything and crossed Jiayu Pass and Guasha AreaQuring this period,
he told me, 飙hina is the birthplace of the six methods of figure
painting, I want to prove this by investigating in Dunhuang the ancient
painting styles. In those times, many surrounding countries all took the
Middle Plains as their model, many clothing, calligraphic works are well
known to Europe, thatY why I spare no efforts to make the
investigation. By saying so, Daqian made clear his motive and purpose
of journey to Dunhuang: to probe the origin of the six methods of figure
painting and fulfill his dream of witnessing the authentic works of Six
Dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties. From the beginning of the 1920s to
his journey to Dunhuang, in the two decades, he had grown from a student
of art to a master of traditionalistic art. He realized that by
following the painting styles of Ming and Qing dynasties, no matter how
skillful he would make himself to be, he could not distinguish himself
from traditionalistic painters of his time. How to harmonize the styles
of landscape painting and delicate design and coloration of professional
painters, this was the basic reason that urged him to make the journey.
The west end of the Gansu Corridor is Dunhuang, which was the door for
the Middle Plains to the Western Regions. Since the 2nd year of Jianyuan
of Qianqin Kingdom (336 A.D.) to the Yuan dynasty, Buddhist believers
devoutly made over one thousand grottoes on the cliffs of the Mingsha
Mountains. Up to now, there are 492 grottoes that still have frescoes
and sculptures. There are altogether 45,000 square meters of frescoes
and over 2,400 colored sculptures. These grottoes are not only the
treasure house of collective art of ancient Chinese, these were also
sacred land for them to express their religious devotion. The elegant
and sublime modeling, vivid and beautiful coloration of Dunhuang Art is
the cream of nearly one thousand years of eastern and western painting
and sculpture. It has surpassed all other Buddhist arts of any other
time in any other areas. The content of Dunhuang Art stemmed from
religion, yet it is near to life, and full of rhythm and vigor of life
everywhere, it is a shining pearl left of human civilization history.
Before his journey to Dunhuang, Mr. Zhang Daqian didnZ know there
were such a great number of frescoes. The only knowledge he had was that
there were a lot of Buddhist sutras and colored sculptures, and the fact
that many of them had already been stolen, the things left in the
grottoes were colored sculptures of hundreds or thousand years ago. He
wished to become a painter who could transform those cubic colored
sculptures into planar paintings on painting scrolls with his
paintbrush. This deed would be a great achievement in the research of
the development history of Chinese painting. Therefore, at the very
outset, he planned to finish this task within several months. Quite
unexpectedly, the task actually took him nearly three years. In 1941,
Mr. Zhang Daqian led a group of people to Dunhuang, among them, were
Yang Wanjun, his wife, Xin Zhi, his second son, teachers from Chongqing
Central University and Sun Zhongwei, a brilliant disciple of Mr. Xu
Beihong. As soon as they arrived at Dunhuang, Daqian was immediately
charmed by the frescoes on the walls and the delicate and beautiful
colored sculptures. Upon this, he decided to cancel his own initial plan
to draw the colored sculptures by leaving it to Sun Zhongwei alone.
While he himself began to copy the frescoes in those grottoes. For the
task to proceed smoothly, Mr. Zhang Daqian first numbered the grottoes.
Before this, a Frenchman named Paul Pelliot numbered the Mogao Grottoes
according to the order of the photos taken of the frescoes, and the
total number was 171. This numbering was disorderly and unsystematic in
nature. Another numbering of the Mogao Grottoes was conducted in 1930s
by Gansu Governmental Office. The total number was 353. Because the
second numbering was rarely used, most markings peeled off and there
were also many mistakes in them. Mr. Zhang Daqian was the third person
and the first individual Chinese to number the Mogao Grottoes with
personal power. DaqianY numbering followed the direction of the canal
flowing down from the Qilian Mountains, that is to say, from south to
north, from left to right, and then turned back up along the grottoes,
the route was somewhat like a double-lined English letter H the
numbering took five months of arduous work. As a result, altogether 309
grottoes were numbered.
Since everything was ready, in 1942, Mr. Zhang Daqian invited Tibetan
lama painters Ang Ji, San Zhi, Xiao Wu Ge Lang, Lo Shang Wa Zi, Du Jie
Ling Qie to go to Dunhuang with him. In the same year, his nephew Zhang
Bide, his disciples Xiao Jianchu and Liu Lishang, and his bosom friend
Xie Ziliu came to help. One of the five lama painters tasks was to
prepare painting cloths. First, they jointed the painting cloth so
perfectly that they looked like one; second, the cloth was to be
stretched tightly between a wooden frame and daubed three times with
rubber dust and ground seven times with big stone. Equally important was
the concoct of colors. The Buddhist frescoes have their own traditions
in the employment of colors, which was unknown to most painters of
traditional Chinese painting. When copying the frescoes, Daqian
instructed his disciples, his son and nephew and lama painters to divide
the work among them. They had overcome many difficulties, such as the
dim light and limited space inside the grottoes. The colors of the
original frescoes faded due to long time, some colors peeled off and
some lines were indistinct. First, they would climb up the ladders and
squatted down, then drew outlines of the frescoes on glassines pressed
closely on the wall. After this, they would adhere the glassines on the
painting cloth. In the daylight, they would draw the outlines on the
cloth with charcoal by the sunlight, then they used Chinese black ink to
draw the outlines. The last step was filling colors. All those major
parts containing Buddhist figures were drawn and colored by Daqian
himself, the rest pavilions, buildings, cabinets and other background
decorations were done collectively by others. In that period of time,
Daqian often held a stick of candle in one hand, and a paintbrush in
another, standing or squatting on the ladders, sometime even lying on
the ground. He would spend scores of times studying the frescoes before
he started drawing. Each piece of painting would go through a series of
complicated procedures. The large pieces would usually take over two
months each to finish, while the smaller ones would also take over ten
days to finish. Every early morning the working group entered the
grottoes, and exited in the evening with dirty faces and messy hairs.
Day after day, they plunged themselves in the 濖urnace of art
As regard to the copying principles, Mr. Zhang Daqian stressed that the
drawing should be very precise and no personal thing should stand in the
way. In grasping the form of the fresco, he acquired a deeper
understanding of its spiritual connotation. Considering the changes of
styles of times, Mr. Zhang Daqian thought, 氒he paintings of Northern
Wei dynasty were excellent in drawing landscapes such as wild mountains
and forests; in Sui dynasty, styles of paintings of that period followed
that of the Sui dynasty and were added with simplicity and tranquility;
in Tang dynasty, the paintings were both pretty, vivid and heavily
colored; in the Five Dynasties and beginning of Song dynasty, paintings
were of lower artistic quality, there had been few outstanding painters
then; the paintings in the Xi Xia Dynasty had some fresh elements, but
they were unnatural therefore also of lower artistic value. (Zhang
Daqian: Preface for the Collection of Copies of Dunhuang Frescoes)
As to artistic spirit, Mr. Zhang Daqian deemed, the immense scale of the
Dunhuang Frescoes was the presentation of the great creative power of
ancient Chinese people. In terms of artistic value, Dunhuang frescoes
were more valuable than the Yungang Stone Carvings in Shanxi Province
and Longmen Statues in Henan Province. According to Mr. Zhang Daqian,
Dunhuang was not only the treasure house of Chinese art, it was also the
treasure house of world art. The number, timespan, painting styles and
painters of Dunhuang frescoes were unparalleled. He made an account of
the influence of Dunhuang frescoes on Chinese painting in the following
ten aspects: First, Buddha images and human figures; second, the
emphasis on lines; third, the restoration of the ancient method of
drawing outlines and coloration; fourth, the change from delicate
miniature style to grand style; fifth, the change from simple style to
precise style; sixth, accurate knowledge of the painting method of
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; women in the paintings are portrayed vigorous
and graceful; seventh, the shift from painting of historical theme to
realistic painting; ninth, the surrealistic Buddha images were used to
cater the taste of common Chinese people; tenth, Western paintings could
not longer belittle the Chinese painting circle due to the existence of
Dunhuang frescoes. (Zhang Daqian: On Dunhunag Frescoes). Mr. Zhang
DaqianY understanding of Dunhuang Art had been carried out in his
artistic practice. There are distinctive differences between his works
before and after his journey to Dunhuang. The lines, coloration and
layout before and after the journey are all different. From the
frescoes, he saw the precision of the thinking of ancient painters and
perfection of their spiritual world. Their attitude toward artistic
reality, their great efforts and patient pursuit of precision stimulated
him to put an end to casual, carefree painting style and to develop new
painting style by inheriting the great artistic spirit of ancient art.
Mr. Zhang Daqian spent a total of two years and seven months in
Dunhuang. During this period, he had copied 276 pieces of small or large
frescoes (presently 183 pieces are kept in Sichuan Provincial Museum, 62
pieces are kept in Taiwan National Palace Museum, including copies of
frescoes in Mogao and Yulin Grottoes). Ordinary people could not imagine
the hardships he had experienced in this period. Just as the writer Mr.
Gao Yang said, ]hang Daqian was an ascetic in researching the
Dunhuang Art. Spiritually speaking, he had something in common with
Buddhist monk Xuan Zang. There he gave full display of his courage,
persistence and his devotion to art. The over two years of life in
Dunhuang itself was a great achievement. (Gao Yang: Life and Death:
Meiqiu and Abode of Maya-Painter, p.187).
The understanding and evaluation of the artistic value of Zhang
DaqianY reproductions of Dunhuang frescoes has always been
controversial in the painting circles. As early as in 1941, Daqian
stayed at Mogao Grottoes for a short time, he sent to his friend in
Chengdu over twenty pieces of his copies of single figures of Mogao
Grottoes, entrusted his friend to hold an Sainting Exhibition of
Zhang DaqianY Journey to the West, this aroused a lot of praise
and disparage. Some people even thought that Dunhuang frescoes were
merely vulgar artisan works of religious superstition, a painter who
indulged himself in such paintings was going crazy. However, Mr. Zhang
Daqian didnZ step back because of these comments. Instead, he was
made more determined to make great achievement in Dunhuang. According to
his view, the painters in Tang and Song Dynasties invariably engaged in
painting of frescoes, many of the Dunhuang frescoes were not the works
of plain artisans, but of famous painters, 懀heir works were
masterpieces of figure paintings and the yardsticks of ancient painting
styles. (Zhang Daqian: Preface of Exhibition of Copies of Dunhuang
Frescoes, 1944). In 1943, Exhibition of Zhang DaqianY Copies of
Dunhung Frescoes was held in Lanzhou. People began to realize the
potential artistic value of these frescoes. The Northwest Daily
announced in the notice that 餹r. Zhang Daqian has spent several years
in Dunhuang, studying the frescoes there and tracing the painting
traditions of thousand years. His effort has made the once unknown
Dunhuang Grottoes known to the world. And the authentic paintings of the
Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties were vividly brought back from
oblivion. In 1944, Exhibition of Zhang DaqianY Copies of Dunhuang
Frescoes was held in Chengdu. The great Dunhuang Art was highly praised
by all social circles. In the same year, the exhibition was held in
Chongqing, again caused a sensation. At once, throughout China, a
璌unhuang Cult had taken shape. PeopleY awareness of cherishing
and protecting the excellent historical heritages was wakened. But some
still held that &opying was the last thing in the world a painter
should do, for a painterY mission was to create. In spite of the
praises and blames, most people in the academic and fine arts circles
had good comments on Mr. Zhang DaqianY persistent inquiry into the
nature of art. The famous painter Ye Qianyu remarked that 喰is is a
historical pioneering work in the study of ancient art, this is also the
decisive factor that propelled him to climb the summit of figure
painting. (Ye Qianyu: Preface of Collections of Zhang DaqianY
Copies of Dunhuang Frescoes). Seeing from the angle of modern art
phylogeny, we should say, had it not been for this hard journey to
Dunhuang, there would have been no Zhang Daqian the great master of
painting.
Half a century has passed, as we recollect Mr. Zhang DaqianY arduous
journey to the wilderness and wall-facing years and examine the
masterpieces he has left us, it is not difficult to find out their
profound epochal significance.
The first significance lies in the fact that, unlike other painters of
his time, Mr. Zhang Daqian made a completely different choice with
extraordinary courage. The end of the 19th century witnessed the
reevaluation of traditional Chinese culture and the doubt of its future,
this phenomenon triggered self-criticism of all aspects of traditional
Chinese culture. The call for 5eform and 5evolution in
Chinese painting was also vowed. Facing the collision of western and
Chinese cultures, painters made their own choices. Mr. Zhang Daqian was
famous for his traditional painting skills and versatility. The famous
works he had copied were so many that what he had done was a rare
phenomenon in modern times. Unlike Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian who
received the baptism of western culture in their youth, Zhang Daqian
didnZ reform the modeling principles of traditional painting. While
Xu Beihong reformed those principles with 6cientific methods of
modern western fine arts, and Lin Fengmian expressed the rhythm of
Chinese art with form and texture of western painting. Mr. Zhang Daqian
firmly believed that traditional painting art was an inexhaustible
treasury. Outside the 'ecent traditional painting it was just in
Dunhuang where Mr. Zhang Daqian found the breakthrough point to open up
new boundary for Chinese painting. He remarked, Ln terms of artistic
value, we may say that Dunhuang frescoes are the condensation of all the
achievements of ancient eastern and Chinese painting art. The Dunhuang
frescoes embody the one thousand years of development history of Chinese
fine arts from Northern Wei dynasty to Yuan dynasty. In other words, we
may say that they are the acme of Buddhist art The Dunhuang frescoes
of our country were about one thousand years earlier than the European
Renaissance. The fact that they are still kept in quite good condition
is a miracle of human civilization! In 1930s, traditional folk art
was not paid much attention to, but if we trace the history back before
Tang dynasty, we can see that fork tradition was the mainstream of art.
After Song dynasty, intellectual tradition began to thrive. Folk art is
a treasure land buried with rich forms and formal beauties. It is the
major pillar of the makeup of aesthetic judgment. Mr. Zhang Daqian was
not Qi Baishi, who grew from a folk artisan to a master of art. With the
blood of folk art in his heart, Qi Baishi annotated the paintings of
intellectuals according to his understanding. His absorption ability of
folk art can be said to be innate. While Zhang Daqian, an intellectual
painter who received decent cultural education, was active and
purposeful in absorbing the nutrition of folk art. In his judgment, the
works by those nobody painters were by no means inferior to those by
such great painters as Yan Liben and Wu Daozi. Therefore, he had the
courage to devote himself to the study of those paintings in order to
develop a new style of his own. The great master of Chinese studies, Mr.
Chen Yinge, commented after he saw the Zhang DaqianY copies of
Dunhuang frescoes, 璌unhuang Study is one of the major trends in
todayY cultural and academic research. By copying the frescoes of
Northern dynasty, Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Mr. Zhang Daqian
has opened the window for people to see the national treasure, and his
achievement surpassed previous research results. With his brilliant
talent, although he has only made copies of the frescoes, the copies are
also full of creativity. Actually, based on our national art, he has
already developed a new kingdom. His act is without doubt a great event
in the field of Dunhuang Study. Mr. Zhang Daqian is not a scholar of
painting history, yet his accurate knowledge and penetrating views of
ancient painters and painting theories, his deep insight into the
epochal styles of paintings and his comprehension of the spirit of
painting far outshine those ordinary historians. His journey to Dunhuang
is just the result of his introspection of the development and change of
painting styles in several thousand years. Any master of art with sense
of responsibility and confidence will inevitably take up the mission to
revitalize national art. Only Mr. Zhang Daqian saw more clearly that the
fountain of traditional art consisted of three mutually complementary
parts: folk art, intellectual art and court art. As an all-round type of
artist, Daqian took the tide of his time, we could also say history had
chosen this man, Zhang Daqian.
Secondly, after his ascetic cultivation in Dunhuang, he fulfilled the
transcending of himself. In Research of Zhang Daqian by Mr. Ba Dong of
Taiwan National Museum of History, the author summed up, that the early
painting styles of Zhang Daqian followed that of the Four Monks in the
end of Ming dynasty, the painting techniques he adopted were those of
Yuan and Ming Dynasties or later. When he took the long journey to
Dunhuang, he witnessed the great, delicate, spectacular manifestation
and coloration of art. The persistence and devotion of those
professional painters of the Dunhuang frescoes, the radiating brilliance
and vigor, are all qualities that those unrestrained and proud
intellectual painters do not possess. He was greatly shocked and deeply
moved, there he was fully enlightened and understood the essence of
懀he Sublimity of Buddha and Bodhisattvas Therefore, he had no
further puzzlement in his artistic creation, defying the challenge of
the bad living conditions, and he stood the test with his persistence.
In his artistic pursuit, without a thread of opportunist thinking, he
had sincerely displayed the same quality of determination and devotion
as those ancient painters. From then on, he entered the state of ancient
times, and realized spiritual elevation. All his efforts made him a
master of art of his time who 婫mploys the past to create the
present We should say the whole process of Mr. Zhang DaqianY
copying of ancient paintings is just a process of discovering beauty. He
didnZ only pay attention to paintings of intellectual painters of
Ming and Qing dynasties, his artistic antenna was further extended to
the art heritage of and before Tang dynasty. He was qualified to be an
intellectual painter, and he also had the skills of an academic painter.
But what he had chosen was neither the casual and leisurely painting
styles of intellectual painters, nor the lifeless and trivial academic
painting style. His choice was what he termed the 3ainterY
painting which was rich in cultural flavor. His proposition was a
challenge against the ideas of those restoration painters and vulgar
intellectual painters. Mr. Zhang Daqian once expressed his intention to
spend more time doing some research. He said humbly that he had 2nly
touched a little of frescoes But his research of Dunhuang and over
300 hundred copies of frescoes undoubtedly have composed the most moving
chapter in the art world of this great master. Copying itself was not
the real intention of Mr. Zhang Daqian. Actually, through this arduous
work, he transformed himself from merely a sustainer of tradition to
amalgamator of the painting art. This kind of amalgamation is not that
of western and Chinese arts, but the harmonization of inner artistic
structures of traditional art. It can also be said that this
amalgamation is the re-annotation of a modern artist of the
懀radition in his mind. In Dunhuang Art, Mr. Zhang Daqian had found
the long-lost &olor life of Chinese painting. This enlightenment
comprised the spiritual kernel of his splashed-ink-and-color painting
technique. It can be said that the journey to Dunhuang laid the basis
for Mr. Zhang DaqianY to become a master of art of his time.
