PROPERTY FROM A HONG KONG PRIVATE COLLECTION (LOTS 1267-1273)This collection was amassed by a Hong Kong industrialist. He started collecting Chinese artworks in the 1930s and 1940s in Shanghai, and concentrated primarily on Chinese paintings. He later migrated to Hong Kong in the late 1940s and brought the collection with him. This collection is kept in the family for over fifty years.

ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983)

Scholar Viewing Pine in the Style of Tang Yin

Details

ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983)
Scholar Viewing Pine in the Style of Tang Yin
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
136.5 x 67 cm. (53 ¾ x 26 3/8 in.)
Inscribed three times by the artist, with a total of five seals
Dated third month, gengyin year (1950)
Titleslip inscribed, dated gengwu year (1930)

Further Details

Zhang Daqian: The Early Years
As we look back at the development of 20th century Chinese ink painting, Zhang Daqian is often recognised as the most innovative artist among his contemporaries. Spanning over six decades, Zhang’s career as an artist went through many phases of development, with some distinct techniques and outlooks in his art only seen in a specific period in his life. The works from Zhang’s early period, dated between the 1920s and the 1930s, reflect his ambition and ingenuity as a young artist. Zhang conceived of his work within the longue durée of China’s artistic history, once stating: “During every period in Chinese painting, what is newest is what has come down from the past.” With an open mind, Zhang studied under various masters from the Shanghai School of painting, but also copied signature works by masters of the Ming and Qing dynasties to strengthen his foundation. Zhang’s reservoir of historic models was cemented in his 1930s oeuvre, which formed the basis for his later artistic development. While Zhang used painting to articulate a relationship to antiquity, he insisted that each of his paintings speak with its own voice. He measured himself against three criteria: monumentality, indirectness, and presence.
Monumentality – Zhang’s conception of monumentality was not a simple idea of scale or physical size. He was concerned with the impact of a painting on the viewer. Works that embody this quality are characterised by technical excellence, intriguing compositions and compelling narratives. They transport us beyond our mundane surroundings.
Indirectness – Zhang’s indirectness describes the winding route between his paintings and their classical inspiration. It is a quality accessible to cognoscenti, exciting viewers as they unpick the layers of references within a painting. Zhang’s indirect borrowing from antiquity ensured his paintings were not slavish copies, but modern creations inspired by a classical muse.
Presence – In Chinese, this term literally means luminescence or brightness. Zhang’s usage derives from Chinese opera, where liang refers to an imposing stage presence. In painting, it encompasses both the simulated presence of a figure, and the evocation of a mood through a pictorial scene.

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Lot Essay

There is another version of Scholar Viewing Pine in the Style of Tang Yin, painted by Zhang Daqian in 1930, currently residing in the Sichuan Museum collection. According to its side inscription dated 1930, Zhang viewed the original handscroll by Tang Yin (1470-1524) seven or eight years ago in Shanghai. According to the current painting’s inscription, Zhang Daqian copied the abovementioned and transformed the original horizontal composition into a vertical work. In the Sichuan Museum version, Zhang Daqian wrote that he painted it after viewing another Tang Yin’s work in the collection of Pang Laichen (1864-1949). In this version, he inscribed poems by Tang Yin and Shen Zhou on the silk mounting on top of the painting, which altered the proportion of the work. It is likely that both versions are based on the same painting by Tang Yin.
Although the inscribed date on the current work is gengyin year (1950), it is probable that Zhang misdated the painting. Judging from his painting and calligraphic style, the work was likely created around the same time as the Sichuan Museum version, and is a work early in the artist’s career.

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