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Lot Essay
A rare monumental tour-de-force, Zhang Daqian’s Landscape in the Style of Shitao presents a lofty scholar traversing into the deep, majestic mountains with towering waterfall among the clouds. Influenced by his two teachers, Zeng Xi and Li Ruiqing, he learned connoisseurship in addition to emulating nature as well as old masters - a path that led to his highly individualized style. His study of Shitao’s oeuvre began while a pupil under Zeng and Li. By the second half of 1920, he has garnered some renown for his emulation of Shitao.
The Shitao original on which this work is based is a 309.5 cm. tall landscape currently preserved at the Sichuan Museum bearing similar size and composition. However, Zhang Daqian employs colours instead of ink monochrome, transforming Shitao’s solemnity into liveliness. This is probably due to the preference of the collector Liu Huhan who commissions the work. Zhang’s confidence is expressed through his copying of Emperor Qianlong’s habit of inscribing the word “divine” and affixing his seal on the centre of the top edge. The Shitao original once belonged to Zhang, as it was recorded in his collection catalogue; it was sold by his wife Yang Wanjun to the Sichuan Museum in 1957. Whether Zhang had already acquired this work when he created Landscape in the Style of Shitao is unknown, but his fondness for it can be observed from the fact that he had kept this work without selling it.
The original recipient, Liu Huhan, was the son of the wealthiest person of Nanxun, Liu Yong, who owned a lot of lands and real estate in the Jiangnan region. Liu Huhan was a devoted collector who favoured large-scale works of leading contemporary artists—Wu Changshuo, Huang Binghong, Zhang Shanzi, and He Tianjian, among others, have all created monumental commissions for him. He likely took notice of Zhang Daqian when Zhang held his first solo exhibition in Shanghai in 1925.
Liu Huhan’s collection began to disseminate in the 1940s, and Landscape in the Style of Shitao was acquired by an interpreter for the United States Military Advisory Group stationed in Nanjing, Professor Daniel Te-Yen Lee. In 1972, Professor Lee hosted a local television program in California where he interviewed Zhang Daqian, who was then living there. This video has become one of the most significant primary sources in the study of the artist. It was said that Professor Lee showed Zhang a photo of this work, and Zhang reminisced the past and mentioned that this was the grandest work he did at the time.
The Shitao original on which this work is based is a 309.5 cm. tall landscape currently preserved at the Sichuan Museum bearing similar size and composition. However, Zhang Daqian employs colours instead of ink monochrome, transforming Shitao’s solemnity into liveliness. This is probably due to the preference of the collector Liu Huhan who commissions the work. Zhang’s confidence is expressed through his copying of Emperor Qianlong’s habit of inscribing the word “divine” and affixing his seal on the centre of the top edge. The Shitao original once belonged to Zhang, as it was recorded in his collection catalogue; it was sold by his wife Yang Wanjun to the Sichuan Museum in 1957. Whether Zhang had already acquired this work when he created Landscape in the Style of Shitao is unknown, but his fondness for it can be observed from the fact that he had kept this work without selling it.
The original recipient, Liu Huhan, was the son of the wealthiest person of Nanxun, Liu Yong, who owned a lot of lands and real estate in the Jiangnan region. Liu Huhan was a devoted collector who favoured large-scale works of leading contemporary artists—Wu Changshuo, Huang Binghong, Zhang Shanzi, and He Tianjian, among others, have all created monumental commissions for him. He likely took notice of Zhang Daqian when Zhang held his first solo exhibition in Shanghai in 1925.
Liu Huhan’s collection began to disseminate in the 1940s, and Landscape in the Style of Shitao was acquired by an interpreter for the United States Military Advisory Group stationed in Nanjing, Professor Daniel Te-Yen Lee. In 1972, Professor Lee hosted a local television program in California where he interviewed Zhang Daqian, who was then living there. This video has become one of the most significant primary sources in the study of the artist. It was said that Professor Lee showed Zhang a photo of this work, and Zhang reminisced the past and mentioned that this was the grandest work he did at the time.