拍品专文
Having accumulated a decade of experience in his pioneering splashed ink paintings, Hills in Autumn Haze stands at the peak of Zhang Daqian’s creativity and artistic achievement. A rich blanket of malachite and azurite pigments spread through the left of the painting, depicting the mountains and their vegetation to enshroud the foreground in bright emerald hue. Mist and rain surround the peaks from afar, painted in cobalt blue and accentuated with deliberate ink brushes. A thin layer of white haze rises from the bottom of the valley, moving upwards to create a dramatic entrance to the bright open air at the right side of the composition. Zhang Daqian’s versatility in painting techniques is seen in his use of thick brushstrokes to outline the continuous mountain range and his spray paint technique for the white pigment to allow the energetic movements of the snow-like atmosphere to come to life fully. His expression reminds us of the abstract expressionist movement pioneered by Jackson Pollock.
The talented artist always had an eye to expand his market in an international arena, particularly in the United States. His opportunity arrived in the summer of 1967 when he held two landmark exhibitions in California - an academic show at Stanford University and a commercial show at Laky Gallery. By the time when his exhibition Recent Works by Zhang Daqian went on tour to New York, Chicago and Boston in 1968, many American collectors had already heard about Zhang from his shows in the previous year. The present work - abstract, vibrant and bold, was tailored by Zhang to cater for an international audience in America. Borrowing the practice of Western artists, Zhang abandoned long, poetic inscriptions and only signed his name Yuan Weng and imprinted two seals on the painting. This very same painting, so beloved by the artist, was again included in his 1970 two-men show with Wang Jiyuan organized by the Smithsonian Institute. The show eventually toured many major museums and institutions in the United States. At this time, Zhang Daqian’s career as an international artist had firmly taken off.
The talented artist always had an eye to expand his market in an international arena, particularly in the United States. His opportunity arrived in the summer of 1967 when he held two landmark exhibitions in California - an academic show at Stanford University and a commercial show at Laky Gallery. By the time when his exhibition Recent Works by Zhang Daqian went on tour to New York, Chicago and Boston in 1968, many American collectors had already heard about Zhang from his shows in the previous year. The present work - abstract, vibrant and bold, was tailored by Zhang to cater for an international audience in America. Borrowing the practice of Western artists, Zhang abandoned long, poetic inscriptions and only signed his name Yuan Weng and imprinted two seals on the painting. This very same painting, so beloved by the artist, was again included in his 1970 two-men show with Wang Jiyuan organized by the Smithsonian Institute. The show eventually toured many major museums and institutions in the United States. At this time, Zhang Daqian’s career as an international artist had firmly taken off.