July, 2005 - Nr. 7
Classic Chinese Art
(Dai Collection)
Buddhisatva Guanyin
60 cm x 124 cm
Chinese Brush painting on paper
Artist: Zhang Daqian
Zhang Daqian was a native of Nei-Chiang, Szechwan. At the age of 21, he studied under many grand Masters in that time. His skill is so great that when he copied some historic Masters’ artworks. There had been a missjudgment to take his works as the old master’s works. In 1941, he went to Dunhuang Cave and spent 2 years and 7 months copying wall paintings. Here he studied traditional coloration and line drawing methods. Moved by the grand scale and complex layout of the high Tang style, and its sumptuous splendour, he then inspired to create great art. Besides copying from old masters, he also expert at painting from life. Zhang also traveled to Europe and America, where he came into contact with the art in the West. This lead him to his later style-splashed-ink and splashed-colour. Combined this technique the masterly texture strokes, his works created a whole new style of Chinese painting.
This "Buddhisatva Guanyin" depicts an ancient story of the Buddhisatva Guanyin. In order to teach people to be kind and to learn about the Buddha Law, Guanyin transformed to be a beautiful lady in the town and announced that she would marry the man who can recite the sutra. However, there were too many people can recite the one she gave at the first test. She then gave another sutra for people to memorize it. Eventually, a lot of people can memorize most sutras she gave, and there is then one winner at last. However, on the wedding day, she died. People then realized that she is the Buddhisatva Guanyin who had come to bring people’s morality back to a better state by teaching people with sutras.
In this work, you can see his style is influenced by Dunhuang Cave but is richer in colour usage. From the fish, you can see his skill in painting from life. You can also see the hair of the lady is so soft and is very fine. One can also see the makeup fashion of that time: "3 white" on face for ladies, which are forehead white, nose white and chin white.
