Landscape for Ye Gongchao
Artist
Chang Dai-chien
(Zhang Daqian; Chinese, 1899 - 1983)
Date1952
MaterialsInk and colors on paper
DimensionsOverall: H. 16 5/8 × W. 14 1/4 in. (42.2 × 36.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Yeh Family Collection
Object number2007.132
DepartmentChinese Art
ClassificationsPainting
On View
Not on viewSigned“張爰印” (白文方印)，“大千” (朱文方印), “東西南北之人”（朱文長方印）。
Zhang Yuan yin (square intaglio), Daqian (square relief), dong xi nan bei zhi ren (rectangle relief).
Inscribed“壬辰之秋，潤生、亷明兩公來遊曼多洒，盤桓經旬，將歸于台灣，寫此乞寄公超道兄以代問訊也。大千弟張爰。”
In the autumn of the renchen year (1952), Runsheng and Lianming come to visit Mendoza (in Argentina). They stayed over ten days. Before their return to Taiwan, I painted this and asked them to bring it back, with my regards to my elder brother Gongchao. Younger brother Daqian, Zhang Yuan.
More InformationPainted soon after he and his family relocated to Medonza, Argentina, this serene landscape possibly represents Chang’s ideal place to live in the wilderness. Chang had been actively seeking such a place during the previous two years. At the bottom right of the painting, the seal of “a person of four directions” (dong xi nan bei zhi ren) marks the mindset of the artist at the time, when he decided to relocate to remote South America. Chang believed that this would help him focus on his artistic output and free him from the interferences of ongoing sociocultural movements in China. He also thought that he could promote Chinese art in the West by sharing his ink paintings with foreign audiences.
