White Lotus
Date1948
MaterialsInk on paper
DimensionsH. 56 in x W. 27 1/2 in, H. 142.2 cm x W. 70 cm (image); H. 88 in x W. 28 1/2 in, H. 223.5 cm x W. 72.4 cm (overall)
Credit LineGift of Rudolph Schaeffer from his Art Collection
Object numberB87D1
ClassificationsPainting
Signed“張爰之印”（白文方印）、“大千居士”（朱文方印）、“蜀人”（朱文方印）” 、“三十六陂秋色” （朱文方印）。
Zhang Yuan zhi yin (square intaglio), Daqian jushi (square relief), Shu ren (square relief), sanshiliu pi qiuse (square relief).
Inscribed“ ‘畫舸無恩別浦長，綠雲十里暗紅妝。一番雨過秋如許，從此西風夜夜涼。’ 大千居士畫并題。戊子十一月既望寫並題。阿爰。”
‘A beautiful boat is drifting away from the riverbank, and ten miles of green clouds are ornamented with red makeups. The autumn weather quickly arrives after a wave of rain passing by, and since then the west wind turns colder and colder at night.’
Hermit Daqian painted and inscribed. A Yuan inscribed again on the sixteenth day of the eleventh lunar month in the wuzi year (1948).
Markingsthree seals of artist
More InformationThis work shows off Chang Dai-chien’s uncanny ability to summon pictorial monumentality. The agitated brushwork that describes the lotus leaves here suggests the winds they have weathered. The mastery of shades of gray effectively suggests three-dimensional depth. The artist’s bold strokes become the stalks of the lotus and thick grasses, but the heart of the lotus, surrounded by twisting stamens and elegantly formed petals, conveys an almost erotic charge, underscored by the work’s inscription.
Lotus plants have long been associated with Buddhism: their roots are mired in the muddy bottom while their blossoms emerge from the water with refined elegance and beauty. Here the colophon identifies the color of the blossom to be as bright red as a woman’s cosmetics, seen from a distance—a carnal reminder of daily life embedded in an evocation of spirituality and timelessness.
