Page 57 - Fine Chinese Modern and Contemporary Paintings July 8th, 2020 Hong Kong

Presented as a birthday gift for Madame Youlan, the
wife of Wang Hsin-heng, Verdant East Lake was created
by Zhang at his Taipei residence in 1981. Considering
the couple’s heritage in Ningbo, Zhejiang, Zhang chose
to portray the Dongqian Lake. Once described by Guo
Moruo as an amalgam of “West Lake’s scenery and
Taihu Lake’s spirit”, it is the region’s largest and most
beautiful lake. Yet, beyond selecting a thoughtful subject,
Zhang revisited his abstract splashing artistry, thereby
bestowing on them a painting distinct from his other
works completed in his later years.
With compelling, bare stretches of water equipoising
enthralling, dyed tracts of woodland, Verdant East Lake
reflects Zhang Daqian’s shift towards simple composition
and spirited details in his final years. Mirroring the real
Dongqian Lake, Zhang presents, from a bird’s-eye view,
a cascading, tripartite arrangement of Huxin Island
extending from the lower right to the upper left of the
painting. As ink interacts with paper – seeping, soaking,
and sinking – the precise outlines which characterize
traditional Chinese landscape paintings are dissolved;
what remains is the fluid and manifest contrast of visual
spaces signifying lake and island. While the painting
remains principally abstract in style, Zhang invites the
viewer to seek comfort in the secreted dwellings and
towering trees. By veiling distinguishable forms with a
pall of emerald green mist and injecting sporadic bursts
of sapphire blue into a nebulous verdant pool, Zhang
Daqian simultaneously instils mystique and vivacity in
his layered work. Cherished by Wang Hsin-heng and his
wife, Verdant East Lake was a prominent installation in
their living room; guests always took pictures with the
painting, it was the Wangs’ pride.

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