The Famous Flower-and-bird Artist, A Successor of Post-Shanghai School
——The Summary of Zhang Yuejian’s Art Seminar

From March 15th to April 5th, 2004, hosted by ZJAM, “Zhang Yuejian’s Art Exhibition” was held at West Lake Art Museum, exhibiting 100 pieces of his works, album of paintings and original manuscripts. Gao Eryi, deputy director of Zhejiang Provincial Publicity Department, Liu Jian and Gao Fagen, vice president of China Academy of Art, Guo Zhongxuan, the curator of Zhejiang Research Institute of Culture and History, together with other relevant leaders, and a batch of eminent artists and ideologists, including Wang Boming, Liu Jiang, Wu Shanming, and Zhuo Hejun, attended the short and grand opening ceremony and visited the exhibition. After the ceremony, around thirty artists and scholars, including Wang Boming, Zheng Chao, Zhu Yingren, Liu Jiang, Wu Shanming, Liu Cun, Zhao Zongzao, Lu Xin, Wu Zhanlei, Min Xuelin, Du Gaojie, Jin Jiancai, Qian Dali, Gu Zhenyan, Zhao Yanjun, Mao Jianbo, Jiang Yue, and Dong Genyou, together with Zhang Yuejian’s families Wu Wanxiang and Zhang Xiangding, participated Zhang Yuejian’s art seminar, presided by Lu Xin, the professor of China Academy of Art and curator of Pan Tianshou’s Memorial Hall. At the seminar, the attendants held a heated discussion on Zhang Yuejiang’s art, accomplishment and moral qualities, which received full and high appreciation. This year was 80th anniversary of Zhang Yuejian’s brith and the first anniversary of his death. The activities provided an opportunity to honor the memory of the respected artist, with first Zhang Yuejian’s art seminar opening compactly and meaningfully.

The followings are the speech summaries.

Wang Boming (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of China Academy of Art):

Today I come to exhibition of Zhang Yuejian’s posthumous works, but mentally and emotionally, I always think he didn’t pass away and is still with us. He came to my home a month before he died, and told me “Boming, you are my age. You need often take exercises. Take a walk is good. I usually do so.” From what he said, we know he had strong health care consciousness, but it never occurred to me that he left the world before me. Till now, I still couldn’t accept his death. Though Zhang Yuejian was gone, his paintings left in the world. Zhang Yuejian didn’t reach his artistic culmination in the age of eighty. If he could live ten or twenty years longer, he should have achieved more. There are still considerable promising developments of Zhang Yuejian’s paintings, which is quite valuable. There are several situations of painting. Some people painted well when they were little, but does worse and worse when they grow up; while some people’s painting skills become better and better as they grow older. Huang Binhong is this kind of person, who changed his painting skills at his elder times, and made constant progresses till his death. Zhang Yuejian also belongs to this situation, but unfortunately he passed away untimely.

Zhang Yuejian is mainly a flower-and-bird painter, but his achievements in figure paintings are also significant. His art of composition in flower-and-bird paintings are not fixed, but with flexible changes based on predecessors’ skills. His paintings are full of vitality, which exactly presents his preciousness. Zhang Yuejian never stopped his artistic development throughout his lifetime. This is the main reason why we feel sorry for him.

Wu Shanming (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of China Academy of Art):

I’m strongly agreed with Mr. Wang’s appraisal on Mr. Zhang. 

Zhang rarely played at painting. Instead, he thought very hard on every piece of work, hoping to have something new on composition and conception of a painting, to which two factors contributed. First is Mr. Zhang’s solid traditional foundation; second is his love for life. He was good at observing and absorbing new things in life, and tried to present them in his paintings. Therefore, his paintings manifest his profound painting skills, as well as his honesty and vitality. Personally speaking, I like Mr. Zhang’s works very much with his great painting skills and originality. Some of the original ideas became wonderful paintings after Mr. Zhang’s comparatively mature perfection, which is different from some painters with repeated and programming skills. Just as Mr. Wang has said, Mr. Zhang had a considerable potential in his paintings. It is indeed very precious that he kept making progresses and innovating in the composition and conception of his paintings.

Mr. Zhang was a flower-and-bird painter, but he was also good at figure painting. I remember that he was transferred back to China Academy of Art as a teacher of figure painting. I’m very fond of his figure paintings, such as Fan Jin Passing the Provincial Civil Service Examination, which I have seen long ago. Mr. Zhang thought seriously about many minor characters and made thoughtful arrangements and meticulous painting. His earnest attitude towards serial pictures creation was fairly rare to see even in that time.

As a researcher of Xiling Institute of Calligraphy and Painting, Mr. Zhang was very supportive of our work. He was a very kind, modest and gentle painter with full artistic temperament. I’m also very glad that ZJAM can host such a grand exhibition for Mr. Zhang. There are indeed many things in Mr. Zhang that are worthy of our in-depth study and learning.

Wu Zhanlei (Editor of Zhejiang Ancient Books Press)

As Wang Boming has said, Zhang Yuejian’s greatest character is that he kept exploring and making progresses at different stages. Just as Books of Changes says, “The man of honor will strive constantly for self-improvement.” With the name “Yuejian”, he constantly strived to achieve better painting skills throughout his life. Although many artists and painters have dried up the inspirations at middle-age, there would be very much developing space in his paintings. He spent his life studying diligently. He had accumulated plenty of scripts when he copied paintings, visited art exhibitions and painted from life in Shanghai. Twenty years ago, I talked about his most valuable characters in a preface for his art exhibition, which are his unremittingly artistic self-improvement and his full dedication to art. These are very worthy of learning and thinking in contemporary art circle. Nowadays, many painters concentrated their efforts on the surface, but Zhang Yuejian dedicated himself to art, and improved his traditional attainment from the cultural perspective. He often discussed poetry and elevation with me, and tried to improve himself in many ways for a better artistic creation.

Although Zhang Yuejian was an honest and sincere person, he had fantastic ideas about his paintings, and often achieved success with these surprisingly original ideas. At his age of eighty, he still created giant paintings with grandiose imposing manner. Zhang Yuejian’s composition is of special features with sophisticated and vigorous painting skills, and he was bold to break down outmoded conventions. In his later years, he talked about his thoughts to change painting skills several times, but unfortunately he passed away too early. Just as Lu Xin has said, instead of packaging and selling himself, Zhang Yuejian diligently strived for self-improvement in art in earnest. People will not pay attention to and make researches on the cultural heritage he left for us until it becomes the part of history. I think we should cherish the heritage, and conduct closely study on it to bring out some new thinking. My attendance to the exhibition indeed gives me a feeling that he is still with us, which is good on the bright side, but on the other side, it’s the sorrow I couldn’t bear to lose him.

Du Gaojie (Professor of Art Department in Zhejiang University)

I kept frequent contacts with Mr. Zhang. In the middle of nineties, we had field strips, made sketches, and took exercises together for a period of time. Mr. Zhang was in good health, but pitifully he passed away early for incidental reason. I was excited to know the art exhibition, and have had a more comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of him after the exhibition. Mr. Zhang was really a remarkable figure with comprehensive self-cultivation on poetry and calligraphy. He had wide artistic range with excellent skills on figure, mountains and waters, and flower-and-bird paintings. I’m totally fascinated by his figure paintings. Such a comprehensive artistic culture and wide creation range, together with his modest and prudent characters and unyielding spirit, made significant contributions to Mr. Zhang’s artistic achievements. All these are worth learning in contemporary art circle. Nowadays, some painters have great limitations in appearance and subjects with poor techniques of expression.

Mr. Zhang was a painter who was good at learning. Just like Mr. Wang has said, he lived and learned, and was the role model of lifetime learning. His style of study and learning methods are worth advocating and developing. He went into the thick of life, and diligently captured the images in life. Mr. Zhang had a strong ability of mould, which was not confined to the surface of the reality, so that he was able to refine, generalize, exaggerate or deform. It was based on the overall and intact ability of mould that he was constantly capable of capturing fresh images from life, and was able to create various and singular paintings with such a wide artistic range and varied subjects. He integrated his study from Pan Tianshou with his own innovation in his composition. Mr. Zhang had profound traditional foundation, as well as strong creativity, which is quite rare in today’s art circle. The lack of modeling ability is the big problem in today’s art circle as well as traditional Chinese painting field.

It is not easy for a painter to create some first-class works, but we can see quite a few excellent works in Mr. Zhang’s art exhibition. For example, Goose, is a very subtle painting. Mr. Zhang’s artistic works and personality are worthy of being widely spread, known, and leant.

Zheng Chao (Professor of China Academy of Art):

Mr. Zhang Yuejian was one of my old classmates, old colleagues, and old neighbors. I’ve known him very well. If I have to give Yuejian a proper position, I think he was one of the important successors of Post-Shanghai School, as well as perhaps the last authority.

The art career of Zhang Yuejian was not smooth. The first stage was laying the foundation on techniques, aesthetic ideology and life experience respectively. As his father loved art, he grew up under the artistic influence of Wu Changshuo and Baidu from his father’s painting album collections. Later he passed the entrance examination of National College of Art under the appreciation and guidance of Wu Fuzhi. Studying under the direct guidance of Pan Tianshou, Wu Fuzhi and Zhu Lesan, he gradually confirmed his painting techniques and aesthetic ideology, and indomitably chose Post-Shanghai School as his lifetime career without hesitation. His rural life experience had also exerted a great influence on his artistic creation.

The second stage was artistic development and accumulation. Graduated from National College of Art, he was assigned to Shanghai Press mainly for painting illustrations, wall pictures and serial pictures. After he accomplished nicely work tasks, he focused his spare time on traditional Chinese painting. Shanghai is the birthplace of Shanghai School with profound artistic history. Zhang Yuejian viewed various exhibitions, carefully copied them, and visited masters of Shanghai School. The succession of Post-Shanghai School continued. Artistic works and ideas from different schools and masters also broadened his artistic vision, which was beneficial for his flower-and-bird painting. However, he was only famous in serial pictures, and few knew his flower-and-bird paintings. In fact, he was completely qualified to attend Shanghai Art Academy because he was one of the few Chinese painters with such fine artistic attainments of the same age.

The third stage was the period of improvement and harvest. After returning to Hangzhou from Shanghai, he soon adapted his teaching job in art academy, and received welcome and popularity among students. Unfortunately, he retired in a few years. After retirement, he worked very hard almost every night to two or three o’clock in the morning. His main effort at this period was in constant exploration and improvement on flower-and-bird painting. He made researches on pen and ink, color, and in particular on composition of pictures. He often signed with emotion that it was not easy to compose a picture, and that it was difficult to jump out the stereotypes. Nonetheless, he summarized lots of experience at that time, and published quite a few monographs, textbooks and biographies, which were based on his accumulated profound knowledge. At his late years, he often talked about his ambitious plans, so I used to say that he was Zhang Yuejian with healthy body and unremittingly artistic ambition. He was eager to make new artistic breakthrough, and strive for further improvement and more attainments.

There is no doubt that Zhang Yuejian was a master of Post-Shanghai School in Chinese traditional painting. It remains to be seen whether there will be another master like him.

Liu Cun (Chairman of Wu Fuzhi Art Researsh Council):

Zhang Yuejian liked flower-and-bird painting since his childhood. Although he later worked in Shanghai for serial pictures, wall pictures and illustrations creation, he was still engaged in flower-and-bird paintings. Once I went to visit him in Shanghai, he showed me a notebook, in which he recorded the composition features of masters he made studies on, such as Ba Da and Wu Changshuo. He summed up their artistic features, and applied them in his own creation.

With his unremitting exploration and pursuit, Zhang Yuejiang laid a deep and profound traditional artistic foundation under the nurture and influence of Mr. Pan, Mr. Wu and Mr. Zhu during his study at National College of Art, which was later strengthened at China Academy of Art. With this profound foundation, he was bold to take the innovative road by applying natural materials in his paintings, forming a vivid painting style with both traditional and life elements

Yuejian was a diligent person. When he went out for activities, he would take a sketch or a photo to make a copy of good scenery. He would also make a copy of his works for exhibition use or given as presents to avoid the chance of repetition. Yuejian and I had known each other very well. He was sincere with a steadfast and serious work attitude. All these are very prominent. At the 100th anniversary of Wu Fuzhi’s birthday, I intended to invite him as the chairman of Wu Fuzhi Art Research Council because he was younger than me, and he could carry out the work well, but I didn’t expect he would pass away before me. I felt very sorry about that. His death was also the significant loss for Wu Fuzhi Art Research Council.

Liu Jiang (Professor of China Academy of Art, Deputy Director of Xiling Society of Seal Arts):

In 1978, teachers and students in our school went to visit the exhibition in Shanghai. I was introduced to Zhang Yuejian at the Art Museum. After our first conversation, I felt he was an honest and sincere painter. He expressed his intention to work at Zhejiang Province. Soon after, when he passed by Hangzhou, he brought with him two albums of his paintings (one was for flowers and birds, the other was about mountains and waters), and a published album of serial Chinese ink paintings named Master Dongguo. After reviewing his works, we saw his deep and profound traditional foundation on traditional Chinese paintings. He took painting materials from daily life with wide artistic range and broadly innovative artistic ideas. After further study of several colleagues in the department, we were consent to transfer him back to the department as a teacher.

After viewing Zhang Yuejian’s posthumous works at the exhibition again, I think his works are of great personal characteristics. As the old saying goes, one should be straight, but one’s works shouldn’t be simple. In my eyes, he was a sincere, honest and simple person, while his paintings were full of unusual but wonderful ideas with innovative and surprising composition and conception, which laid us deep impression with extraordinary vigor. He used thick and strong painting techniques and various and vivid colors to present us paintings full of vitality and energy. By inheriting previous masters’ painting features like Pan Tianshou and Wu Fuzhi, he made every effort to seek self-improvement in innovation. From his little compositions in small notebooks, we can see he was the person who dedicated his full heart to the artistic exploration. He got a great potential in his paintings, but it’s a pity that he passed away at an early age. If he can live ten years longer, he would make greater achievements in his paintings, and present a new Zhang Yuejian in Chinese art circle.

Zhao Zongzao (Professor of China Academy of Art):

Zhang Yuejian was transferred to our school at the end of 1970s (note: in 1979). After having contacts with him, I found he was very simple and honest, and as diligent as a peasant. His works are as vigorous and sincere as him.

This is my first time to see so many of his works, and I think there are not many painters in China like him, or even similar to him. First of all, he had a very deep and profound traditional foundation. In addition, his works are full of fun by collecting fresh materials from life. From the substantial manuscripts, one can find that he often observed life carefully and made records. Based on these, his works bring us fun and touching moments, which can cause people’s resonance. It is not often to see such a professional painter like him who could take materials from life and have a very deep and profound traditional foundation.

Secondly, Zhang Yuejian’s artistic career was very broad. He was both a flower-and-bird and a figure painter. Besides, his landscape paintings were also very good and comprehensive. His works are the incarnation of his love for life. He has been doing preparing work, and he could actually create much better works. Though he has already left us a large number of excellent works, he still had much potential to fulfill. It is necessary for professional elder painters to be equipped with health care doctors, and to strengthen their health care consciousness by taking due measurements, or it will be a pity to lose them at their early age.

At the first anniversary of Zhang Yuejian’s death, I express my deep sentiment to him.

Zhu Yingren (Professor of China Academy of Art):

After visiting the exhibition, I feel Zhang Yuejian’s ambition hasn’t been fulfilled yet. His paintings give us the sense of power and positive energy. Due to his love for life, he took a reflection and made a record on everything. He dared to paint everything he saw, and wanted to collect anything from life, so he had a very broad range of subjects. It is an important requirement for painters to love life, and Zhang Yuejian had done particularly well in the aspect.

I remembered in the early 1970s, Wu Fuzhi showed me Zhang Yuejian’s landscape album, which was his sketches in Nanjing. The pictures were not very large, but with novel composition, intense colors, and sophisticated painting skills. Mr. Wu repeatedly praised his paintings when he showed to me, and pointed out and praised again the excellent parts. From Mr. Wu’s praise, I could deeply feel he thought highly of his son-in-law Yuejian, and he was really happy for him from his heart. Yuejian not only excelled in landscape paintings, but also in figure and flower-and-bird paintings, which deserves people’s respect and admire on his paintings.

Zhang Yuejian lived in a warm family. I remembered in the middle of 1990s, Yuejian and I were invited to paint at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. We all went there with families. Yuejian and his wife (I called his wife as big sister) loved each other devotedly. His wife did the secondary work when Yuejian painted. Yuejian wrote specially a note with hotel address and phone number on it and put it inside the pocket in case his wife went wrong and got lost. Every time when they had breakfast, the big sister would persuade Yuejian to eat a little bit more. From all these minor details, we could see their sincere and earnest love. All these moments are valuable memories that are hard to forget.

Zhang Yuejian was serious and meticulous in teaching. He taught students very carefully, including where to start and end the lines. All these were closely related to his steadfast and honest personality. He was not good at promotion and publicity; instead, he made efforts in a thoroughgoing manner. All these qualities, in my opinion, are basic requirements for an outstanding painter.

Jin Jiancai (Editor-in-Chief of Xiling Society of Seal Arts, Guest Professor of China Academy of Art):

It’s now popular for painters to hold solo exhibition, but actually it is very difficult to achieve success because every piece of work (at least most of the works) in hundreds of exhibited works need to attract viewers’ attention and can withstand people’s careful appreciation and evaluation, which can’t be realized via public hype. Therefore, to be frank, few painters can successfully hold solo exhibition, and Zhang Yuejian is one of the successful painters.

Zhang Yuejian was one of the professional painters I’ve known well. I’ve seen him painting in different occasions for many times, heard discussions about him, and viewed his collections. After I’ve viewed the exhibition, I’m surprisingly shocked. His paintings in the exhibition reflect Mr. Zhang’s artistic attainments much more than I’ve felt, and this kind of feeling is rare to obtain in other solo exhibitions. In his flower-and-bird painting career, Zhang Yuejian had always maintained an unwearyingly exploring courage, and the older he was, the stronger his courage was. His courage was mainly found in the colors, composition and image exaggeration. In terms of pen and ink, however, he refused to innovate but remained characteristics of traditional Chinese paintings by integrating Pan Tianshou’s pen techniques with Wu Fuzhi’s ink application. That is Zhang Yuejian’s preciousness because it’s not easy for ordinary painters to achieve at the same time, Therefore, as for his works, in huge size or in albums, he remained his distinct personal style, and avoided stylization and repetition. Just as old saying goes, it’s not professional for us to create paintings people do not understand in ancient times, and now it’s not good for us to follow the general trend when we paint. This is the only way for traditional Chinese paintings, and that is why Zhang Yuejian achieved success. Zhang Yuejian’s solo exhibition, in my opinion, provides much correct information for those who are undergoing confused stage in Chinese flower-and-bird painting. It can certainly give us a new important enlightenment.

Wu Wanxiang (Zhang Yuejian’s wife):

Today is the first anniversary of Zhang Yuejian’s death. Supported by Zhejiang Provincial Museum, his solo exhibition is held in West Lake Art Museum, whose success is inseparable from the support of Zhejiang Provincial Museum and your assistance. It was Zhang Yuejian’s wish to hold a solo exhibition, and now he could finally fulfill his dream. We are deeply gratified. On behalf of my family, I express my sincere gratitude to honored leaders, guests, dear friends and relatives, and Zhejiang Provincial Museum. I hope Chinese painting is continuously developed to a greater height, and traditional Chinese painting is constantly innovated and developed. Thank you!

 

Text by Zhou Feiqiang and Peng De