He Tianjian (1891--1977) and the defense of guohua

He Tianjian (1891--1977) was one of the leading figures in the traditional-style Chinese painting (guohua) innovation movement in Shanghai during the early twentieth century. It was a thriving period that saw artists taking action in the advocacy of their artistic beliefs. Facing the accusation that traditional painting was neither scientific nor progressive, guohua painters endeavored to defend and revive traditional art. He Tianjian's multi-faceted career is key in the understanding of such efforts. He was not only a professional painter, but also an art teacher, theorist, editor, and founding member of several art societies. His work and writing provide a rich source for investigating the formation of his art. He Tianjian's bizarre painting style makes him particularly unique, and a significant part of his aesthetics was devoted to the valuing of the essential spirit of a painting over its visual resemblance to the subject depicted. Derived from Shitao (1642--ca. 1707), the idea of representing "unlike likeness" influenced the artist. He Tianjian emphasized that an excellent painting should achieve the "transcendental state," and the method was to care not the external appearance but to capture the essence of a subject. He valued "hiding ingenuity in clumsiness" and "coming from unexpectedness." His purpose being to amaze the viewers rather than appeal to their eyes, vigorous expression rather than a thoughtful invitation, it is hard for spectators to relate most of He Tianjian's artworks to beauty. He Tianjian was successful in advocating and in enhancing the value of traditional painting and in adding new compositional elements, as well as in giving fresh variations to old painting language such as texture strokes. He had not shown an intention to entirely changing guohua, and his bold artistic style was basically constructed for exploring the possibility of expanding the vocabulary of guohua. He had accomplished the self-assigned task of defending guohua by his own diversified unique painting manners, but the many styles of He Tianjian's works to this day make his art difficult to define in the context of later painting history in China.