| The great 20th Century Chinese painter Zhang Daqian, renowned for his excellent artistic achievement and legendary life, has become one of the most outstanding artists in modern China and even in the modern world.Zhang's painting style underwent three stages:The first being the "Crazy Copying" period, when he focused on learning from tradition by copying models of classic works and pursued a fresh and easy style;The second being the "Splash Ink with Color" period when he expanded his vision after visiting the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and copying the mural paintings, and greatly improved his painting to a magnificent and spectacular style;and the third being the "Chapped and Dotted Ink with Color" period when he explored new artistic horizons in Splash Ink with Color painting. With his older age and more mature painting style, more erudite scholarship and unsophisticated personality, and all-embracing heart, he developed a painting style that is profound and solemn, reaching a brand new artistic state in this period.From a development perspective, Zhang Daqian's abstract landscape painting represents a modern interpretation of the Chinese painting tradition, that is, traditional Chinese painting with extremely modern quality.Most of the previous reviews and studies on Zhang Daqian focused on his anecdotes, imitations of ancient paintings, visits and travels as well as his artistic achievements, while study of his Splash Ink with Color paintings was comparatively limited. This thesis attempts to be a systematic analysis of the artistic features, contributing factors to the artistic formation and the influence of Zhang Daqian's Splash Ink with Color paintings, so as to bring about a comprehensive understanding of the abstraction of his Splash Ink with Color paintings.Firstly, this thesis presents a brief introduction of Zhang Daqian's life. Secondly, the seven artistic features of his Splash Ink with Color paintings are analyzed, namely "ink and color painting without sketch lines", "delightful blending of ink and color", "dexterous combination of free and elaborate styles", "artful application of abstraction and concretization", "the unique effect of the ink-spread water mark", "concise yet forceful depiction" and "novel arrangement of color and light". On the basis of these features, it is summarized that Zhang Daqian's Splash Ink with Color paintings are an intangible, unsophisticated representation of Chinese style abstraction.In essence, it is a representation of the inner spirit of Chinese tradition, a reflection of the view of life and attitude towards survival, which originates from the cultural psychology of Chinese people, namely the thinking of the "unity of nature and man". This demonstrates an essential distinction with the representation of abstraction in western philosophical tradition of the "detachment of the outer world from human being".Thirdly, the cultural context behind the development of Zhang Daqian's Splash Ink with Color paintings is discussed and analyzed from the five aspects of "quality of painting and personal morality as one", "beauty as the highest criterion", "learning from the past, creating innovative works", "aiming high when striving for one's goal", and "Reading a thousand books, traveling a thousand miles".Next, the internal and external causes are analyzed to discuss the development of his Splash Ink with Color paintings. The fundamental internal causes of the formation of his Splash Ink with Color paintings are the painter's nature of mind, self-cultivation, vitality and talent, with the ideological basis being nourishment by the Chinese traditional culture and the technical preparation his training and practice in sketching.The external causes are the inspiration from ancient painting skills, the comparison of Chinese and Western paintings and the driving force of the art market.Lastly, the influence of Zhang Daqian's Splash Ink with Color paintings on later generations is generalized as a breakaway from the traditional way of expression by mainly using brush lines in Chinese painting, innovative forms and styles, and the extended use of color.Beginning with a discussion of Zhang Daqian's painting style, on the basis of an analysis of his paintings, the thesis explores the inner humanistic spirit embodied in his works and appreciates his innovation under the influence of Chinese and Western traditional paintings, in an attempt to present an explanation of the formation of the painter's Splash Ink with Color style from the perspective of cultural comparison and with a view to his personality charm and the social conditions of his age, in the hope of contributing to the development of Chinese painting and to the mode of research on painters and their works. |
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