Modern interpretations in a classical tone

Arguably one of Asia's most influential artists of the last century, Chang Ta-chien's (張大千) passion for blending the old with the new and bringing contemporary elements to traditional Chinese artwork has turned heads for over 50 years.

From now until late February, 120 of Chang's early works are the focus of a special exhibition at Taipei's National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館). And one that organizers hope will leave local art aficionados in awe at the late artist's prowess.

Although Chang's old Taipei residence, which is located in the Shihlin district, was donated to the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) after his death in 1983 and now houses the Chang Ta-chien Memorial Museum (張大千先生紀念館), the works on display there are few in number. A vast majority of Chang's older works remain on permanent display in China's Sichuan Provincial Museum (四川省博物館).

After Chang Yu-sheng (張豫生), president of the Pacific Cultural Foundation, inspected the museum's mammoth collection of Chang's works two years ago, he wasted no time in inquiring about the possibilities of the museum loaning some of Chang's older works to Taipei's National Museum of History.

"Knowing how popular Chang and his works are and how influential the artist was, I realized the necessity to exhibit his older works in Taiwan almost immediately," Chang explained earlier this week. "There were obviously far too many in the entire collection to ship here, so we opted for a collection of his most well-known early works."

While countless scholars of Oriental art have attempted to define the life and times of the famed artist through drawn-out articles and immense tomes, it was probably the artist himself who best epitomized his notoriety in a single sentence.

"An ancient figure in a modern time," was how the artist once described himself.

With his long flowing beard, conservative floor length robe, a habit of totting a walking stick and an ability to breathe new life into age old art, Chang's simple self interpretation was, like the man himself both modest and in pleasant contrast to the over-inflated egos of many an artist.

Born in Sichuan Province in 1899, at the beginning of one of the most violent eras in Chinese history, Chang came of age when Western art techniques were just beginning to infiltrate Chinese art.

Unlike many of his peers who proceeded to emulate European artists and steered radically away from tradition, Chang never diverged from his oriental roots. Instead of looking for inspiration in the contemporary, Chang found stimulus in the past.

Initially trained as a commercial weaver and textile dyer in Japan, Chang's artistic and poetic dexterity wasn't recognized until the early 1920s. While studying calligraphy and ink painting under the guidance of Huai Chung-gong (懷中公) in Shanghai, Chang began to immerse himself in the study of classical Chinese poetry and art.

Chang learned to emulate classical Chinese art forms of Ming and Tang dynasty artists and became skilled in the art of contour-less painting as practiced by artists during the Warring States period.

While the direct copying of traditional art was considered a must by many aspiring artists of the day, Chang's renderings proved very different.

Instead of using colored inks as a secondary measure, he began to add bright hues in primary roles to give his works an aesthetic appeal. This application of color in all the wrong places was considered pretty radical in early 20th century China.