After owning a painting by Chang Dai-chien (張大千), one of the best-known Chinese artists in the 20th century, for 41 years, the Control Yuan yesterday donated the artwork, valued at more than NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) to the National Museum of History in Taipei.
“Originally, it was placed in a conference room and was not seen by many people. We think the National Museum of History would like to have the painting. It would also help Chang Dai-chien rest in peace,” Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) said.
PHOTO: CNA
Wang also encouraged people and government institutions that keep artistic masterpieces to follow the Control Yuan’s example, saying works of art should be kept in environments where they can be well preserved.
Praising the generosity of the Control Yuan, Pauline Kao (高玉珍), deputy director of the museum, which already possesses a number of Chang’s drawings and calligraphy, said the offer had enriched its collection.
“We have about 150 of Chang’s drawings and calligraphy works in the museum, but this painting was exactly what we needed. We lacked nay of his paintings completed in the 1960s,” Kao said.
The theme of the painting is pine and cypress trees, Kao said.
Ba Tong (巴東), chief of the exhibition division of the museum, said the painting was valued at no less than NT$100 million.
“In May, a smaller painting of Chang’s was sold for about NT$500 million,” Ba said.
Chang was born on May 10, 1899, in Neijiang, Sichuan Province. A strong supporter of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), he left China in 1949, settling first in Brazil, then California, before moving to Taiwan in 1977.
He died in Taiwan in 1983.
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