Zhao Chang

Information about this painter is extremely scarce. Zhao Chan was born in Guanhan (Sichuan Province), but history did not tell the exact dates of his birth and death (some experts believe that he could be born in about 960, that is, his life fell on the first decades of the Song empire (960-1279 The Chinese art historian Guo Zhuyu (11th century) claims that Zhao belonged to a wealthy family. It is not known at what age he began to paint, but it is known that the artist and calligrapher Teng Changyu, who wrote beautiful calligraphic signs on temples and worked in the genre of " color -ptitsy . "Zhao Chang took over and developed further his technical tricks It is equally virtuoso painting as a large format (vertical and horizontal scrolls), and a more intimate, small-format art form -.. fans with paintings In the end, he became a court painter and member of the Academy Hanlin.

The works of Zhao Chan were a great success. It is known that during the reign of the emperor Zhen-zong (997-1022) in the era under the motto "Dazhong xiangfu", that is, in 1008-1016, his fame reached such an extent that the prime minister offered the artist 500 lan silver (c. 10 kg.) only for him to paint a picture in the genre of "flower-birds." However, during the time of Guo Zhuyu (end of the 11th century), Zhao's work was already difficult to find; as this historian claims, Zhao Chang himself “bought the paintings he painted, so it’s hard to find them.” Nevertheless, the great fan of the flower-bird genre, Emperor Hui-zong (1100-1125), managed to collect more than 100 works of the artist in his collection, as evidenced by the Xuanhe Huapu catalog.

The date of death of Zhao Chang is unknown. Since information about him is cut short by the year 1016, they write in the directories "died after 1016." Thus, in fact, the entire creative period of the painter fell during the reign of Emperor Zhen-zong and was associated with the tastes of officials of his court.

The popular genre of “ flower-birds ” (huanyao) took shape in an independent direction of painting in the X century, immediately before Zhao Chang, and immediately gained many high-ranking fans. At the origins of the genre were two artists who formed its two main trends: Huang Quan , who relied on direct observations of nature, and Xu Xi , who, as the historian and critic of XI century art Guo Zhuyu writes, "indulged in fantasy in rural life." Therefore, in Chinese aesthetics, Quan's style was called "sesheng" (literally, "to write life"), and Xi's style was called "sei" (that is, to "write an idea"). Zhao Chang belonged to the first current. Legends have been preserved about how he went out into the garden every morning, examined the flowers, gently held them in his hands, trying to penetrate the essence of their beauty, and sketched them. He referred to himself as “the sketcher Zhao Chan” alluding to the fact that he was only a repeater of beauty not created by him.

In a technical sense, Zhao's painting belonged to the tradition coming from Xu Chunsi, the grandson of Xu Xi, who continued and developed the manner of his illustrious grandfather, but abandoned some of his principles. He abandoned the hard outline, that is, from a thorough ink sketch, from the hard pattern that dominated the picture, and made more efforts to give a natural color, densely applying pigments with strokes of different colors. This gave the objects a more natural look, but caused discontent among fans of the tradition based on a clear ink drawing of objects. In particular, Guo Zhuyu (11th century) complains to representatives of this style that “their brush is weak, their spirituality is small and they strive only for success in applying paint,” although, in another place, he praises Zhao Chang for “... color reproduction for a long time was not equal to him. " The critic also notes that Zhao worked very well on grasses and insects, but in the trees he painted "there was no life meaning."

Among the legacy left by Zhao Chang, there are many small-format works - fans or album sheets, in which one branch fits into the round shape of the picture. This form became especially popular during the reign of the Song Dynasty; it made it possible to remove beyond the scope of the picture all that was unnecessary that surrounded a lone branch in order to enjoy exclusively its natural beauty. Another type of painting is horizontal scrolls, which are examined in parts, scrolling from right to left. A particular variety was the vertical scrolls that hung the walls to decorate a room or hall. Zhao Chang was equally successful in all formats, despite the opinion of the most conservative critics who believed that his "paintings of birds and stones lack grace." His painting had a long echo, and to one extent or another affected the work of his student Wang Yao (Wang Yu), Yuanji , Lin Chun , Qian Xuan , Minsk artists of the genre of "flower-birds", up to Yun Shouping and Jiang Tingxi .

(by Prince James Cahill "An index of early Chinese painters and paintings: Tang, Sung, and Yüan" University of California Press. 1980, pp. 59–61)

• Butterflies, grasshopper and aquatic plants. A short scroll, ink and light colors on paper. Attributed. Late Sung work (?). Colophons of Feng Zizheng and Zhao Yang of the early Yuan period, as well as Dong Qichang . Gugong, Beijing.
• "New Year's picture." Flowers of plum, camellia, daffodils, etc. near the stone. Two false signatures. Minsk decorative work. Gugong, Taipei.
• Magpies on a flowering tree. The colophon, probably false, signed by Dong Qichang. The Minsk work is probably the brush of Bian Wenjin . Gugong, Taipei.
• Peonies, epidendrum, and mushrooms near the stones. Signed by the name of the artist. Later decorative work. Gugong, Taipei.
• Bird on a cherry branch. Album sheet. Attributed. The remains of a good picture; created during the South. Song or Yuan. Gugong, Taipei
• Mountain bird on a cherry tree branch. Fan painting. Attributed. Bad copy. Gugong, Taipei.
• A branch of a blossoming apricot. Fan painting. Sun's copy (?). Gugong, Taipei.
• A pair of wild geese standing in the wind. Fan painting. It has a signature. Late work. Previously stored in the collection of the Manchurian ruling house.
• A branch of white jasmine. Fan painting. Attributed. Great South Song work. Sugahara Collection, Kamakura.
• A branch of a blossoming apple tree. Fan painting. Attributed. Great South Song work. Asano Collection, Japan
• Lotus bud. Album sheet. Attributed. Baron Dan Collection.
• Orange and two peaches. Interpolated print artist. Late work.
• Bamboo and insects. Short scroll. Attributed. Tokyo, Hatakeyama Museum of Art.
• Lotus pond with two mandarin ducks. Mascara and paint on silk. Attributed. Kyoto, National Museum.
• Basket of flowers. Album sheet. Attributed. Yuan or Minsk work. Netsu Museum, Tokyo
• Melon with flowers, beetle and dragonfly. The picture is in the shape of a fan, ink and paint on silk. Great Suna work, but in poor condition. Takamizawa Collection, Tokyo
• Basket of flowers. Album sheet, ink and paint on silk. Signed. South Sun work. Nelson-Atkins Gallery, Kansas City.
• Two white geese resting on the shore. Signed. Minsk work. British Museum, London.

In addition, Zhao Chang is attributed several more small-format works in private collections and museums, but, as a rule, these are later copies.

• Cahill, James. Chinese painting. Geneva, 1960. pp 75–77
• Zavadskaya E.V. Aesthetic problems of painting in old China. M. 1975, pp. 262-264
• Postrelova T. A. Academy of Painting in China in the X — XIII centuries. M. 1976, p. 51
• Guo Jo-Xu. Notes on painting: what he saw and heard. M. Science. 1978, p. 86, 125
• Watson, William, The Arts of China 900-1620, Yale University Press, 2000, pp. 40–41
• Vinogradova N.A., Bird-flowers in the painting of China, M. 2009, p. 16.