Lot 1430
  • 1430

ZHANG DAQIAN (CHANG DAI-CHIEN, 1899-1983) | Empty Valley and Cloudy Peaks

Estimate
30,000,000 - 35,000,000 HKD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-chien, 1899-1983)
  • Empty Valley and Cloudy Peaks
  • ink and colour on paper, hanging scroll
  • 161 by 63 cm. 63 3/8 by 24 3/4 in.
signed YUAN, dated 1945, inscribed, with two seals of the artist, and two collector's seals

Provenance

Sotheby's Hong Kong, The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, May 1988, Lot 19

Exhibited

Hong Kong, City Hall Art Gallery, Recent Paintings by Chang Da-Chien, 21 April-9 May 1962
Singapore, Victoria Memorial Hall, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 12-17 March 1963
Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 24-30 June 1963
Malaya, Ipoh, Ku Kong Chow Kung Wai, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 9-16 November 1963
Malaya, Penang, Penang Museum, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 20-29
December 1963
Thailand, Bangkok, Kai Shou Hall & Metropolitan Bank, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 12-25 September 1964
Thailand, Haadyai, Hakkas Association Auditorium, Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, 2-8 February 1965
Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Art Gallery, The Mei Yun Tang
Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, 17 April-23 May 1993
Japan, Tokyo, Shoto Museum of Art, The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, 5 April-21 May 1995
Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, 28 February-27 April 1997

Literature

Recent Paintings by Chang Da-Chien, exhibition catalogue, City Hall Art Gallery, Hong
Kong, April 1962, exhibit no.92
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, March 1963, Singapore exhibit no.82
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, June 1963, Kuala Lumpur exhibit no.82
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, November 1963, Ipoh exhibit no.82
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, December 1963, Penang exhibit no.82
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, September 1964, Bangkok exhibit no.82
Exhibition of Paintings by Chang Dai-Chien, exhibition catalogue, East Art Co., Hong Kong, February 1965, Haadyai exhibit no.82
The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, edited by Kao Mayching, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 1993, pl.76
Han Mo 40, Special Study on Zhang Daqian’s Early Landscape Paintings, Han Mo Xuan
Publishing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, May 1993, p.131
The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien, Shoto Museum of Art, Japan, 1995, pl.74
"The Friendship between Chang Dai-chien and Kao Ling-mei", published in Daguan Monthly, issue 20, Yamore Books & Publishing Co., Ltd., Taipei, May 2011, p.47

Catalogue Note

The Mei Yun Tang Collection of Paintings by Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian)

The Mei Yun Tang Collection Of Paintings By Chang Dai-chien, internationally recognised as one of the most preeminent and comprehensive private collections of Zhang Daqian’s paintings, was assembled by the late Mr. Kao Ling-mei and his wife Jan Yun-bor since the 1940s. Mr. Kao published the prestigious Chinese Paintings with the Original Paintings & Discourses on Chinese Art By Professor Chang Dai-chien in 1961. It is considered to be the authoritative and the single most systematic exposition of the artist’s techniques and theories.  

Mr. and Mrs. Kao Ling-mei befriended Zhang Daqian in the mid-1930s. One of the few professional photographers in China in the 1930s, Kao found a kindred spirit in Zhang, and the two harboured a genuine admiration for each other’s artistic mastery. The Kaos were ardent supporters of Zhang and the Mei Yun Tang Collection includes many works acquired from the artist’s solo exhibitions. As dear friends to the artist for over 50 years, the Kaos also received many of Zhang’s prized works as gifts for Chinese New Year and birthdays as wells as tokens of friendship and gratitude. The Mei Yun Tang Collection also comprises a number of Zhang’s landscapes and artistic renderings of his extensive excursions with friends, as well as didactic works and painting manuals for the Kao’s children. This extraordinary body of work reveals the close friendship between the celebrated artist and his dear friends for over 50 years.

 

Works form the Mei Yun Tang Collection have been exhibited worldwide in the past decades, among them the inauguration of the Art Gallery of the Hong Kong City Hall in 1962; the Mei Yun Tang Collection of Chang Dai-chien Paintings Exhibition jointly organised by Mei Yun Tang and the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1993 and in Tokyo’s Shoto Museum of Art in 1995. The works have never been shown in public since the last exhibition in Singapore Art Museum in 1997 until certain part of the collection were released in Sotheby’s in 2011 and 2013.