The woman carrying grass (traditional Chinese painting) collected by Zhang Anzhi in the Chinese Art Museum in 1946
Zhang Anzhi (1911-1990) was a famous painter, poet and art theorist in the 20th century. Recently, the exhibition of "Seeking the Truth of Art - Zhang Anzhi's Artistic Life" of the "2018 National Art Works Collection and Donation Award Project of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism" was held in the National Art Museum of China. The exhibition works covered Zhang Anzhi's works of art of different themes in various historical stages The characteristics of painting and its art along with the times provide a rare opportunity for the pursuit of faith in life.
In that era of changes and integration of China and the West, Zhang Anzhi devoted all his enthusiasm to the art cause and made valuable exploration for the innovation of Chinese painting. He is well versed in Chinese and Western painting, oil painting, watercolor, sketch and printmaking. Among them, Chinese painting is the category in which he has been engaged for the longest time. Influenced by the family environment, Zhang Anzhi accepted the cultivation of traditional culture from urination, and was particularly interested in poetry, calligraphy and painting. When he was young, he copied many calligraphy and painting works. Later, his study in Central University not only laid a solid foundation for Zhang Anzhi's understanding and practice of traditional ink painting, but also laid a foundation for the formation of Zhang Anzhi's artistic concept and the shaping of his painting style. During his study tour in Europe, the western men of insight were fascinated with and highly valued the traditional oriental literature and art, which stimulated Zhang Anzhi's in-depth thinking and research on traditional culture.
Zhang Anzhi's artistic proposition in his creative practice is "to respect the virtue of vigor, to admire the beauty of simplicity, to learn refined and strict methods, and to follow the principles of nature". The college education he received and his travels between Chinese and Western art systems made him move towards the integration of Chinese and Western art in techniques. He inherits Xu Beihong's realistic style in ink painting, integrates the realistic factors of western painting into the creation of Chinese ink painting, increases the expression of volume, light, shadow and color between the linear strokes of calligraphy, and expands the expressiveness of traditional ink painting. Therefore, his works not only have the observation and expression methods of Western paintings such as perspective and anatomy, but also have the charm and lyricism of Chinese art.
Women Carrying Grass is a traditional Chinese painting created by Zhang Anzhi in the 1940s. The picture depicts the scene of three peasant women stopping to rest while carrying grass. In the picture, Zhang Anzhi depicts the characters and surrounding vegetation with flexible and rhythmic lines, and renders them with light ink and color. The facial features are depicted in a simple but vivid way. Among them, some of them put their hands on the haystack, some sat, and some stood with their bodies facing different directions, looking at the left side of the picture as if something had happened at the other end of the picture. This performance also left more imagination space for the viewers. The works accurately and vividly express the posture and demeanor of women of different ages, and eulogize the simple and natural beauty of workers. In addition to "Woman Carrying Grass", Zhang Anzhi also created many realistic Chinese painting works in that period. The main characteristics of Zhang Anzhi's paintings in this period were sketching or creating realistic characters and scene landscapes based on sketching.
Hegel once said: "The form of perceptual observation is the feature of art, because art presents reality in consciousness in the way of perceptual visualization." Zhang Anzhi, with traditional humanistic feelings and the desire for self transcendence, gradually formed his own unique artistic style and creative concept on the road of combining practice with theory, In the era of the collision and blending of Chinese and Western culture and art, a traditional intellectual and an artist should fulfill their responsibilities and responsibilities. He always wandered between "for life" and "for art", sticking to the sincerity of an artist.
