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Introduction
It has now been
fourteen years since Mr. Jiang Zhao-shen, former Deputy Director at the
National Palace Museum and born in 1925, suddenly passed away while
presenting a lecture at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang on May
12, 1996. Chiang was not only renowned both domestically and
internationally as a historian of Chinese art, he was also held in
exceptionally high regard for his outstanding achievements in painting,
calligraphy, and seal carving. After retiring from the National Palace
Museum in September of 1991, he went to live at his "Qishe Garden" in Puli,
Nantou County. Diligent in his art, he held major exhibitions of painting
and calligraphy at such venues as the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the
National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and the Huangshan Municipal
Museum in Anhui Province. And after his passing, Jiang Zhao-shen's
disciples gathered works of his to hold a memorial exhibition that went on
to receive considerable praise.
On June 5, 2009,
Jiang Zhao-shen's widow, Ms. Chang Kuei-na, generously donated to the
National Palace Museum 110 of his works. These fitting additions to the
collection include fifty paintings, ten works of calligraphy, and fifty
seals by Jiang Zhao-shen. To express heartfelt gratitude for and to
commemorate her extraordinary act of kindness, the National Palace Museum
is holding this special exhibition of donated Jiang Zhao-shen works from
April to June of 2010.
Nearly all of the donated painting and calligraphy here comes from the
stylistically mature phase of Chiang Chao-shen's career as an artist. The
works include nine from 1993, 28 from 1994, 21 from 1995, and one each
from 1990 and 1996. The Museum's painting and calligraphy galleries 210
and 212 have been chosen for this exhibition, the former presenting
Chiang's paintings, seals, and seal carvings, while the latter displaying
his calligraphy. As for the paintings, since most come from his later
years, they have not been arranged here chronologically. Rather, to
clarify the features of his late style, they are divided into five
sections: "Brush and Ink," "The Composition," "The Beauty of the Seasons,"
"The Picturesque Landscape," and "Poetic Musings of Old." The calligraphy
has been organized in a section entitled "Connecting Past and Present,"
revealing his practice of studying from antiquity to create new
innovations as well as the course of stylistic change. Chiang's seals are
presented in the section "Impressions from the Heart," displaying his
actual seals, impressions in red from the seal faces, and ink rubbings of
the engraved sides. As such, they allow audiences to appreciate Chiang
Chao-shen's consummate choice of materials, the contents of his texts, the
arrangement of the seal faces, and the wonders of his carving techniques.
Considering the richness in quantity of this exhibition, some of the works
are being rotated in the middle of May. A lecture event is also being held
to introduce and remember the art of Chiang Chao-shen. In addition to
actual display objects, the interactive multimedia area in Gallery 210
includes a simulated literati setting the likes of which was so admired by
Chiang Chao-shen throughout his life. Finally, a documentary is also being
screened in the hopes of completing this concrete glimpse at the art and
person behind the artwork of Chiang Chao-shen.
Jiang Gallery
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