Chang Dai-chien in California: paper for Sept.25 symposium
Preliminary remarks. Well-chosen theme, etc. I was involved w. Chang Ta-ch'ien over many years, in a number of connections. Let me run through them briefly by way of introduction.
S,S. I met Chang first in Kyoto (etc.) Tawaraya. He came to Freer in 1959? (slide missing) Here, at our apt in D.C., w. infant son Nicholas, b. 1958; now has four children of his own and teaches classical art and archaeology at U. Wisconsin. I looked at lots of ptgs in Freer collection w. Chang, espec. old col., --Chinese connoisseurs like Chang, or CCWang have a kind of dream of seeing all the good Chinese paintings that survive, and deciding whether they are genuine or not, and spend much of their lives pursuing that dream. (I had same dream, for many years.) I learned a lot from Chang, as I had already in Japan, and made interesting discoveries among the old Freer ptgs..In 1963 I wrote a short essay on his ptg for an exhibition in NYC. (Photo of him in 1975)
S, S. These two photos can symbolize Chang's move to Calif. Right: by Ch. photographer in Taipei who specialized in composite photos, many of them setting Chang in various ideal roles, such as the scholar-recluse in the wilds; other a real photo of Chang taken at Pebble Beach, probably ca. 1970. His love for the Monterey cypresses was a big reason why he bought a house and spent more and more time there in the late 1960s. So it's as if he were realizing an ideal, doesn't need to fake it any more.
After I moved from the Freer Gallery to U.C. Berkeley in 1965, I found myself coming together with Chang on various occasions, as described briefly in my "colophon" for the catalog. (Oct. '68: C.C.Wang exhib. opening here...some may still remember.) Chang was given a major retrospective at the Asian Art Mus. in 1972; many of you probably saw it.
S,S. From the mid-70s, I had as my student Chang's daughter Hsing-sheng, who was known simply as Sing. When I had a seminar on Wen Cheng-ming, the 16th century artist who himself was a lover of old cypress trees (and major painter of them--one on right), I took the members, including Sing, to Point Lobos to commune with the venerable specimens there, and we stayed overnight at Chang's house and saw his garden and studio.
S -- Photos made after his move to Taiwan in 1976: one real, other artificial--anyone who knows her . . . (another fake)
My other long-time engagement w. Chang I'll only mention; not relevant to this exhib. & symposium. While in Japan in the 1950s I became aware that he was making forgeries of old paintings; encountered these in major museums; began trying to identify them, understand how to detect them. This pursuit continued over the years. Finally gave paper on this at Fu Shen's symposium in 1991; caused some commotion, since I included ptgs that other people didn't want to see as Chang's works. Last ptg treated in my paper, ascribed to 10th cent. master Tung Yüan, bought later by (or for) Met; this controversy very hot right now. In early Dec. symposium at Met I will present my case for its being by Chang, both to give him the credit he deserves for producing this impressive work, and to remove it from our histories of early Chinese landscape painting, where it has no place.
S,S. Two self-portraits from 1958, when Chang turned 60, and 1968, when he turned 70. (Anyone who has himself entered his 70s will find it hard to comment on the difference between these two w/o turning autobiographical, as I don't intend to do.) In long insc. on later one, he talks of having reached old age and adds, "Nowadays everything seems so confused and muddled." Having passed this formidable turning point several years ago, I know all too well how he felt. Pebble Beach must have seemed an ideal place to escape from a confused and muddled world.
Now, I've taken too long w. introduction, must get on to proper topic: his paintings, espec. LS ptgs, done during his period in California (loosely defined as beginning in the late 1960s, when he began to spend more and more time here.)
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