Landscape of Waterfalls and Overlapping Peaks
Artist
Chang Dai-chien
(Zhang Daqian; Chinese, 1899 - 1983)
Date1951
MaterialsInk and light colors on paper
DimensionsH. 186.7 cm x W. 71.8 cm (overall); H. 40 3/4 in x W. 19 1/2 in, H. 103.5 cm x W. 49.5 cm (image)
Credit LineThe Yeh Family Collection
Object number2007.114
DepartmentChinese Art
ClassificationsPainting
On View
Not on viewSigned“張爰”（白文方印）、“大千 ”（朱文方印）。
Zhang Yuan (square intaglio), Daqian (square relief).
Inscribed“ ‘世囂都不到，大造意偏精。奇石當人立，幽禽浹岸鳴。泠泠三疊響，側側五銖輕。堪笑金丹客，秋風白髮生。’ 十五年前雁宕觀三折瀑，憶其大略，寫似公超道兄兩正。辛卯八月同在臺灣。大千居士張爰。”
‘Nature prefers to create such a spectacular place, where the noise of the mundane world cannot reach. The strange rock is erected like a standing human, and the birds chirp along the banks. The echoing sound is as remote as from faraway, or as nearby as a light coin dropping to the ground. Laughing at the alchemist with the elixir pills, whose white hair grows in the autumn wind.’ I recalled the scene when I visited the three-step waterfall fifteen years ago, and therefore painted this from memory for the double corrections by my brother Gongchao. I stay in Taiwan too in the eighth lunar month of the xinmao year (1951).
More InformationThis painting imitates the pictorial composition of a monumental landscape: a long multistep waterfall cascades from the top of the towering boulders into a large pond of water, which is blocked by the tree-covered mountains in the middle ground. The water is seen again underneath a stone bridge, running into the lake in the foreground. Chang’s rich, dense brushwork of trees and mountains reminds viewers of the styles of ancient masters.
In the inscription, the artist recalls a 1937 trip with friends to visit the three-step waterfall at the famous Mount Yandang near Wenzhou, Zhejiang. The artist not only praises this beautiful but isolated scene, free from the disturbances of the chaotic world, but also grieves the rapid passage of time.
1200-1300
