Zhu Qizhan (1892-1996), courtesy names: Qi Zhai and Erzhan Laomin, was
born into a wealthy merchant family with a fine collection of Chinese painting
in Taicang, Jiangsu province and received a traditional education. He studied
literature, painting and calligraphy as a child and in 1912 entered the
Shanghai Art Academy. He was a serious student of art whose rigorous pursuit
of excellence resulted in his appointment as a professor in the Shanghai
Art Academy in 1913. An early search for a uniquely personal style led
him to study in Japan in 1917 where he developed an interest in oil painting.
He was back in China for the May Fourth Movement of 1919, which played
a seminal role in the development of the artistic paths of many modern
artists, Zhu Qizhan included. Under its influence, he left behind the literati
intellectual style grounded in Confucianism and ancestor worship, and founded
his work on the more basic expressions of artists who arose from the common
people, like Qi Baishi. The colophons on his paintings were written in
the vernacular rather than the classical mode. His subjects were simple
landscapes and still lives, avoiding the painstaking complexity of a formal
era. Infused with the Western ideas he was exposed to in Japan, Zhu sought
to combine them with the new artistic developments emerging from China?s
burgeoning nationalistic identity. Zhu, always a pragmatic man, sought
neither to turn back the clock, nor to test the artistic tolerances of
his day, but recognized that the use of brush, ink, and paper provided
enough room for creative explorations and liberation of his spiritual self.
In studying Western oil painting, Zhu responded instinctively to the strong,
sensuous use of color evident in the works of post-impressionist artists
such as Cézanne, van Gogh and Matisse. At an early age, Zhu recognized
that art was a universal language, cutting across cultural and political
barriers, and existing at a level of consciousness where it could be used
to select the best elements of other artistic traditions in order to  challenge
complacency in his art.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Zhu traveled and participated in a number
of major art exhibitions, and developed friendships with many famous artists.
When the Japanese invaded China, he was in Shanghai where he remained throughout
the war. Zhu, who inherited a family soy sauce factory, was dependent upon
it for an income but, relying on a manager and never visiting the factory.
This allowed him considerable time to spend with his artistic friends in
Shanghai. They never took part in politics, preferring to paint among themselves.
Post 1949, after reunifying intellectuals in their areas of specialty,
which for artists meant returning them to their posts at the art academies,
the government ordained that Chinese painting should show a new flavor,
distinguishing it from the past and reflecting the new society. Based on
Mao?s 1942 Yenan Forum on Art and Literature, it was part of the effort
to present the one-class concept of the New China and to make art serve
the State and serve the people. Traditional painting styles were discouraged
and the old artists pressured to leave their studios to paint the lives
of the ordinary Chinese. This had to be a difficult adjustment for Zhu
who, like most intellectuals, came from a privileged background that could
be considered anti-revolutionary. Zhu attended lectures at the Shanghai
Art Academy designed to correct his thinking about his background and the
narrow life he had been privileged to live. Fortunately for Zhu, his chosen
style, though profound, was not elaborate, and his subjects were common
objects that were not taken to be anti-revolutionary, so he was able to
pursue his style within the context of revolutionary dictates.

The Shanghai Painting Academy also sponsored artists on trips to factories
and fields to paint the workers as they were performing their tasks. Joining
together with other artists such as Xie Zhiguang, Cheng Shifa, Tang Yun,
Qian Shoutie, and He Tianjian, Zhu established a sense of solidarity with
the masses. Zhu, like others, walked an extremely tight rope to avoid being
criticized, because criticism meant dismissal from their positions at the
Art Academy. Nevertheless, Zhu Qizhan was very enthusiastic about this
new movement in art that he believed would inspire a modern method and
would breathe fresh vitality into traditional painting. He hoped that an
invigorated Chinese painting style would evolve under the influence of
'plein air' sketching, because he was convinced that Chinese painting must
continue to evolve. Zhu had little trouble balancing his reliance on traditional
painting techniques and his knowledge of Western artists and their techniques.
Complementing a life deeply influenced by traditional values with thoughts
that remained current and ideas that were ahead of his time, his own requirements
for painting were always changing.

After years of establishing himself as an artist with a unique style, fulfilling
individual goals and his own artistic proclivity, Zhu found himself as
part of a team, using his skills to paint New China as a piece of a larger
project. Zhu left Shanghai many times to paint the lives of the people
and to find ways of improving his paintings. Dating from this period and
continuing throughout his career, he garnered inspiration from all things
in his surroundings, from reading the news to watching television to eating
a plate of crabs. He would keep trying and adjusting new combinations to
test out subjects or materials until he got a result that was successful
and right for him. He once said to his son, "Painting is difficult; painting
something good is even more difficult. Painting is all about using your
own style, and selecting the good advice of others. Pick out a road, and
travel it all the way." Zhu?s own style of painting, his early foundation
in the techniques of Chinese brush painting together with his knowledge
of the techniques and ideas of western painting, was perfectly suited to
the new movement in art.

Thus it was that Zhu Qizhan created a great revolution in modern painting.
He did not set out to do this; he was not the sort of man who starts the
ball rolling. Yet, it was within him that the process of reform reached
successful maturity. Zhu was the culmination of the exploration, beginning
with Wu Changshuo and continuing through Qi Baishi, to paint with radiance
and brilliance, to invigorate and transform Chinese painting. Indeed, Zhu
did form friendships with the most important artists of the 20th century,
with Huang Binhong, Qi Baishi, Pan Tianshou, Xu Beihong, Qian Shoutie,
Xie Zhiguang, Xie Zhiliu, Lu Yanshao, and a particularly treasured friendship
with Tang Yun. Handsome, with his white beard, smooth skin (a sign of long
life to the Chinese) and twinkling eyes, Zhu?s magnetism was immediate,
his warmth genuine, and his integrity greatly admired. At his painting
table he was Zhu Lao, Grand Master, painting with deliberate and measured
strokes, filling the paper with ink and color in perfect balance, his brush
eloquent and unafraid. He did not seek to impress anyone with his work,
but all who spent time with him left his studio in awe of some intrinsic
power that he held quietly within.

Historically, the community of artists and intellectuals in Shanghai was
always a strong one. Before the Cultural Revolution, a 'Culture Club' flourished
in Shanghai. During every weekend, all the artists of the 'Culture Club'
would kneel together to cooperate on a massive painting. Zhu attended this
exercise regularly. His main reason was to observe people and their paintings
and their painting styles. Thus he could compare his paintings with the
paintings of other artists, for no matter how great his age, he felt the
need to keep pace with the times. Certainly, Zhu?s old age landscape painting
marked the maturity of the painting reform.

In commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the death of Zhu Qizhan, the
Shanghai City Government, the Shanghai Museum of Art, the Zhu Qizhan Museum,
and the Zhu family went to considerable effort to arrange a two-week exhibition
at the Zhu Qizhan Museum of Art, which opened with a large celebration
and banquet on April 22nd, 2001. The paintings in the exhibition were published
by the Shanghai Museum of Art in a book entitled Treasured Collection of
Zhu Qizhan?s Paintings with an introduction by Cheng Shifa. The exhibition
was unique for China in that the Museum cooperated with international collectors
to gather a group of paintings that would celebrate the range and depth
of the work of this great artist. Also, for the first time, Zhu Qizhan?s
collection of sixty seals carved for him by Qi Baishi on stones that he
selected was exhibited publicly.

In the final two years of his life, Zhu Qizhan was fortunate to witness
worldwide appreciation for his life-long devotion to art, something that
often comes too late for many artists to enjoy. There were solo exhibitions
at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Asian Art Museum
of San Francisco. Indeed, he was present in May of 1995 for the ultimate
tribute to him from the Chinese government, the opening of the Zhu Qizhan
Museum of Art in Shanghai.

Master Zhu?s long career as an artist was characterized by the art of
simplification and reduction in the detail as a means of clarifying reality,
saying a great deal with a minimum use of brush. He painted with a radiance
and brilliance that invigorated and transformed all his subject matter.
Despite his quiet and kind manner, Zhu created a great revolution in modern
Chinese painting. His fertile and ineffable imagination bridged East and
West, past and present, and connoisseur and creator. Throughout his life,
he stimulated interest in art among artists and encouraged continual challenge
and development in the artistic tradition in order to ensure the continuing
vitality of Chinese painting for the future.