Chang Dai-chien

Widely regarded as one of the most important Chinese painters of the 20th century, Chang Dai-chien (1899 – 1983; also known as Zhang Daqian) was both a master traditionalist and an innovative modernist. Trained in the literati painting tradition, he achieved early fame for his extraordinary technical virtuosity and even produced remarkably convincing works in the styles of earlier masters. Later in life, particularly during his years abroad, he developed increasingly expressive splashed-ink and splashed-color landscapes that expanded the expressive possibilities of ink painting.