Chang Dai-chien's Self-Portraits

     Chang Dai-chien was the modern Chinese artist who loved most to do self-portraits, painting more than a hundred of them over the course of his career. A total of ten self-portraits by Chang have been selected for this exhibition, ranging from small album leaves to large hanging scrolls. Four are in the National Palace Museum collection and six currently entrusted from the National Museum of History. The most obvious difference between Chang's self-portraits and those by other painters is that he was not confined to the tradition of formal realistic portraiture. For example, in "My Little Monkey and I" he includes a cute gibbon that he loved so much, while in "Self-Portrait at 59" he appears in the guise of an ancient scholar reading. In "Self-Portrait Begging," he takes the role of a mendicant monk seeking alms for a living, and in "Zhong Kui" he even assumes the form of this legendary figure from Chinese mythology and folk belief. In terms of style, most of Chang Dai-chien's self-portraits are in the expressive "sketching ideas" manner. Were it not for the long tell-tale beard that he sported, it would be difficult sometimes to tell them apart from regular figure paintings. And it is precisely because of the direct and diverse approach that Chang took with form and format, presenting him so vividly and alive as the unbridled artist he was, which make his portraits that much more enjoyable to appreciate.