Remember that time in high school when you skipped last period and sports practice to go shopping? You probably either coerced your friend to forge a note from a doctor or parent or just did it yourself, struggling through several unrealistic practice signatures before signing your poorly faked note with a nervous flourish.
Unlike your paltry attempt, painter Zhang Daqian, whose work is now on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, has committed flawless forgeries.
The exhibit, titled "Zhang Daqian: Painter, Collector, Forger," explores Zhang's career as the 20th century's most notorious forger of traditional Chinese art.
It seems like twisted humor on Zhang's part to spend hours and hours laboring over a piece of forgery and then deliberately tricking museum experts into thinking it was the real deal.
When asked about his motivation for such actions, Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, the curator of the exhibit, replied that Zhang enjoyed challenges.
Forgery for him was "an act of bravado," Scheier-Dolberg said. "He was showing off his brush; he enjoyed that kind of challenge."
Zhang also liked to challenge the art experts. Tricking them asserted his skill as a versatile painter.
The exhibit space is relatively small, consisting of one room split into two sections. The first is dedicated to Zhang's paintings and forgeries, and the second is for his own collection.
Though the exhibit is less than 20 works, much can be gleaned about Zhang's methods, motivations and range. According to the wall text, "Zhang was perhaps the most versatile painter in Chinese history."
Zhang was active from the first half of the 20th century up until his death in 1983. He is classified as a modern painter, blending traditional techniques with contemporary ideas. And unlike other traditional artists, Zhang painted a great range of subjects.
The first painting that the MFA acquired expresses the painter's modernism. The first work that a visitor sees in the exhibit, "Mount Emei of Sichuan" (1953), is the "start of the relationship between the museum and Zhang Daqian," Scheier-Dolberg said.
Given to the MFA in 1953, "Mount Emei" is a perfect example of Zhang's impeccable technique and modern ideas. The painting is of the artist's native Sichuan Province in China, showing traditional rolling peaks. The colors are also traditional, with muted grays, greens and browns.
According to Scheier-Dolberg, "Mount Emei" is modern and highly unusual in that the viewer is able to see more landscape over the mountain, similar to a bird's-eye view. Usually, mountain peaks are the background and not the middle ground. Also, in the foreground is a scholar who deliberately makes eye contact with the viewer. In most traditional paintings, human figures act as a barrier between the painting's and the viewer's spaces. But the scholar in "Mount Emei" almost acts as an interlocutor, connecting the viewer to the grandiose mountains. These irregularities set Zhang apart from other traditional painters.
The next Zhang Daqian work that the MFA acquired came into their possession by accident. "Drinking and Singing at the Foot of a Precipitous Mountain" was thought to be a 10th-century work when it was bought in 1957. It seemed real enough, with worn silk, elaborate mounting and seals dating the painting's history. The painting is a "masterpiece of deception" with its "detailed distressing work," according to Scheier-Dolberg. When the curators rediscovered this painting in the museum's collection, discovering the forgery became "the genesis of an exhibit," said Scheier-Dolberg, who has been working on the exhibit for a year and a half.
Most forgers are only known through the copies they have made. Their names are lost because of the celebrity of the piece of copied art. Zhang, on the other hand, was famous as a painter and only later as a forger. Such a backward chronology is a rare occurrence in the art world. In fact, his forgery skills were so famed that when the MFA acquired his private collection, almost every work was suspected of forgery.
As Zhang aged, his eyesight started to fail. His artwork produced later in life is the most striking because of brush and color differences. "Red Lotus" (1981) is a prime example. The paper is covered in azure hues almost as if the viewer has been submerged underwater.
Working in the pocai style (also known as "splash-painting"), Zhang's method seems more fluid than his earlier works. On the left side is a bright red lotus flower with gold highlights. Here, Zhang uses color to suggest emotions, much like an abstract expressionist painter. Scheier-Dolberg heralded him as "a Picasso mapped onto China figure."
Though "Red Lotus" moves away from traditional Chinese painting in terms of brushstroke and color, it still clings to tradition, featuring a calligraphic poem on the left side.
In this way, "Red Lotus" succeeds in updating an ancient form of painting.
Just as the exhibit name states, the MFA lets one learn about Zhang and his work in his three distinct roles: painter, collector and forger. It is a great place to see traditional yet modern Chinese art at its finest.
