ZHANG DAQIAN (1899-1983)

Madam Zhang Shuting was a native of Anhui. She started learning Western paintings at a young age and later joined the Women’s Paintings Society formed by He Xiangning to study Chinese paintings. In 1932, Madam Zhang became a student of Zhang Shanzi and Zhang Daqian in Wangshi Yuan in Suzhou and was one of the first pupils of Dafengtang.

During the Sino-Japanese War, Madam Zhang relocated from Shanghai to Kunming, Yunnan, in 1937 with her husband, Mr Wu Xiaoyuan, who worked for the Jincheng Bank. In the spring of 1938, Zhang Shanzi came to Kunming and stayed with Madam Zhang, where he painted many works and was heavily involved in spreading propaganda against the Japanese invasion [see Li Yongqiao, Zhang Daqian Quanzhuan (The Life of Zhang Daqian), Huacheng Publishing, 1998, p.162.].

After the war, the Wu family moved back to Shanghai, where Mr Wu was the General Manager of the Bank of Communications. When Zhang Daqian lived in Li Qiujun’s Ou Xiang Guan studio from 1947 to 1948 in Shanghai, Madam Zhang frequently visited her teacher and even collaborated on several works.