When patriotism is about art
The exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum, or TAM, runs through Jan 13, coinciding with Zhang's 120th birth anniversary.
Zhang didn't follow in the foot-steps of his father, a statesman, successful banker and politician. His love of arts, however, ushered him into communities of artists and opera performers.
His many paintings at the exhibition revisit the subjects of plums, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums, which symbolize high morality in Chinese culture. And his writings show a distinctive calligraphic style with the grace of a flying bird's feathers.
Pan, meanwhile, was dedicated to the mountain-and-water genre of painting. She excelled at the meticulous gongbi brushwork. Her works demonstrate a sophisticated layering of blue and green shades.
Du Pengfei, TAM's deputy executive director, says that through their works, one can see the couple's integrity and how they loved the culture and the land they were born into, and why they sacrificed so much to protect the national treasures they came across.
