MAITRES DE L'ENCRE
masters of ink
MUSÉE  DE  PONTOISE
30 October 1999 - 6 February 2000

This exhibition is exclusively devoted to the ink paintings of three masters who have in common an acquired knowledge of Western culture. It is remarkable that while this experience enabled them to « exist » on the modern art scene it also never completely diverted them from the Chinese traditional medium.
 click on the artist's photo to see his work ( paintings )

Chang Dai-Chien (1899-1983) His long carrer from copying the T’ang frescoes to his famous « splashed inks », is at the same time characteristic of the strength of the da xieyi tradition as well as its capacity to renew itself. His centenary was recently celebrated with an exhibition at the Palace Museum of Taipei.	T'ang Haywen (1927-1991) arrived in France in 1948 where he found his real vocation in painting. After a period of assimilating western techniques, he used his knowledge of Chinese calligraphy to develop his own personal style of ink painting. His work, pure and sincere, returns to the source of Chinese tradition while adding to it a breath of freedom which completely belongs to 20th century Art. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum gave him an important retrospective in 1997.	Zao Wou-ki (born in 1921) Having studied under Wu Dayu and then taken on as a teacher by Lin Feng-mien., Zao Wou-ki arrived in France in 1948. He has essentially painted in oil without, however, abandoning ink, which he returns to at regular intervals. A recent touring retrospective of his works in China was met with enormous success.

The confrontation between the works of these three great painters will allow us to understand that continuity and modernity, far from contradicting each other, may enrich one another mutually.

PHILIPPE KOUTOUZIS	CHRISTOPHE DUVIVIER
Commissaire de l'exposition	Directeur des Musées de Pontoise