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Dai Ronghua, a favorit student of mine, impresses me
with his gentleman manner and his easy demeanor as a
great artist. He has an aminable disposition and
always shows warm hospitality to his friends and
visitors, although he appears a bit scholarly
reserved. His paintings, either paper paintings or
pottery and porcelain paintings, are all meticulous
works with originality, freshness, and tranquility,
By the unique charm in his art, Dal has brought to
us and he circle of art a world of warm coclors and
brilliant lusters. His works are all embodiments of
his true emotion, his vivid imagination, and his
artistic interest. In face of his works, you feel as
if you were bathed in life-giving spring breeze.
For almost forty years Dai Ronghua has been working in Pottery and
Porcelain Research Insitute of China Light Industry
Ministry, ever since he graduated from Jingdezhen
Pottery and Porcelain Institute in 1959. Special
graduated from Jingdezhen Pottery and porcelain, Dai
devotes every day and night , every spring and
autumn of the forty years to his research and
exploring. As a student under direct instruction by
the great master of painted potery Proffessor Dong
Maofa, Dai becomes a true follower of traditional
Chinese art. For a deeper understanding of the
Pottery and Porcelain Museum, the Museum in
Forbidden City, where he emulated and copied the
original masterpieces and explored the root of
Chinese art, Meanwhile, he turns to the reality of
life and the natural world for his footprints, and
he relaxes and pleases himself in such travellings
that broaden his mind and give nourishment to his
brush. He paints flowers and birds; he is well
versed in traditional Chinese painting of beautiful
women and innocent children. In decorating the
pottery and the porcelain, he is good at
painted-pottery. With his unconventional skills and
unique designs, he ranks with the countable eminent
masters in the field of pottery and porcelain in
China. Dai has now distinguished himself with his
versality and colourful style.
Dai has gone throuth, from his youth to his aged years, forty
fruitful years. Pottery and Porcelain Research
Institute, where Dai works, has a strong academic
aura for artistic creation, under which Dai Ronghua
sincerely explores and firmly seeks innovative
skills to perfect every piece of work he creats. His
masterpieces are mow well-known throuthout the world
and most of them are now collected by galleries,
pottery and porcelain museums and private
collectors. The perfet art and craft of his works
add to the beauty and grandeur of every gallery,
museum and house. An old Chinese saying goes that a
man of thirty establishes himself in society, a man
of forty never confuses, a man of thirty establishes
himself in society, a man of forty never confuses, a
man of fifty knows his fate, and a man of
sixty......Now, Dai Ronghua, as a man of sixty, has
entered his productive period of maturity. This
collection of sixty pieces of his masterpieces is a
representation of his artistic accomplishment during
this mature productive period.
Some works in this collection are enlivened by the buterfly
orchid dancing in the wind, accompanied by the
butterflies gracefully dancing nearby.Some works are
decorated with peony in full blossom, and fluttering
up and down among the peonies are beartiful
butterflies and bees;some will show a pond full of
lotus om the transparent water and fish swimming
slowly and idly here and there. All these wil bring
you to a world of art steeped in brightness,
tranquility and delightfulness. Soft colours and
delicate lines of the images present a moving realm
before any visitors. These works show the author's
deep love for the mature. There are vases decorated
with lotus and mandarin duck, vase cecorated with
butterflies fluttering among crabapples, and screen
decorated with blooming spring. It was from antique
painted pottery that Dai Ronghua started his
artistic carreer; and then he develops this art in
all aspects by absorbing from various merits of
other experts. Finally, he establishes himself as a
prolific artist of profound knowledge and unique
crafs.
Of all the traditional Chinese paintings and porcelain
paintings by Daironghua, the most distinguished ones
are his painting of ancient Chinese women are
characterized by their slenderness and tendermess as
well as their beauty and purity. Woman under his
brush is presented either as one deep in love or one
playing with butterflies and fireflies, either one
gathering lotus and water chusnut or one looking far
into the distance, deep in meditation. He has
painted, for any times, not only the Four Beauty of
ancient Chinese women but also the famous heroines
in Chinese history. He drawes his subjucts from folk
stories, autobiographies, legends, poetry and
history. Characters of traditional Chinese women are
christalized in his mind and he shapes them into the
personification of purity and nobleness. The many
fair maidens under his brush are so beautiful that
their beauty would obscure the moon and make flowers
blush . This beauty may well be an offspring of Dai
Ronghua, who is himself a gentle and cultivated man.
While Dai's painting of traditional Chinese women follows the
pattern of traditional art, it also has its own
innovations. His works have reached a perfect
harmonious realm by their proper lines,
well-arranged gradation of colours and strong
garnishing effects of features and objects."Red
Bean" is a perfect combination of tradition and
innovation. A table, a jar, a bowl, several granules
of red beans and a dark-coloured carpet are all
well-arranged in the picture, forming a sharp
contrast between lightness and heaviness. By the
left in the middle, several obscure distant pictures
are set as background; on he upper right are
inscribed with a poem and the author's signature.
The whole painting is neatly and clearly finished. A
close analysis will tell that not a single lines in
proper places, with every touch carefully and
meticulously placed. Dai,like all great artists in
the past and at present, is always considerate and
discreet in his paintings.
The paintings of innocent children by Dai Ronghua are also
well-done. Childrens are pictured as srong, healthy,
worriless, energetic, curious and full of hope and
dream. Childhood is the golden age of all living
things, it is also the golden age of human being. As
onge grows old, he will always recall those happy
days in his childhood. Many writers, artists and
poets have written brilliant masterpieces
reminiscent of their own beautiful childhood. Qi
Baishi, the most famous moden artist in China, left
with us man paintings about flowers an plants,
insects and fishes such as "The Other Day When
Greeting","All Small Fish Coming" and "Herding Cow
with Bells", all of which are the reflection of his
own innocence and play fullness in his childhood. In
his works, Dai Ronghua directly sketches the images
of children to show his rememberance of those happy
days . His paintings of innoce children take various
forms:children catching a cricket, children pulling
the tail of a cat, children playing hide-and -seek,
children catching a cricket, children pulling the
tail of a cat , children playing hide -and -seek,
children shispering to each other, children riding
bamboo horses, children holding a lantern in
festival, children igniting a firecrack, and
children playing with chickens, etc. Dai's paintings
of the natural world are also colourful:the rise of
the sun and the moon, the up and down of clouds
fluttering bees and dancing butterflies growing
grass and flying orioles, blooming flowers and heavy
fruits, singing frog at night and swimming fish
underneath the water,ants at fight and cicadas long
chanting, while children are all curious and
puzzled. Dai has brought to life the cheerful mood
of innocent children. In fact, what he brushes is
none other than himself and his little companions in
the childhood.
The images of the children he has created are all
lovely:children with big heads and little bodies,
which are typical of the childhood of all animals
with delicate feature, little nose and small
mouth,every little one is charmingly naive, deeply
ofsessed in his or her own world.
Dai's works are really cute, because Dai has exactly entered
the mind of the people he paints. Not only are the
little children lovely, but also are the little
cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, little lions and
tigers. Even a little pigtail of the little one is
delightful and pleasing. Such a fascination his
works possess that they are sure to remain valuable
and endurable.
In his works, Dai is good at contrasting lightness and
heaviness, density and perfectly arranged.
Paintings, either traditional Chinese painting or oil painting,
pasted painting or woodcutting or porcelain
painting, all draw their nourishments from the
painters' own personal experience. There is a
principle concerning the writing of poetry: "Words
with meaning completely exposed are far from truely
poetic. Poetic words should be half -hidden in
expression. The words and images should reach beyond
the surface and leave a lasting aftertaste."This
poetic principle may well be applies to Dai
Ronghua's success in porcelain painting.
Zhang Zhian
Jan.18,1997,South of Jiangsu Province
Vice Director of Jiangsu
Pottery and Porelain art
Association
Honoured President of Jingdezhen Art Academy
President of China Golden
Autumn PEN Association of Famous
Paiters and Calligraphers
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