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Fang Zhaoling The Public Orator Professor Mimi Chan, M.A., M.PHIL., wrote and delivered the following citation:
Such is still the way of the world that women are less often publicly honoured for their achievements than men. We are happy to honour two women this afternoon, and happier still that the two high achievers are mother and daughter ***certainly something unprecedented in the annals of this University. And what makes this even more gratifying is that both mother and daughter hold degrees from our University. Madam Fang Zhao Ling is Anson Chan's mother,
so this is another first for our Chief Secretary. But while each illumines the other, neither depends on the other reflected glory. Madam Fang Zhao Ling is one of China's foremost artists. She studied painting under the successive tutelage of three of China's most famous artists, Qian Songyan, Chao Shao An and Zhang Daqian. Now eighty-two years young a fact she proclaims with a flourish on her paintings and calligraphy she is still energetic, creative and prolific. Fang Zhao Ling early years coincided with a turbulent period of China's history. Her father was assassinated when she was eleven. Fortunately her mother was a woman of vision and foresight, an early believer in learning for women. Madam Fang and her sister were tutored by noted Wuxi scholars of the time in English, Chinese and Modern European History. Her talent in painting and calligraphy became evident at an early age, and she later enrolled at the Wuxi College of Chinese painting. Under the guidance of Chen Jiucun and Qian Songyan she learned to paint birds and flowers and landscapes. Her studies made her sufficiently proficient to undertake university studies at Manchester University, whither she went in 1937 to take a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was a year short of obtaining her degree when the war intervened and she and her husband returned to a warravaged China. The misery of the war years left an indelible memory. Madam Fang was unable to do any creative work as the family drifted as refugees from place to place. These memories have caused Madam Fang to value peace and stability above all, and she gives expression to her fervent hopes for peace and prosperity, for joy and good fortune, in her paintings and her calligraphy. The family went to Hong Kong after the war. But very shortly afterwards Madam Fang's husband, Fang Xingao, passed away. She was left to bring up eight very young children — six boys and a pair of twin girls. One of the twin girls is our present Chief Secretary.
The story of Madam Fang is in some ways a story of the indomitable spirit of Chinese women; it is a tribute not only to Fang Zhao Ling and her daughter Anson Chan but also to Madam Fang's mother, who gave her the opportunity for study and to her mother-inlaw, a very open-minded woman who not only helped her look after her children but encouraged her to continue painting. Her husband Xingao had all along been supportive; even during the difficult war years he had made it possible for Fang Zhao Ling to study under Lu Xinnong and Chao Shao An at different times. Madam Fang completed her BA studies, undertaken originally at Manchester University, at the University of Hong Kong, taking one year here to obtain her BA in Chinese in 1956, six years before her twin daughters obtained their degrees. Professor Francis Drake, then Head of the Department of Chinese, urged her to further her studies in Oxford. She then went to Japan, France, Switzerland, Germany and America. She held exhibitions in each place, to widen her circle of friends and exchange notes with fellow artists. Madam Fang feels still that it is necessary to have constant revitalization. She still travels to widen her perspective and to refresh her imagination, to be stimulated by new sights and fresh experiences. She believes there are three essential attributes that characterize all successful artists: understanding, breadth and creativity. She believes that painting is hard work. First we have to go through an imitation stage, when we have to familiarize ourselves with the basics of brushwork by studying closely the works of our teachers and other masters. In the second stage we have to widen our exposure to famous works of art, Chinese and foreign. Subsequently it is necessary to travel extensively to visit famous mountains and rivers, explore the mysteries of nature which are sources of our inspiration. Fang Zhao Ling's style today is her own, a synthesis of all her years of practice and
assimilation influences. She is not content to follow any single school of painting, but has evolved her own highly distinctive style, partly a product of her own forthright, resolute character and of her experiences in life. Two Western artists she admires are Matisse and Picasso. She was living in London when she went alone to see a Picasso exhibition in Paris and the paintings at the exhibition left a lasting impression on her. Equally unforgettable was his dictum that painters should all study Chinese art. Her work is rich in substance and colour and have a deceptive lack of sophistication. Her figures are elegantly simple; her landscapes are majestic. She is not restricted by any set rules of shading, line, composition or colour. Her work often flows from her emotions, resulting in a variety of effects. Her simple yet vigorous style is widely admired and has won national and international recognition. An artist who does not stand on ceremony, Madam Fang seems to set little store by awards and prizes, not caring to keep a list of these tangible tokens of her success. Madam Fang paints solidly a good many hours a day, but she also pauses for human nature's daily food�. Between her sessions of creativity she naps and watches television. Watching the news being an indispensable part of her daily routine, Madam Fang is in touch with contemporary happenings. The Gulf War, the plight of the boat people are among the topics depicted in her paintings, but her greatest source of inspiration is her love of China. Even though The Boat People and Ode to World Peace are about Vietnamese refugees, when Fang Zhao Ling painted these her thoughts were of Chinese refugees during the War. She has travelled extensively and painted scenes recollected in tranquillity "of Lake Geneva, the coast of Greece, the border of Switzerland and France in Severe Winter, of herself Listening and Learning at Carmel, fusing East and West in works that are to use her own words "modern in touch and Chinese in feel". Stonehenge Revisited depicts that famous landmark in England but the thoughts
behind it lie far away and long ago in Fang Zhao Ling's motherland. Indeed her love of China, its land, its people, and her hopes for them, and her fears, are constant themes. Among her favourite topics are the Loess Plateau in China, life in cave dwellings, scenes along the Yellow River and the Yangtze, pines on Huangshan and Lake Tai dragon boat races. A subject dear to her heart is the Peaceful Settlement of Hong Kong's Future. Such is her passion for creativity and innovation that she is constantly working on new themes and experimenting with new forms of expression. After the turbulence of her early life Madam Fang is finding the autumn of her life a season of mellow fruitfulness. Not only does she find fulfilment in her work, which she tackles with undiminished indeed increasing zest and skill and confidence, but she also derives satisfaction from her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. All eight of her offspring have achieved a high degree of success and they and their offspring are objects of Madam Fang's justifiable pride. She is reaping the harvest of her earlier toil. John Ruskin has written, "fine art is that in which the hand, the head and the heart of man go together'. Fang Zhao Ling's work exemplifies this. Mr. Chancellor, it is my pleasure to request you to confer on Madam Fang Zhao Ling, for her contribution to the arts the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa. 
The autumn exhibition in the Ashmolean’s Chinese Paintings Gallery commemorates the life of Fang Zhaoling (1914–2006). Drawn from private collections, including the Fang family collection, many of the works are on display for the first time in public. Fang Zhaoling was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in east China, the elder of two daughters of an affluent family. Her father, an industrialist, was assassinated in 1925 amidst social and political upheaval in China. In spite of this tragedy, Fang’s mother continued to provide a remarkably liberal and wideranging education for her daughters. Fang started to study Chinese painting and calligraphy at the age of thirteen, later going on to an art college in Wuxi. In 1937 she was accepted by Manchester University in England and she married her fellow student, Fang Sinkao, a year later, returning with him to China at the outbreak of the Second World War. In the following years, the family was displaced and moved around China, allowing Fang little opportunity to paint. They settled in Hong Kong in 1948 but Fang Sinkao died suddenly just two years later. In addition to taking over her husband’s business, Fang was left to bring up eight young children on her own: six boys and twin girls. Each of Fang’s children went on to lead distinguished careers, most notably Anson Chan who became Chief Secretary of the British Colonial Government of Hong Kong and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government under Chinese rule until 2001. Following her husband’s death, Fang Zhaoling resumed painting with extraordinary diligence and perseverance. She studied with the Lingnan School master, Zhao Shao’ang (1905–1998), and later with one of the most celebrated Chinese artists, Zhang Daqian (1899–1983). Fang’s paintings and inscriptions also suggest that she was taking inspiration from earlier masters such as Qi Baishi (1864– 1957). From
the 1950s to the ‘70s, Fang lived and travelled in Europe and America where she became knowledgeable about trends in modern Western painting.
Fang Zhaoling (1914–2006), Flowering branches on cliffs, 1978, Ink and colour on paper, 68.6 x 88.9 cm, Private Collection, © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
In the 1960s she experimented with Western media and subject matter, producing abstract paintings in oils; and later tackling contemporary issues such as the plight of Vietnamese ‘boat people’ and the environment. Her enduring passion was, however, the traditional Chinese style, rooted in national history and culture. She was fascinated by the simplicity of Han mural paintings (202 BC–AD
220) and she developed a distinctive style of her own in both figure paintings and in her landscapes which, from the 1970s, often combine calligraphic lines and forms to illustrate mountains and rocks instead of using the traditional cun method of ink strokes. The paintings on display in this centenary exhibition are mostly from the Fang family collection, through the Fang Zhaoling Foundation, including many works which have never been published. Three paintings are from the collection of David Hawkes (1923–2009), one of Fang’s tutors when she studied at the University of Oxford from 1956–58. The exhibition also includes five paintings by Fang from the Nanshun Shanfang Collection, Singapore. Shelagh Vainker, Senior Curator of Chinese Art, Ashmolean Museum, says: ‘Fang Zhaoling was one of China’s foremost modern artists whose long career and remarkable life was set against the backdrop of the turbulence of twentieth-century China. The Ashmolean is profoundly grateful to the individuals who have lent works to this centenary exhibition and we hope the display will give visitors the opportunity to see some of her greatest works and to learn about her life.’ Ashmolean Museum Beaumont St Oxford OX1 2PH United Kingdom Ph. +44 (0)18 65278002 exhibitions.officer@ashmus.ox.ac.uk www.ashmolean.org Opening hours Tuesday - Sunday from 10am to 5pm Monday from 10am to 5pm
Stonehenge, 1994, Ink and colour on paper, 78.7 x 102.9 cm
Ink splash landscape of Guilin, 1977–95, Ink and colour on paper, 69.9 x 105.4 cm
Mount Hua landscape, 1973, Ink and colour on paper, 42 x 69.1 cm
Lotus, 1980, Ink and colour on paper, 68.6 x 137.2 cm
Peonies, 1957, Ink and colour on paper, 54.7 x 37 cm
Plum blossom, 1961, Ink and colour on paper, 47 x 42 cm 
Masterpieces of Fang Zhaoling on display at Central Library The road to success in art creation is rough. All those who can succeed seem to have one salient feature in common - strong character and an ability to exist and create in adverse circumstances. Dr Fang Zhaoling, a master of Chinese painting and calligraphy, also has this feature which makes her successful in overcoming all the obstacles she has faced in her life and establishing a remarkable career in creation. Today, Dr Fang, in her advanced years, still manifests untiring zeal for creation that has won her widespread admiration and profound respect. If you love Dr Fang's painting and calligraphy and want to view her latest works, here is an opportunity at the Hong Kong Central Library. To mark the opening of the Central Library, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum will stage a special exhibition to feature Dr Fang's masterpieces in the Library's Exhibition Gallery from tomorrow (July 24) till August 12, 2001. Entitled "The Majestic Brush - Works by Fang Zhaoling", the exhibition will feature 120 exhibits including Dr Fang's works created between 1958 and 1999 as well as her seals and painting tools. More than 50 pieces of the artist's latest works are shown for the first time in Hong Kong. The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Mr Tung Chee Hwa, accompanied by Dr Fang Zhaoling, the Chairman of the Culture and Heritage Commission, Professor Chang Hsin-kang, the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Paul Leung Sai-wah, and Mrs Anson Chan, officiated at the opening ceremony of the exhibition today (July 23) at the Hong Kong Central Library.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Paul Leung Sai-wah noted that Dr Fang Zhaoling was an accomplished contemporary and calligrapher and she had developed her own distinctive and original style in painting by incorporating the essence of traditional Chinese painting art with modern themes in her works. Mr Leung also complimented Dr Fang on her effort to open up new realms of painting and calligraphy, making her contribution to the promotion of Chinese culture. "Dr Fang's works not only display the refreshing charm of nature and her unique artistic intelligence, but also reveal her passion for life and indomitable courage to experiment new techniques. I am sure visitors will share the same views after appreciating Dr Fang's works," said Mr Leung. Featuring exquisite paintings of landscape, flowers, birds and portraits as well as scrolls of calligraphy and handscrolls, "The Majestic Brush" exhibition is sure to bring to the public great pleasure and an appreciation of Dr Fang's creativity and her achievements in art. Born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in 1914, Dr Fang Zhaoling developed an early interest in Chinese painting and calligraphy. Under the tutelage of masters such as Qian Songyan, Chen Jiucun, Zhao Shao'ang and Zhang Daqian, she first learned flower-and-bird painting before later specialising in landscapes. After years of exploration, she then developed her own individual style. She studied Chinese Literature and Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University from 1954 to 1958 and received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hong Kong in 1996. Dr Fang's works are rich in content and brimming with her passion for life and a concern for her hometown. She skilfully integrates traditional Chinese brushwork in her treatment of
contemporary subjects. Her works dealing with current affairs such as Vietnamese boat people, environmental protection and world peace display to the full her refreshing vision in composition. Dr Fang's solo exhibitions and public lectures in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Germany, the United States of America, Australia, China and Japan have contributed greatly to publicising Chinese calligraphy and painting, winning her international acclaim. In 1956, she staged a solo exhibition in Singapore, pioneering what would become a tradition of women artists staging "one-woman" shows. Over the past few decades, Dr Fang has made breakthroughs in the realm of painting and calligraphy. As well as earning her great acclaim from the art community at home and abroad, her groundbreaking endeavours have also contributed immensely to the promotion of Chinese art and culture worldwide. Besides the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters presented by the University of Hong Kong, Dr Fang was also awarded a honorary doctorate by Soka University in Japan and granted the Award of Highest Honour by Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. All these honours firmly established Dr Fang's high standing in the world of art and academic. Part of the displays in "The Majestic Brush" exhibition has toured the museums of Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima in Japan in recent years, winning her wide acclaim. Hong Kong Central Library is located at 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The Library's Exhibition Gallery opens from 10am to 8pm daily. The admission is free. For enquiries, please call 2180 8188.
Contemporary ink: Chinese art’s next big splash? Gallerists react to Sotheby’s October 2013
Chinese ink is mooted as the next big thing in contemporary art, but what is really driving the demand? Does Sotheby’s record-breaking sales of contemporary ink painting in Hong Kong in early October signify that Chinese contemporary ink is the most sought after form of Chinese art in the market? We asked several leading experts to give us the low-down.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Literati: Early Ink Masters auction (held 5 October 2013 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong) exceeded expectations, with a grand total (including Buyer’s Premium) of HKD25,403,750 (USD3.26 million), nearly quadrupled the pre-sale estimate (HKD6.4 million / USD825,000). The three top-selling lots were:
Liu Guosong’s Midnight Sun fetched HKD6.28 million / USD805,128 (Est. HKD1.2 – 1.6 million) Fang Zhaolin’s Nature’s Grandeur fetched HKD1.6 million / USD205,128 (Est. HKD250,000 – 300,000) Wang Jiqian’s Landscape fetched HKD1.24 million / USD158,974 (Est. HKD140,000 – 180,000) In Sotheby’s post-auction press release, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman Mee-Seen Loong states, “The buyers yesterday were especially enthusiastic about this sale’s focus on the early expatriate ink masters who inspire the current great ink artists.” She goes on to state that Sotheby’s is “an innovator in the field of contemporary Chinese ink paintings.” Sotheby’s was not the only auction house in Hong Kong selling lots of ink works in October 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal. Poly Auction and China Guardian also held auctions, with Poly Auction totaling HKD80.3 million (about USD10.4 million) in sales in the contemporary ink painting category. The article states that even in spite of the heavy promotion of ink painting by the auction houses, it still remains an emerging category, as oil painting remains one of the leading categories in contemporary art auction sales. Georgina Adam for the Art Newspaper reports that the oldest form of Chinese art, ink on paper or silk, is becoming the hottest commodity on the market. With a major survey exhibition like the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China” (10 December-6 April 2014) soon to take place and well-heeled collectors like Christie’s owner François Pinault being a big fan, she writes that the “market is sitting up and taking notice,
and there is even talk of ink being ‘the new contemporary Chinese art’—and attracting a rush of collectors.” So is ink really the next big thing? Art Radar interviewed leading experts of Chinese ink painting who are based in Hong Kong. Alice and Daphne King from Alisan Fine Arts and Fred Scholle from Galerie du Monde gave us their expert views.
Alice and Daphne King of Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Alisan Fine Arts, established in 1981, specialises in Chinese contemporary art. It was the first gallery to organise a solo exhibition of Zao Wou-ki‘s works in Hong Kong in 1993, and has exhibited the work of well-known artists such as Chu Teh-chun and Walasse Ting. The gallery also manages the estate of Chao Chung-hsiang. Defining contemporary ink is debatable; Qiu Zhijie, for example, rejects the ‘ink artist’ label. How would you define contemporary ink?
Previously in 2008, I was invited to curate an important ink art exhibition entitled “New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond”. In the preface published for the show, I wrote: “The exhibition seeks to understand ‘ink’ in its broadest sense, seeing it not merely as a selected medium but rather a necessary reference central to Chinese culture. Modern ‘ink’ art has evolved to display its many other possibilities. This has a great bearing on how the traditional medium of ink is being internationally recognised, and can be further popularised to become a contemporary idiom. In the twentieth century, Hong Kong was a centre for the development of new ink painting; it has been the forerunner, the first city in the region to emerge as a centre of new ink art. No one epitomises this more than Lui Shou-kwan, who played a critical role in modernising ink painting between the 1950s and 1970s. In the early 1950s, Lui Shou-kwan’s landscape work had already become abstract, thus earmarking a new phase in his career, as having read extensively on the art history of both the Chinese ancient painting and western modernism. In the Mainland, it was only much later when such creative leaps of imagination took place. Toward the end of the 1970s, Wu Guanzhong’s two controversial essays unleashed much discussion, and led to such movements as the “New Wave”, “Calligraphyism” of the 1980s, followed by “Experimental Ink” art of the 1990s. Taken as a whole, all of these movements pointed to the many new directions in ink aesthetics.” So in a nutshell I agree with Qiu that ink art is not confined to just the ink painting but can be works of art that are inspired by the ink tradition.
Ink is a medium with a long history in China. Why is there so much interest in contemporary ink in Asia right now? In the last two years, have you seen a change in interest and sales of contemporary ink? Alisan Fine Arts has been promoting Chinese ink art for over thirty years now, so it is interesting and wonderful to see that there is a sudden interest in ink art. Back in 1987 we held a landmark exhibition, “A State of Transition, Contemporary Paintings from Shanghai” at the Hong Kong Arts Centre and more recently we have organised solo exhibitions in Chinese ink for mainland artists Yang Jiechang, Wang Tiande, and Wei Ligang as well as for Hong Kong artists Fang Zhaoling and Lui Shou-kwan. In terms of sales, we have always had a steady stream of clients who focus on collecting ink art so there is not a major increase in sales. Which artists sell well in the contemporary ink category? Liu Kuo-sung, Wang Tiande, Wei Ligang, Gao Xinjian, Fang Zhaoling, Xu Bing. What do you think of the results of the Sotheby’s ink sale last week? More people were interested in Lui Shou-kwan’s “Zen Paintings” which are really good as Lui Shou-kwan is the pioneer of the New Ink movement in Hong Kong from the 1950s. We just had a solo show for him at the Fine Art Asia Fair. Fang Zhaoling’s works sold for a good price, so we were excited as we also held a solo show for her last year. Overall it was encouraging to see that the sales went well. I do not think the prices were unreasonable and think there will be further room for growth in this area.
Where do most of your collectors/buyers come from? From China, Asia, or the West? Are they young or old? Are there particular nationalities that are interested in ink? Our collectors and buyers are international, from all age ranges. Both Asian and Westerners are interested in Chinese ink art. Do Sotheby’s recent results back up the media hype around ink? Some experts, such as M+ Museum’s Pi Li, have said that marketing is partly behind the trend for contemporary ink. What do you think? It could be that marketing has to do with the current trend in ink art, but I do not see anything wrong with that and believe that it is good for ink art as a whole. It has long been an area that has been under-appreciated. Why is ink tipped to be the ‘next big thing’? Who’s driving the trend, buyers or collectors? I think buyers, collectors, galleries, dealers and auction houses are all driving the trend. More than ten years ago I formed the Ink Society with a group of collectors who are passionate about Ink Art. We have been slowly promoting this medium to the public and are hopeful that there will be an Ink Art Centre in Hong Kong. Please search our website for more information regarding our activities and mission. For new collectors coming into the field what advice would you give them about collecting contemporary ink? Which artists are the leading artists for this genre? How do you recognise good examples of this genre?
For new collectors, I always tell them that they should collect what they like and not follow the trend so much. It is important to establish a trusting relationship with a good dealer. Read up about what they are interested in. There is definitely a lot of info in the media lately so they should not have a problem. A few leading artists as mentioned before would be Chao Chung Hsiang, Lui Shou Kwan, Fang Zhaoling, Wang Tiande, Wei Ligang, Xu Bing, Gu Wenda, Yang Jiechang etc‌.
Fred Scholle from Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong Galerie du Monde, founded in 1974, features Modern and contemporary Chinese art, representing artists such as Qin Chong, Qin Wen, Shi Jinsong and Katherine Xiao Kejia. Defining contemporary ink is debatable; Qiu Zhijie, for example, rejects the ‘ink artist’ label. How would you define contemporary ink? Contemporary ink paintings are works that do not neglect the great cultural legacy of the past but invent a language that also addresses the cultural and social issues of China today. Works can range from what at first sight looks quite traditional to those that are extremely avant-garde. But all of them exemplify a powerful and fresh aesthetic inventiveness. Ink is a medium with a long history in China. Why is there so much interest in contemporary ink in Asia right now? In the last two years, have you seen a change in interest and sales of contemporary ink? After an explosion of interest mainly from western buyers in oil paintings with political themes in the early 1990s to 2004, the market took a sharp correction and prices fell heavily. Although ink paintings were a part of this market, they moved upwards much less drastically, and therefore were less susceptible to the drop in the oil painting market. Recently, as the market improves again and collectors have become more mature, there is a growing interest in ink because of its inherent quality and because of its relevance to Chinese culture and history and to society in China in general. In the past two years, we have seen a noticeable gain in the interest of ink paintings and feel this is only the beginning.
Which artists sell well in the contemporary ink category? Liu Guosong, Lu Shoukun, Qin Feng, Wang Jiqian, Qin Chong, Qiu Zhijie, Li Huayi, Yang Jiechang and Liu Dan to name a few. What do you think of the results of the Sotheby’s ink sale last week? A small and quite varied selection, which was probably to test the market. The better works exceeded estimates quite substantially. I think we can see more sales of ink paintings and on a larger scale. Where do most of your collectors/buyers come from? From China, Asia, or the West? Are they young or old? Are there particular nationalities that are interested in ink? As Hong Kong is a very international metropolis, our collectors come from many parts of the world, but presently, I would say that our European and American collectors are showing a strong interest in contemporary ink paintings. Collectors from Asia are strong, mainly from Taiwan and Singapore. Collectors from China are gradually showing more interest in contemporary ink, although their main interest remains in traditional ink painting. Most of our collectors and buyers of contemporary ink art are younger to middle aged. Do Sotheby’s recent results back up the media hype around ink? Some experts, such as M+ Museum’s Pi Li, have said that marketing is partly behind the trend for contemporary ink. What do you think? Marketing always plays an important part in the promotion or demand of a product, whether it is fine art or anything else. The three major auction houses in the West and several houses in China are all involved in creating specific ink painting sales platforms as we have just seen by the recent Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong. This is a very
significant development, and together with very ambitious ink exhibitions in western museums over the past few years, this has created a very strong new interest in the genre. I would not consider this as “media hype”, but as a genuine new interest in ink paintings that will continue to develop further by Chinese institutions and collectors significantly due to cultural heritage and national pride. Why is ink tipped to be the ‘next big thing’? Who’s driving the trend, buyers or collectors? A realisation that ink painting represents the true cultural heritage of Chinese people. With the tremendous increase in wealth and the proliferation of new museums in China, the trend is being driven by both collectors and also speculators. For new collectors coming into the field what advice would you give them about collecting contemporary ink? Advice we would give to collectors of any genre of art: buy what appeals to you. Do your homework. Research an artist that you intend to collect. But the best that you can afford of an artist’s work. Don’t speculate. Deal with a reputable gallery that has extensive knowledge of ink art. The leading artists of this genre are already priced beyond the means of young new collectors. Which artists are the leading artists for this genre? How do you recognise good examples of this genre? Research, research, research and deal with respected galleries for advice.
I first met Chinese painter and calligrapher Fang Zhaoling in 1996, at a dinner for honorees of the University of Hong Kong. A woman of great learning and character, she was vibrant and energetic, shining like a jewel. It was only later that I learned that her inner life had been ground and polished to its present brilliance through profound suffering. Born on January 17, 1914, she grew up enjoying the warmth and comforts of a loving, cultured family life. Her father rented a house to the general of one of the warlords who effectively divided military control of China among them. One day, when Zhaoling was 11, her father was coming to meet his family by boat, the usual means of transport in the area. Suddenly, three soldiers who had been lying in wait aimed their guns and started shooting at the boat. The bullets pierced her father's luggage and entered his body. "Get down! Get down!" were his final words to Zhaoling and her sister. In the wake of her husband's assassination, Zhaoling's mother sought to prepare her daughters for life in a turbulent world by providing them with the finest possible education. It was her conviction that this was the most certain thing she could offer them. In 1931 the young Zhaoling went to England to study at the University of Manchester where she was the only female Chinese student. Her husband to be, Fang Yingao, was already studying at Manchester when she arrived. They married as students. Contrary to the prevailing mores of the times, Fang Yingao was broadminded and
treated her as an equal. They discussed everything. Their first child, a son, was born. They were happy. But in 1940, the hellish flames of Hitler's aggression were lapping the shores of England. The lights of safety and security were being extinguished. Seeking refuge, the couple traveled to Norway and then New York. Pregnant, she traveled three days and nights by train to arrive in Los Angeles en route to China. One week after the family's arrival in Shanghai, twin daughters were born. They made their way to Hong Kong, but here again they encountered war. The Japanese army invaded, perpetrating unspeakable atrocities against the local population. The young family, driven by the sound of marching boots and gunshots, traveled from place to place across the vastness of the Chinese mainland. The children born during these years each had a different birthplace. Each day Zhaoling felt as if she were taking her children by the hand to make another desperate passage over stretches of thinly frozen ice. It was her husband Yingao who gave her hope and reminded her of her special talent. Never forget your painting, he encouraged her, that is the path you must pursue. Just being near him, feeling his broad, embracing spirit, brought courage forth from within her.
In 1948, after almost 10 years of wandering and flight, the Fang family settled in Hong Kong. Then on September 9, 1950, just as the family was starting to savor the joys of peace and a return to normal life, Yingao died of illness. Stunned, Zhaoling turned her gaze to the heavens. She pondered the cruel mystery of fate. At 36, she was alone with eight children to care for. The oldest was 11, the youngest 3: six boys and two girls. Eight sets of eyes all shone with the same question, the same fear: "What are we to do? How are we to live from now on?" She held her children tight, trying in vain to hold back her own tears which fell in hot streams down her cheeks. "You were always there . . . you were always kind. We shared everything. Why must death be the one thing we can't share . . . ?" Waking in the middle of the night, she found herself alone. Alone in a dark maze. In the midst of a stillness in which the stars themselves seemed to have stopped moving. Alone. She felt the burden of an enormous void, as deep as the oceans, as vast as the sky. Again and again, she reminded herself that she must go on living. And yet . . . There is nothing more fragile than the human heart. At the same time, there is nothing more indestructible. She had reached the point that is known only by hearts that have been plunged into the very pit of grief, but have refused to die. It is there that we encounter a light that shines from the depths of life, from the compassionate essence of the universe. Only those who have known the biting cold of winter can truly appreciate the compassion and love of the sun.
Even the longest night will eventually give way to dawn. One day, she felt her husband's presence. She heard him speaking within her heart, offering the same warm encouragement he always did. "I am with you, here, now. I will be with you always," he seemed to say. And it was then that Fang Zhaoling vowed never again to dwell on the past. If I move forward, she thought, he will advance alongside me, with me. We will be together. Embracing the precious treasure of a bundle of her husband's letters, Fang Zhaoling began a new life. She started running the small trading company her husband had left her. She made efforts to ensure that, just as her mother had before her, she would give her own children the best education possible. When she had achieved a degree of financial security, Fang Zhaoling set out once more on the path of learning. While intensively studying calligraphy and painting, she enrolled in the University of Hong Kong. She followed this with studies at Oxford University. She sought out new frontiers in Chinese painting. She was determined to develop an entirely new and unique way of portraying human figures and landscapes. She once told me she felt it took her 50 years to develop her own style of painting. Victory, whether in art or in life, is found in dedicated, uncompromising effort.
Buddhism teaches that the heart is like a skilled painter. Both art and our lives are faithful expressions of what is in our hearts. Everything, I believe, comes down to that. Through all adversity, Fang Zhaoling's heart remained undefeated. She continued to advance, determined to make each day a step forward. The experience of having endured and overcome such profound sadness has completely liberated her from fear. The sufferings of life have dug out a deeper, wider space for the world of her heart; and paintings of stunning beauty and power have grown in that inner expanse. In everything she sees she feels the light, the shapes and shadows, of life itself. Mountains, rivers, ceaselessly changing landscapes--all these appear as a vast song of life. With every passing year, a new cosmos comes into being within her. Her children have all grown into fine, accomplished people. One is a simultaneous interpreter for the United Nations; another, a company president; one is a lawyer and two are doctors. One of her daughters, Anson Chan Fang On-Sang, played a crucial role in the return of Hong Kong to China and later became known as the conscience of Hong Kong. The day after we met, mother and daughter were both conferred with honorary doctorates from the University of Hong Kong. Later, Fang Zhaoling sent me two family photographs. The first, taken one year after the passing of her husband, shows eight sweetly innocent children huddled
together. The second, taken in 1995, shows eight men and women, dignified and confident, gathered smiling around their mother. Into her 80s, Fang Zhaoling continued to rise early and paint for six to eight hours each day. Staying busy, she says, is the secret to long life. "If you are engaged and occupied with your work, you don't bother worrying about small problems. You don't dwell on things or let them bother you." In January 1997, when she was already 83, she inscribed a calligraphy that seems to sum up her life: Once more I rise to scale the high peak
Fang Zhaoling: A Centenary Exhibition 2 Oct 2014 to 22 Feb 2015
The autumn exhibition in the Ashmolean’s Chinese Paintings Gallery commemorates the life of Fang Zhaoling (1914–2006). Drawn from private collections, including the Fang family collection, many of the works are on display for the first time in public.
Fang Zhaolin was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province in east China in 1914. She began studying Chinese painting and calligraphy at the age of thirteen, later going on to an art college in Wuxi. In 1948 she moved to Hong Kong and continued to develop her art. She studied with the Lingnan School master, Zhao Shao’ang (1905–1998), and later with one of the most celebrated Chinese artists, Zhang Daqian (1899–1983). She lived and travelled in Europe and America, and attended both Hong Kong and Oxford Universities. She continued to work as a well-
established artist into her eighties. The paintings in this display are from private collections in Asia and the UK; some Fang gave as gifts to her friends and colleagues during her time in Oxford.
Object Focus Food features often in Fang Zhaoling’s paintings. This picture of pak choi cabbage and other vegetables is one of five small paintings in the current exhibition that depicts things to eat. The foods are always seasonal and the inscriptions on the paintings show how they connect with the place or time they were painted - persimmons for the mid-autumn moon festival, famous Lake Tai crab from the artist’s birthplace Wuxi in east China, or pears and melon painted just before she and her sons consumed them in their London flat in the 1960s. Several paintings in the exhibition have inscriptions added years later, recording Fang’s reflections on her life at the time they were created. One of these outlines at some length the difficulties of painting while bearing heavy domestic responsibilities. For Fang Zhaoling the challenges of maintaining her creative and maternal roles were addressed in the face of political and personal turmoil as well. She was born in 1914 in the turbulence that followed the collapse of Imperial China and her father, a prominent industrialist, was assassinated when she was just eleven. Her mother believed in
educating daughters – a view not prevalent at that time - and after private tuition and a girls’ school she left for university in the UK, at Manchester. She was there in 1939 when war broke out in Europe so she and her husband returned to China, enduring the next decade there as refugees from the Sino-Japanese war and then civil war. Eventually they settled in Hong Kong with their eight children but sadly Fang Zhaoling’s husband died soon afterwards. At this point Fang Zhaoling took over her husband’s business, resumed her painting studies and then completed her university training too, first in Hong Kong and then in Oxford. For the rest of her life she travelled constantly between England, Hong Kong and the US, for her own art and for her children’s education. The landscapes and the still lifes she painted however were always, in her mind, depictions of home. She led a remarkable life, from studying within the confines of a privileged household to travelling the world as an independent artist.
Art Release
Title: Medium: Dimensions: Price:
Happy Cave Dwelling Ink and Colour on Paper, Mounted 87cm x 48cm POA 
Title: Medium: Dimensions: Price:
Rushing to the New Year Country Fair Ink and Colour on Paper, Mounted 86cm x 76.5cm POA
Investment History Ranking in 2014
675
Number of lots sold in 2014
89
Turnover in 2014
$3,004,063
% of bought in lots (prints excluded)
5.3%
Geographic distribution over past 10 years
Hong Kong (50%)
Chronological progression
Geographical Distribution (2000 - 2015)
Distribution by price segment (2000 - 2015) - Turnover
Distribution by price segment (2000 - 2015) - lots sold
Chronological progression
Fang Zhaoling’s Worldwide Ranking (1999 - 2014)
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