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张书旂是一位艺术的革新者，其卓越却短暂的艺术事业横跨中国和美国。他成就了一种独特的艺术风格，以西方绘画的元素重新激发了传统中国画笔法和美学的生命力。在上个世纪50年代，他作为一名从中国来到美国的传达艺术与友好的大使，通过自己的艺术将中国文化之美丽与优雅充分地展现出来，完成了艺术和外交的双重使命。
送给罗斯福总统的《百鸽图》，
是第一幅进入白宫的现代中国画
6月的杭州，暑气渐起。南山路边的浙江美术馆国际会议厅，一场名为“张书旂在美国的绘画生涯”的讲座吸引了许多听众。斯坦福大学历史系教授张少书（即张书旂的儿子）向杭州的朋友们展示了张书旂在美国期间部分珍贵的影像资料和不为人知的趣闻轶事。
同天上午，“张书旂作品展”在浙江美术馆隆重开幕。张书旂的家人在美国通过好友得知，在张书旂先生的故乡浙江，新建了一座目前国内设施最先进、藏品建设领先的美术馆。为了实现张书旂先生生前欲回祖国故乡的愿望，便希望捐赠部分张书旂作品永久收藏在这座美术馆。而这也是浙江美术馆首次在境外接受艺术家家属的捐赠。
出身于浙江浦江书画世家的张书旂，少年时就在绘画方面展现出了一种早熟的天赋。张书旂毕业于金华浙江省立第七中学，于1921年成为刘海粟上海美术专科学校的首批学生之一，开始专攻西方绘画技巧。未能满足于西方画艺的张书旂回到了传统的中国画，但是西方艺术技巧上的训练在他的艺术风格上留下了不可磨灭的印记。
20世纪30年代，张书旂的事业飞速发展，并受聘任教于南京中央大学艺术系。他积极投身于以上海和杭州为中心的艺术圈。他的友人和同侪包括徐悲鸿、傅抱石、潘天寿、吴作人、刘子谷、许士骐、刘海粟、李毅士、艾中信、吴茀之等人。在1937年举办的第二届全国美展上张书旂作品亦列入其中。此外，他的作品还入选巴黎、柏林、莫斯科及其他欧洲各大城市举办的中国当代画展。
历史是如此巧合。
1940年，同时有两件“和平鸽”题材的作品面世。一件是张书旂在重庆完成的《百鸽图》，他以鸽子象征幸福、和平，称之为“世界和平的信使”。另一件是毕加索在巴黎受邻居老大爷所托描绘了一只被德军枪杀的白鸽“萧莱士”，毕加索以白鸽象征和平，荣称“世界和平战士”。在艺术的世界里，没有国界、没有战争，只有阳光、和平与快乐。
据张书旂后来回忆，当时他是在外面日军炮火纷飞的地下防空洞里完成《百鸽图》（又名《世界和平的信使》）的创作的。他说持续的空袭威胁给创作过程带来了诸多困难。中央大学被轰炸时，他不得不将这幅尚未完成的画作夹在臂下赶往防空洞。数日后，作品基本完成但画迹尚未干透。日军再次空袭时，他不得不留下画作赶钻防空洞。他后来回忆道：“我想这一次不能再冒险把它带在身边了。”幸运的是，虽然此番轰炸对周边地区破坏甚巨，但画作本身并没有受到损坏。他的和平鸽安全了─他将鸽子和画作的安然无恙视作希望的象征。
张书旂在1940年12月23日中央大学举办的赠送仪式暨张书旂画展上，亲自将完成的《百鸽图》交给时任美国驻华大使尼尔森·约翰逊(Nelson Johnson)，请他转赠美国总统罗斯福，祝贺他第三次当选美国总统。约翰逊将画作寄往白宫，并在写给罗斯福总统的附信中谈及这件作品象征了美国总统对正在进行的世界大战的立场。此图经空运、海运，送到罗斯福手中，后收藏于罗斯福总统图书馆。
张书旂完成《百鸽图》用时三周，在一天之内就绘出50只鸽子，并在随后的时间完成了剩余部分。画中的每只鸽子位置不同，形态各异，栩栩如生，强烈地吸引着观者。约翰逊特别提及了画作丰富的色彩和独特的视角，这些对于他的西方式感知有着巨大的魅力。这幅大型画作跨越半个地球，从重庆运抵华盛顿。根据当地报纸报道，画作在白宫陈列展出。随后，纽约市一所主要艺术馆法拉吉尔画廊(FerargilGalleries)向白宫借出画作，并在1942年5月举办的中国艺术展上展出。罗斯福总统向中方致函，并在信中表达对这幅“美丽的作品”的欣赏和他“收到这幅画作的喜悦心情”。
据美国国家档案署泰瑞女士介绍，《百鸽图》的出借是美国国家文献馆馆藏档案首次来到中国。因此，在本次浙江美术馆张书旂作品展现场，我们才有机会见证这幅名作的“庐山真面目”。
白鸽纷飞，岁月沧桑，但我们依然能够感受到画作上洋溢的郁勃生气和满腔希望。徐悲鸿曾评价张书旂“画鸽应属古今第一”。《百鸽图》是张书旂先生擅长画上用粉、精于花卉翎毛的经典之作。
张少书教授介绍说，当时赠送《百鸽图》给罗斯福总统的新闻迅速在西方世界传了开来，所以香港新闻出版商陈孝威便邀请张书旂创作另一幅作品，以表示对英国首相丘吉尔的敬意。在友人赵少昂的鼓励下，张书旂创作了《云霄一羽图》，描绘了一只孤独却坚毅的海鹰在波涛万丈的海岸上空翱翔的图景。这幅画附有杨永玺为丘吉尔首相所作的长诗，现今陈列于丘吉尔故居──英国查特韦尔庄园(Chartwell)。
他在美国浪漫而辉煌的绘画、展览，得到西方评论家的高度评价
《百鸽图》连接了中美之间的友谊，也直接促成了张书旂浪漫而辉煌的跨洋绘画之旅。在美国，他多次前往东海岸和中西部，直至大西洋沿岸。他在大学、民间团体和画廊举办了多场画展，尤以华盛顿、波士顿、纽约以及芝加哥大都市区为最多。
那么美国观众对张书旂的画展作何反应呢？
从纪录的影像可以看出，对于这些观众来说，他的中国画的完整的独特性在于强调并展现了生命力以及控制良好的自发性。《波士顿邮报》(Boston Globe)广受尊敬的艺术批评家A·J·菲尔波特(A.J.Philpott)的文章非常具有代表性，在观看过张书旂的一次在波士顿艺术博物馆的画展及现场作画之后，菲尔波特写道：张书旂的画展是“我在波士顿曾经看过的所有展出里最有趣的之一”，因为这是这样的作品在这座城市里的首次展出，它是“让人难以忘怀的技艺的展现，它与水彩画的方法完全不同”。
张书旂在美国的公开画展很多在剧场展出，他在聚集起来的观众面前多次现场作画。他的画作的公开展览是如此的引人入胜，安大略博物馆拍摄了关于他的影片，用镜头来捕捉他的色彩、笔法，以及作画技巧。他恣意、迅捷、湿润和生机勃勃的作画情景，与他的北美观众们所熟知的西方油画传统迥然不同。张书旂的作画技法强调自发性、流动性、恣意性，以及生命的表达力。照片展现出观看张书旂作画的观众全神贯注、流露出惊叹与赞美的表情。 有西方评论家评论道：在他致力于完善其画技与艺术理念的过程中，张书旂教授似乎显得很传统。但在他的艺术表达方式中，他却是革新者。大多数中国艺术建构在我们所说的“黑白”的基础上，讲究明暗深浅的变化。有时稍带些许的彩色。张书旂这位艺术家按照自己的心意使用微妙的、谨慎却明亮的色彩，并且使用白色颜料，从而打破了传统。
另一位评论家写道：中国绘画和西方绘画不同，后者关注更加实在的东西，并颂扬人类个性；前者则倾向于一种客观唯心主义、自然的诗意、事物本身的美而非其实用价值。“画是无声的诗”是一句古老的中国谚语，也是读懂张书旂这样一位画家作品的关键。
1943年上半年，张书旂在华盛顿D.C.，希望能够与罗斯福总统进行私人会面。在等待机会的同时，他游历了这个城市，并结交了各界名流。1月17日至2月4日之间，他在艺术俱乐部展出了87幅画作，受到了当地艺术界及政界的热烈欢迎。展览得到了当时中国一些文化名人的大力称赞。诺贝尔文学奖获得者、《大地》(TheGoodEarth)的作者赛珍珠(PearlBuck)讲述了中国绘画的发展，并谈到自己20世纪30年代早期住在南京的时候，曾经看过张书旂的作品。她写道：在张书旂的画作里，“人们可以看到自信、平静与坚忍。但同时也存在着美，古老中国的美，这样的美仍存在于中国人的永恒灵魂中。很重要的一点是，今天，在中国抵抗敌人的过程中，不是只有军队首领活着并且成功了。更有意义的事情在于，艺术家活着，并且成功了。”
在旧金山的家里，张书旂用水泥和砖盖起鱼池、露台和让他能够回忆起中国的假山庭院。他精心制作了盆景并栽种了原产于中国的花卉，像山茶花、吊钟花、杜鹃、茉莉、月季、樱树、李树和竹。尽管远在大洋彼岸，但是思乡之情却浓烈而绵长。
在美国期间，他一直在各地旅行，展览他的作品，进行现场作画，同时也积极为美国援华联合会募集资金，促进中国和北美人民的友谊。他在旅居美国的岁月里，靠卖画筹集了数十万美元（相当于今天的上百万美元），用于援助中国。张少书教授认为，父亲为了祖国而进行的募资，在个人博爱主义和慷慨解囊的意义上也是一个非凡的纪录。
20世纪40年代，张书旂乐观地预言西方艺术和中国艺术将不断深入地相互融合。他深切地期望终有一天，一种没有任何地理和文化疆界隔阂的“艺术”将得以存在。他写道：“就目前的趋势来看，这似乎是预示了一个东方与西方的联合。”正是像张书旂这样一批批艺术家，连接起太平洋两岸的绘画与文化，为中西方文化艺术的交流作出了积极的贡献。
Culture Ambassador Between China and America
By Li Zi
Zhang Shuqi (1901-1957), an influential artist best known in the 1940s, was little known in Zhejiang for decades after he passed away, though the artist was a native of the province. He is no longer little known now thanks to a lecture by his son Zhang Shaoshu, a professor of history at Stanford University and thanks to an exhibition of more than 120 of his works at Zhejiang Art Museum. The lecture took place at the International Conference Center of Zhejiang Art Museum on the West Lake in Hangzhou on June 8, 2012. The exhibition ran from June 5 through 24, 2012.
After learning through some friends that Zhejiang now has a modern art museum, Zhang Shuqi’s relatives in America decided to donate part of the master’s works to the art museum. The donation includes 35 paintings and 16 drawings. This is the first time that Zhejiang Art Museum has received donated artworks from overseas. Other exhibits included those on loan from Zhang Shuqi Museum and the Hwa Kang Museum of Chinese Culture University based in Taiwan as well as from Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum.
Zhang Shuqi was best known in the 1940s when his Chinese watercolor called “100 Doves” was presented as China’s gift to American President Roosevelt in celebration of his winning the third run for presidency. The president later wrote a letter expressing his appreciation of the beautiful artwork and his joy at receiving the painting. “100 Doves”, formally known as "Messengers of World Peace" (134.6cm by 272.4cm), is painted in gouache, ink and wet colors on silk and mounted on paper.
In 1940 when World War II was going on, the world witnessed two paintings of doves of peace created by artists, according to some art historians. The better-known one was created by Picasso. The other one, much less known, was by Zhang Shuqi. Years later, Zhang remembered creating the painting during air raids in Chongqing, the wartime capital of China in the southwest. It took him three weeks to complete the painting. He painted the first 50 doves within one day. He spent the rest of the three weeks completing the other 50 doves and all the details. He was in the middle of creating this painting when air-raid alarm sounded. He rushed to the shelter with the unfinished painting under his arm. A few days later, the painting was almost finished when air-raid siren sounded again. In a hurry to the shelter, he did not take it with him. Fortunately, the painting survived the latest round of bombing although many buildings were gone during the blast. On December 23, 1940, Zhang presented “100 Doves” to Nelson Johnson, the American Ambassador to China at the opening ceremony of his solo exhibition. All the paintings at the exhibition were sold out. The money raised through the sales was donated for a scholarship foundation in commemoration of General Zhang Zizhong, who died in the resistance war against Japanese invasion.
The painting bears a poem by Luo Jialun, the president of National Central University. The painting also has an inscription by Chiang Kai-shek, the president of China during that time who ruled Taiwan for decades after the KMT government was defeated on the mainland.
Xu Beihong (1895-1953), a highly distinguished Chinese artist in the 20th century, said none in China’s millennia-long art history could stand up to Zhang Shuqi in painting doves.
After learning about Zhang’s painting for American President Roosevelt, Chen Xiaowei, a Hong Kong-based publisher and retired general, commissioned Zhang Shuqi to create a painting in honor of UK Prime Minister Churchill. Zhang Shuqi painted a sea eagle flying over a choppy sea. The painting was presented together with a long poem to Churchill. The painting is now on display at Chartwell, the former residence of Churchill in UK.
After Zhang’s painting to President Roosevelt was made known to the American public, the artist was invited over to the USA. In 1941, Zhang Shuqi went to the United States. He held individual exhibitions in various cities such as Washington, Boston, New York, and Chicago. As Zhang had studied western art in the 1920s at Shanghai Academy of Arts, Zhang was one of the Chinese artists who painted in a style that shows the influence of both east and west. His one-man shows in America demonstrated his art to the Americans who knew little about contemporary Chinese art. His fresh painting style was amazing to the American people. Through selling paintings at the exhibitions, he raised several hundred thousands US dollars and donated the money to assist the Chinese resistance war against Japanese aggression.
As a celebrated artist, Zhang Shuqi demonstrated elegance and charisma of Chinese arts to thousands of westerners with his distinctive and typical style. He made great efforts to invigorate traditional Chinese paintings and add western touches to the Chinese art. He introduced Chinese art to the American public and served as an ambassador of art between China and America.
送给罗斯福总统的《百鸽图》，
是第一幅进入白宫的现代中国画
6月的杭州，暑气渐起。南山路边的浙江美术馆国际会议厅，一场名为“张书旂在美国的绘画生涯”的讲座吸引了许多听众。斯坦福大学历史系教授张少书（即张书旂的儿子）向杭州的朋友们展示了张书旂在美国期间部分珍贵的影像资料和不为人知的趣闻轶事。
同天上午，“张书旂作品展”在浙江美术馆隆重开幕。张书旂的家人在美国通过好友得知，在张书旂先生的故乡浙江，新建了一座目前国内设施最先进、藏品建设领先的美术馆。为了实现张书旂先生生前欲回祖国故乡的愿望，便希望捐赠部分张书旂作品永久收藏在这座美术馆。而这也是浙江美术馆首次在境外接受艺术家家属的捐赠。
出身于浙江浦江书画世家的张书旂，少年时就在绘画方面展现出了一种早熟的天赋。张书旂毕业于金华浙江省立第七中学，于1921年成为刘海粟上海美术专科学校的首批学生之一，开始专攻西方绘画技巧。未能满足于西方画艺的张书旂回到了传统的中国画，但是西方艺术技巧上的训练在他的艺术风格上留下了不可磨灭的印记。
20世纪30年代，张书旂的事业飞速发展，并受聘任教于南京中央大学艺术系。他积极投身于以上海和杭州为中心的艺术圈。他的友人和同侪包括徐悲鸿、傅抱石、潘天寿、吴作人、刘子谷、许士骐、刘海粟、李毅士、艾中信、吴茀之等人。在1937年举办的第二届全国美展上张书旂作品亦列入其中。此外，他的作品还入选巴黎、柏林、莫斯科及其他欧洲各大城市举办的中国当代画展。
历史是如此巧合。
1940年，同时有两件“和平鸽”题材的作品面世。一件是张书旂在重庆完成的《百鸽图》，他以鸽子象征幸福、和平，称之为“世界和平的信使”。另一件是毕加索在巴黎受邻居老大爷所托描绘了一只被德军枪杀的白鸽“萧莱士”，毕加索以白鸽象征和平，荣称“世界和平战士”。在艺术的世界里，没有国界、没有战争，只有阳光、和平与快乐。
据张书旂后来回忆，当时他是在外面日军炮火纷飞的地下防空洞里完成《百鸽图》（又名《世界和平的信使》）的创作的。他说持续的空袭威胁给创作过程带来了诸多困难。中央大学被轰炸时，他不得不将这幅尚未完成的画作夹在臂下赶往防空洞。数日后，作品基本完成但画迹尚未干透。日军再次空袭时，他不得不留下画作赶钻防空洞。他后来回忆道：“我想这一次不能再冒险把它带在身边了。”幸运的是，虽然此番轰炸对周边地区破坏甚巨，但画作本身并没有受到损坏。他的和平鸽安全了─他将鸽子和画作的安然无恙视作希望的象征。
张书旂在1940年12月23日中央大学举办的赠送仪式暨张书旂画展上，亲自将完成的《百鸽图》交给时任美国驻华大使尼尔森·约翰逊(Nelson Johnson)，请他转赠美国总统罗斯福，祝贺他第三次当选美国总统。约翰逊将画作寄往白宫，并在写给罗斯福总统的附信中谈及这件作品象征了美国总统对正在进行的世界大战的立场。此图经空运、海运，送到罗斯福手中，后收藏于罗斯福总统图书馆。
张书旂完成《百鸽图》用时三周，在一天之内就绘出50只鸽子，并在随后的时间完成了剩余部分。画中的每只鸽子位置不同，形态各异，栩栩如生，强烈地吸引着观者。约翰逊特别提及了画作丰富的色彩和独特的视角，这些对于他的西方式感知有着巨大的魅力。这幅大型画作跨越半个地球，从重庆运抵华盛顿。根据当地报纸报道，画作在白宫陈列展出。随后，纽约市一所主要艺术馆法拉吉尔画廊(FerargilGalleries)向白宫借出画作，并在1942年5月举办的中国艺术展上展出。罗斯福总统向中方致函，并在信中表达对这幅“美丽的作品”的欣赏和他“收到这幅画作的喜悦心情”。
据美国国家档案署泰瑞女士介绍，《百鸽图》的出借是美国国家文献馆馆藏档案首次来到中国。因此，在本次浙江美术馆张书旂作品展现场，我们才有机会见证这幅名作的“庐山真面目”。
白鸽纷飞，岁月沧桑，但我们依然能够感受到画作上洋溢的郁勃生气和满腔希望。徐悲鸿曾评价张书旂“画鸽应属古今第一”。《百鸽图》是张书旂先生擅长画上用粉、精于花卉翎毛的经典之作。
张少书教授介绍说，当时赠送《百鸽图》给罗斯福总统的新闻迅速在西方世界传了开来，所以香港新闻出版商陈孝威便邀请张书旂创作另一幅作品，以表示对英国首相丘吉尔的敬意。在友人赵少昂的鼓励下，张书旂创作了《云霄一羽图》，描绘了一只孤独却坚毅的海鹰在波涛万丈的海岸上空翱翔的图景。这幅画附有杨永玺为丘吉尔首相所作的长诗，现今陈列于丘吉尔故居──英国查特韦尔庄园(Chartwell)。
他在美国浪漫而辉煌的绘画、展览，得到西方评论家的高度评价
《百鸽图》连接了中美之间的友谊，也直接促成了张书旂浪漫而辉煌的跨洋绘画之旅。在美国，他多次前往东海岸和中西部，直至大西洋沿岸。他在大学、民间团体和画廊举办了多场画展，尤以华盛顿、波士顿、纽约以及芝加哥大都市区为最多。
那么美国观众对张书旂的画展作何反应呢？
从纪录的影像可以看出，对于这些观众来说，他的中国画的完整的独特性在于强调并展现了生命力以及控制良好的自发性。《波士顿邮报》(Boston Globe)广受尊敬的艺术批评家A·J·菲尔波特(A.J.Philpott)的文章非常具有代表性，在观看过张书旂的一次在波士顿艺术博物馆的画展及现场作画之后，菲尔波特写道：张书旂的画展是“我在波士顿曾经看过的所有展出里最有趣的之一”，因为这是这样的作品在这座城市里的首次展出，它是“让人难以忘怀的技艺的展现，它与水彩画的方法完全不同”。
张书旂在美国的公开画展很多在剧场展出，他在聚集起来的观众面前多次现场作画。他的画作的公开展览是如此的引人入胜，安大略博物馆拍摄了关于他的影片，用镜头来捕捉他的色彩、笔法，以及作画技巧。他恣意、迅捷、湿润和生机勃勃的作画情景，与他的北美观众们所熟知的西方油画传统迥然不同。张书旂的作画技法强调自发性、流动性、恣意性，以及生命的表达力。照片展现出观看张书旂作画的观众全神贯注、流露出惊叹与赞美的表情。 有西方评论家评论道：在他致力于完善其画技与艺术理念的过程中，张书旂教授似乎显得很传统。但在他的艺术表达方式中，他却是革新者。大多数中国艺术建构在我们所说的“黑白”的基础上，讲究明暗深浅的变化。有时稍带些许的彩色。张书旂这位艺术家按照自己的心意使用微妙的、谨慎却明亮的色彩，并且使用白色颜料，从而打破了传统。
另一位评论家写道：中国绘画和西方绘画不同，后者关注更加实在的东西，并颂扬人类个性；前者则倾向于一种客观唯心主义、自然的诗意、事物本身的美而非其实用价值。“画是无声的诗”是一句古老的中国谚语，也是读懂张书旂这样一位画家作品的关键。
1943年上半年，张书旂在华盛顿D.C.，希望能够与罗斯福总统进行私人会面。在等待机会的同时，他游历了这个城市，并结交了各界名流。1月17日至2月4日之间，他在艺术俱乐部展出了87幅画作，受到了当地艺术界及政界的热烈欢迎。展览得到了当时中国一些文化名人的大力称赞。诺贝尔文学奖获得者、《大地》(TheGoodEarth)的作者赛珍珠(PearlBuck)讲述了中国绘画的发展，并谈到自己20世纪30年代早期住在南京的时候，曾经看过张书旂的作品。她写道：在张书旂的画作里，“人们可以看到自信、平静与坚忍。但同时也存在着美，古老中国的美，这样的美仍存在于中国人的永恒灵魂中。很重要的一点是，今天，在中国抵抗敌人的过程中，不是只有军队首领活着并且成功了。更有意义的事情在于，艺术家活着，并且成功了。”
在旧金山的家里，张书旂用水泥和砖盖起鱼池、露台和让他能够回忆起中国的假山庭院。他精心制作了盆景并栽种了原产于中国的花卉，像山茶花、吊钟花、杜鹃、茉莉、月季、樱树、李树和竹。尽管远在大洋彼岸，但是思乡之情却浓烈而绵长。
在美国期间，他一直在各地旅行，展览他的作品，进行现场作画，同时也积极为美国援华联合会募集资金，促进中国和北美人民的友谊。他在旅居美国的岁月里，靠卖画筹集了数十万美元（相当于今天的上百万美元），用于援助中国。张少书教授认为，父亲为了祖国而进行的募资，在个人博爱主义和慷慨解囊的意义上也是一个非凡的纪录。
20世纪40年代，张书旂乐观地预言西方艺术和中国艺术将不断深入地相互融合。他深切地期望终有一天，一种没有任何地理和文化疆界隔阂的“艺术”将得以存在。他写道：“就目前的趋势来看，这似乎是预示了一个东方与西方的联合。”正是像张书旂这样一批批艺术家，连接起太平洋两岸的绘画与文化，为中西方文化艺术的交流作出了积极的贡献。
Culture Ambassador Between China and America
By Li Zi
Zhang Shuqi (1901-1957), an influential artist best known in the 1940s, was little known in Zhejiang for decades after he passed away, though the artist was a native of the province. He is no longer little known now thanks to a lecture by his son Zhang Shaoshu, a professor of history at Stanford University and thanks to an exhibition of more than 120 of his works at Zhejiang Art Museum. The lecture took place at the International Conference Center of Zhejiang Art Museum on the West Lake in Hangzhou on June 8, 2012. The exhibition ran from June 5 through 24, 2012.
After learning through some friends that Zhejiang now has a modern art museum, Zhang Shuqi’s relatives in America decided to donate part of the master’s works to the art museum. The donation includes 35 paintings and 16 drawings. This is the first time that Zhejiang Art Museum has received donated artworks from overseas. Other exhibits included those on loan from Zhang Shuqi Museum and the Hwa Kang Museum of Chinese Culture University based in Taiwan as well as from Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum.
Zhang Shuqi was best known in the 1940s when his Chinese watercolor called “100 Doves” was presented as China’s gift to American President Roosevelt in celebration of his winning the third run for presidency. The president later wrote a letter expressing his appreciation of the beautiful artwork and his joy at receiving the painting. “100 Doves”, formally known as "Messengers of World Peace" (134.6cm by 272.4cm), is painted in gouache, ink and wet colors on silk and mounted on paper.
In 1940 when World War II was going on, the world witnessed two paintings of doves of peace created by artists, according to some art historians. The better-known one was created by Picasso. The other one, much less known, was by Zhang Shuqi. Years later, Zhang remembered creating the painting during air raids in Chongqing, the wartime capital of China in the southwest. It took him three weeks to complete the painting. He painted the first 50 doves within one day. He spent the rest of the three weeks completing the other 50 doves and all the details. He was in the middle of creating this painting when air-raid alarm sounded. He rushed to the shelter with the unfinished painting under his arm. A few days later, the painting was almost finished when air-raid siren sounded again. In a hurry to the shelter, he did not take it with him. Fortunately, the painting survived the latest round of bombing although many buildings were gone during the blast. On December 23, 1940, Zhang presented “100 Doves” to Nelson Johnson, the American Ambassador to China at the opening ceremony of his solo exhibition. All the paintings at the exhibition were sold out. The money raised through the sales was donated for a scholarship foundation in commemoration of General Zhang Zizhong, who died in the resistance war against Japanese invasion.
The painting bears a poem by Luo Jialun, the president of National Central University. The painting also has an inscription by Chiang Kai-shek, the president of China during that time who ruled Taiwan for decades after the KMT government was defeated on the mainland.
Xu Beihong (1895-1953), a highly distinguished Chinese artist in the 20th century, said none in China’s millennia-long art history could stand up to Zhang Shuqi in painting doves.
After learning about Zhang’s painting for American President Roosevelt, Chen Xiaowei, a Hong Kong-based publisher and retired general, commissioned Zhang Shuqi to create a painting in honor of UK Prime Minister Churchill. Zhang Shuqi painted a sea eagle flying over a choppy sea. The painting was presented together with a long poem to Churchill. The painting is now on display at Chartwell, the former residence of Churchill in UK.
After Zhang’s painting to President Roosevelt was made known to the American public, the artist was invited over to the USA. In 1941, Zhang Shuqi went to the United States. He held individual exhibitions in various cities such as Washington, Boston, New York, and Chicago. As Zhang had studied western art in the 1920s at Shanghai Academy of Arts, Zhang was one of the Chinese artists who painted in a style that shows the influence of both east and west. His one-man shows in America demonstrated his art to the Americans who knew little about contemporary Chinese art. His fresh painting style was amazing to the American people. Through selling paintings at the exhibitions, he raised several hundred thousands US dollars and donated the money to assist the Chinese resistance war against Japanese aggression.
As a celebrated artist, Zhang Shuqi demonstrated elegance and charisma of Chinese arts to thousands of westerners with his distinctive and typical style. He made great efforts to invigorate traditional Chinese paintings and add western touches to the Chinese art. He introduced Chinese art to the American public and served as an ambassador of art between China and America.