Two years ago, the 70-meter-long "Range Rover on the Sea" created by Zhang Chi, a well-known female painter of the Shanghai School, was rolled into the Shanghai Municipal History Museum in Tibet as a gift for the 70th anniversary of New China. At the end of 2021, the Shanghai Municipal History Museum ushered in the release of the final work of the "Range Rover on the Sea" special commemorative transportation card and the sharing and exchange meeting of the story behind Zhang Chi's long volume, witnessing the Haipai art flying into the homes of ordinary people in a portable way, which was perceived and loved by the people.
If the long volume "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty" is the painter Zhang Zeduan's review of the commercial prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty, the chic "Range Rover on the Sea • Seventy Long Scrolls" freezes the era of Shanghai, a great city. "Pen and ink are contemporary", when the poetic ink of the brushwork meets a city with many future attributes, what kind of illusion will it have? The vast water of the Pujiang River, the brilliant scenery on both sides of the strait, and the stiff faces of those glass curtain walls or cement marble have rich expressions under Zhang Chi's pen, and under the induction of the breath of heaven and earth, they have consciousness. As an outstanding landscape painter, Zhang Chi not only creatively inherits the true tradition of the positive vein of the Haipai landscape, but also organically integrates the art of Dongying ink painting with traditional Chinese brush and ink, and extends her brushstrokes to contemporary cities.
Part of the Range Rover on the Sea Seventy Long Volumes
From 2009 to 2019, after 10 years, Zhang Chi finally completed the "Range Rover on the Sea • Seventy Long Volumes", this work combines Shanghai's geomorphology, politics, economy, culture, medicine, education, religion and other natural landscapes and humanistic architecture, Zhang Chi led the audience, starting from the source of the beautiful Anjipu River, through the suburbs and urban areas of Shanghai, stretching to the Yangshan deep-water port, with the past, present and future as the time dimension, reflecting the temperature of the city, the depth of humanities, and the thickness of history. Building together, we will show China and the world the image of an international city that is constantly prosperous, upward, confident and civilized.
At the sharing and exchange meeting, Zhang Chi mentioned that the starting point of "Range Rover on the Sea • Seventy Long Volumes" was the 2010 cm long ink long volume "Range Rover on the Sea" created by himself for the 2010 World Expo. At that time, shortly after she returned from Japan to settle down, at a calligraphy and painting party with Mr. Chen Peiqiu, someone proposed that Mr. Chen Lao draw a long scroll of Shanghai as a gift for the World Expo. Chen Peiqiu suggested on the spot that it would be better to let Zhang Chi directly handle the knife, she is the best ink painter in Shanghai, and she is also a careful female painter, which is very suitable for Shanghai portraits. As a result, Zhang Chi opened his fate with the mayor of the capital.
Zhang Chi admits that she did not paint houses before, because she began to carefully observe and sketch many buildings with complex structures in Shanghai because of this long scroll. When her "Range Rover on the Sea" was exhibited at the World Expo and received rave reviews, she believed that it was still an unfinished work, only because Shanghai had changed so much, and there were many beautiful and spectacular new landmarks that had not yet been painted.
Zhang Chi's home is located on the banks of the Suzhou River in the Changning District, where you can see the rise and fall of airplanes every day to the west and the Shanghai center to the east. The vast landscape gave her endless imagination... Therefore, since 2013, Zhang Chi has also drawn the "Changning Range Rover", which includes many scenic spots in Changning.
The "Range Rover on the Sea • Seventy Long Volumes" is in the permanent collection of the Shanghai Municipal History Museum
Gradually, Zhang Chi's capital scroll became longer and longer, up to 70 meters long. In the process of lengthening the picture scroll, many landmarks that have emerged in recent years have jumped on the paper at any time, such as Xuhui Riverside, North Bund and other urban landscapes, which were not "born" when they created the long volume of "Range Rover on the Sea" in 2009.
"During the creative process, from time to time, people around me suggested that I draw this and paint that. The 70-meter-long scroll that everyone sees now can be said to have condensed the painstaking efforts, support and encouragement of friends from all walks of life. Zhang Chi said.
Zhang Chi and Le Zhenwen signed for the transportation card collectors
Zhang Chi and her husband, Le Zhenwen, are well-known artists in the country, both of whom are librarians of the Shanghai Municipal Research Museum of Literature and History. At the sharing meeting, Le Zhenwen admitted that it is the mission of artists to let art enter thousands of households. "At our age, there are many life insights, and after we retire, our biggest idea is to paint well and do more things for the public welfare cause." It is the wish of these two couples to let their works of art be loved by the public and add color to the spiritual life of the people, which will also inspire them to continue to respond to the times and the people with their brushes with an insatiable spirit of exploration.
One of the final works of the "Range Rover on the Sea" traffic commemorative card "Yangshan Deep Water Port"
The "Range Rover on the Sea" series of transportation cards was designed and produced by Johnson & Johnson Advertising Company, which lasted for two years, and made the most classic landmarks in the long volume into a traffic card, a total of 15 sets of 20 cards, and the recently issued Yangshan Port Transportation Card is the collection of this series of cards. All the series of transportation cards issued have been collected by traffic card friends, and Zhang Chi's artworks have entered the daily life of the people through the transportation cards.
Author: Fan Xin
Editor: Zhou Minxian
Editor-in-Charge: Liu Qing
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.