With a silver-white bun and an air of graceful composure, the renowned nonagenarian artist and educator Chang Sha Na visited the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum (CTCM) on April 29th for the unveiling of "x". In recent years, although many things in her mind have become blurry, the word "Dunhuang" has always been on her mind. "Dunhuang holds a very important cultural tradition for our nation, and we must understand our own ethnic culture and art," she earnestly remarked to her younger colleagues.
In 1931, Chang Sha Na was born in Lyon, France. Her father, Chang Shuhong, named her "Shana" after a river near her birthplace. At the age of 12, she accompanied her father on a journey into the vast desert and entered the mystical Dunhuang Grottoes, where she gained a profound understanding of traditional culture through study and exploration. Her experience in the Dunhuang Desert profoundly influenced her artistic career, earning her the nickname "a graceful flower in the desert". On display panels, a series of photographs showcased the journey of this "Dunhuang girl" from her youth to her mature years, illustrating her lifelong artistic journey intertwined with Dunhuang.
This exhibition features nearly 400 exhibits, divided into six sections: an overview of Chang Sha Na's life, Dunhuang copying unit, floral sketch unit, top ten architecture unit, new application unit, and technology and art unit. It comprehensively presents Mr. Chang Sha Na's eighty years of artistic achievement, showcasing how he applied the cultural wealth of Dunhuang to the shaping of the national image of the Republic, as well as his fruitful work in art and design for the inheritance and development of Chinese traditional culture. Among them, artworks such as "Xinjiang Women," the copied painting "Offering Celestial Maiden Holding an Incense Burner" from Cave 329 of the early Tang Dynasty, and the pen-and-ink drawing "Floral - Orchid" are being exhibited for the first time.
In the exhibition, many of the works are replicas of Dunhuang murals that Chang Sha Na copied during her youth. At that time, she observed adults painting and picked up a brush to imitate their drawings, honing her skills through this "apprenticeship." Floral sketching is a cherished subject for Chang Sha Na. Over the years, she has depicted a plethora of graceful and diverse "flowers." Under her fluid and expressive brushstrokes, whether they are precious blooms or obscure wildflowers, they exude the pure beauty of nature.
From 1954 to 1959, Chang Sha Na was involved in various design projects, including the emblem of the Communist Youth League, the Soviet Exhibition Center (now the Beijing Exhibition Center), the Capital Theater, and the decoration design of new buildings such as the Great Hall of the People and the Cultural Palace of Nationalities. She applied the artistic elements she learned from Dunhuang to these designs, solidifying her practical experience. At the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, Chang Sha Na participated in and completed the design of the facade and banquet hall ceiling of the Great Hall of the People. She said, "I particularly deeply understand the concept proposed by Premier Zhou in the 1950s, which was upheld and constantly expounded by seniors such as Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin—the artistic creation principles of being national, scientific, and popular. This refers to the cultural context, something ethnic, something in the blood."
On the stage of the 2024 Spring Festival Gala, Chang Sha Na stunned the audience with her appearance in the "Year's Splendor" painting, delivering a magnificent visual feast. The exhibition also showcased many modern art pieces inspired by Dunhuang's designs. Regarding this, Chang Sha Na remarked, "The patterns of Dunhuang murals are so rich that they can be applied to our clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. I have always emphasized the 'source' and our 'cultural context'; innovation is important, learning from foreign countries is acceptable, but in the end, it should be rooted in our own culture. Dunhuang represents such roots."
In his late autobiography, Mr. Chang Shuhong expressed his lamentation, "If there is a next life, I hope I am still Chang Shuhong, so I can fulfill my unfinished dreams!" Even in her nineties, Chang Sha Na often says, "How can I be old? There are still so many things I haven't done yet." At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Chang Sha Na emotionally stated, "'Everlasting Beauty of Dunhuang' exhibition is the realization of my father Chang Shuhong's promotion of Dunhuang cultural heritage. My father once told me, never forget that we are people of Dunhuang."
"Nowadays, every day I live in a cycle of fading memories and recollections. In this repetitive pattern of mental circles, what I fear the most is forgetting my father Chang Shuhong and the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang. Now, I keep flipping through the books published by my father and me every day, letting memories slowly emerge." As she looks at the written records and photographs in the books, although her appearance has changed with the passage of time, Chang Sha Na's emotions towards her father and Dunhuang art have never changed.
Sudan, the Deputy Director of the CTCM, said that the "Everlasting Beauty of Dunhuang—the Exhibition of Chang Sha Na's Eighty Years of Art and Design" held at the CTCM is not only a tribute to an outstanding artist but also a retrospective of the development of Chinese art design and art education. It will inspire and encourage the younger generation of this new era to undertake cultural missions, carry forward the Chinese cultural heritage, and strengthen cultural confidence. The exhibition will continue until October 27th.
Translator: BAI Jing
Reviewer: JIANG Wenyi
