Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan

Immersed in Chinese art
By Vivian Zhang
Photos by Yao Fan

  A solo Chinese landscape painting exhibition, titled "Chinese Beauty", was opened Sunday at the Xiamen City Gallery. Kazimierz Z. Poznanski, from the United States, became the first foreigner to present Chinese-style paintings to the public in Xiamen. Dr. Kaz is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is a long-time collector of paintings, including the art of the early Chinese western-style painters.

By himself he rediscovered the works of one of them, Teng Hiok Chiu (1903-1972). Raised on Gulangyu Island, Chiu might be one of the best Chinese oil painters of his period. Last year, Dr. Kaz came to Xiamen to visit Chiu's hometown and discuss Chiu's works with Xiamen artists, who almost without exception, gave Chiu the highest praise.

卡兹教授, 一位来自美国的经济学家, 上周日在文化宫举办了他的中国画个展. 去年, 尘封已久的鼓浪屿画坛奇才周廷旭被重新发掘的报道, 令厦门人初识这位热爱中国的洋人. 现在的他, 已不满足于藏画, 更要自己运笔挥毫, 浸润在和谐优雅的东方哲学艺术思想中.

Q:Dr. Kaz, now you are regarded by Xiamenese not only as a major collector of Chinese paintings, but also the discoverer of the very talented Xiamen-born artist Teng Hiok Chiu. After been unknown in China for so many years, Chiu's genius was eventually recognized by you, a foreigner, and now his role in Chinese art history is being re-evaluated by domestic artists and art critics. It does sound quite amazing What do you think about it?

A: I am amazed myself with this discovery. To be frank, I had neither found an understanding nor had I been interested in Chinese paintings before I found my first Chiu's works ten years ago. Few westerners had the courage to cross the cultural barrier and to develop real appreciation for Chinese paintings. However, I was quite taken by the beauty and harmony of these first Chiu's oil paintings in my collection, without thinking to what extent these oils are Chinese.

But in the West, people don't give much attention to Chinese oil painters, assuming that Chinese artists using western techniques are just imitating instead of creating original art. Anyway, I have benefited from this attitude, since it made it much easier for me to collect Chiu's oil paintings. Now I have a collection of 70 of his works with the newest one coming to me just one month ago.

Q: It seems to me that you are a very brave western explorer into the Chinese art field. Now you are being even more courageous by taking the risks of giving a solo Chinese-style painting exhibition in Xiamen, Chiu's hometown. How did you come up with the idea of taking up brush painting yourself and why did you choose to do Chinese-style painting using rice paper and traditional water based pigments?

A: It is the beauty of China's art that made me interested in Chinese culture. Unlike most of the collectors who simply enjoy paintings on the their walls, I always want to go much further. That is, I want to think the way Chiu thought and to feel what he felt. Thus few years ago I became a careful student of Taoist philosophy and began to appreciate the old ink and brush scrolls. A bit later, with the help of my Chinese artist friends, I started my own painting. I follow in my art most of the principles of traditional Chinese painting, which are helpful in delivering the Taoist message about nature that we, humans, are only a small part of. This is why I prefer to paint large-scale mountains and water landscapes, many from places that I have visited in China myself.

My landscapes are made to capture the essence of nature, seen as a moral order, where the basic elements yin and yang stay in harmony. While separate they are dependent and it is only through a harmonious relationship between them that life becomes a possibility. According to the Chinese tradition I use line as the basic element of constructing my paintings, with flat areas within outlines. Also similar to Chinese tradition, my paintings use a limited range of color but it is never black but rather red, green or blue. And, unexceptionally, I only show the splendor and beauty of nature, trying to take the viewers to the invisible, where the life spirit resides.

Q: As a foreigner who does Chinese painting, to what extent do you expect the Chinese audience will like your works?

A: I haven't received any professional training in Chinese art before and there might be some mistakes in the way I use brush and ink, but I don't worry about that too much. As long as I am able to grasp the essence of Chinese painting, the harmonious and happy moral world it renders, my painting is truly a Chinese painting. And, importantly, with this attitude, I can freely use whatever elements of Chinese tradition I like most with any elements of western-style painting. This way I am able, I think, to be most creative. I can push the Chinese art idiom to the extreme and make it more modern, same way Chiu tried during his lifetime.

There are two extremes in Chinese art nowadays. One is the younger generation of artists who are trying to literally copy from western art works, which are filled with anger, pessimism, obscenity and distraction. While exploring this venue, they are usually unconscious of losing the essence of China's traditional art heritage. The other extreme refers to those artists who are content with copying exactly from the old masters of Chinese painting but they often cannot succeed in preserving Chinese tradition. I think we must find a way somewhere in between these two extremes and Chiu provided a perfect example for us of this approach. He successfully maintained Chinese culture by masterfully using western means. I consider myself his follower, though I have a long way to go. Maybe this middle-of-the-road approach to the modernization of Chinese painting will provide a solution to the current situation in Chinese art.

Q: I have heard that you are planning to publish a book on Chiu?

A: Yes, but I am still working on it. Last year, we held an exhibition of Chiu's works at the Fye Art Museum in Seattle. During the 3-month-period, more than 50,000 people visited the show, setting a historical record for this museum. This show has helped me to acquire a lot of new materials for the book.

I have also benefited a lot from my recent trips to China, Xiamen in particular. I have received a lot of assistance from the Xiamen media and art world. During my last year's visit here, I suggested that the Xiamen government consider establishing a museum of Chiu's oil works on Gulangyu. I truly hope that one day, more Chinese people, especially Chiu's fellow Xiamenese, will fully enjoy the grace and beauty of Teng Hiok Chiu's art.

One of Kaz＇s landscape works