Zhang Daqian (1899–1983) and Zheng Yuebo (1907–1991)
Cat, Bee, and Grasshopper beneath a Pumpkin Vine
Late 1960s
Ink and color on paper, framed
The pumpkins and vine painted by Zhang Daqian; the cat, bee, and grasshopper painted by Zheng Yuebo. Inscribed, “Yuebo and Daqian collaborated”, with seals of both artists reading “Zhang Daqian Wei Yin Danian” and “Zheng Yuebo”.
Image: 24 1/4 x 13 in. (61.6 x 33 cm)
Frame: 26 x 14 5/8 in. (66 x 37.1 cm)
This engaging collaborative painting brings together the distinctive talents of Zhang Daqian and his close friend Zheng Yuebo. Zhang contributed the boldly brushed pumpkins and the sweeping, calligraphic vine, while Zheng painted the alert cat, hovering bee, and grasshopper perched upon the vine. The cat crouches beside the pumpkins and turns its head upward with intense curiosity, its body rendered through broad washes and abbreviated lines. The bee and grasshopper provide delicate points of color and movement, while Zhang’s vigorous vine rises through the composition, connecting the animals and insects with the pumpkins below. The generous unpainted space heightens the immediacy of the scene and allows the contrasting brushwork of the two artists to remain clearly visible.
Born in Singapore in 1907 to a family of modest means associated with farming and mining, Zheng Yuebo experienced considerable hardship in his youth and even took work aboard an iron vessel to support himself. Nevertheless, his passion for painting emerged early, and he drew whenever time permitted. An opportunity to study at the Hangzhou National College of Art transformed the course of his life. He initially studied Western painting and later entered the design department, receiving instruction within the influential artistic environment shaped by Pan Tianshou and Lin Fengmian. His drawing Wanwu Jie Wu Yu Ye (“All Creatures Are My Companions”) received first prize in an international exhibition organized by an American animal-protection association, bringing early recognition to his exceptional ability to portray animals.
After graduation, Zheng worked in business and education before moving to Taiwan during middle age. He taught design and drawing at Taiwan Provincial Normal College. In 1962, he was invited to help establish the Department of Fine Arts at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts, now the National Taiwan University of Arts, and served concurrently as its chair, contributing significantly to the education of a new generation of artists.
Zheng moved to the United States in 1967 and established Zhonghua Yiyuan (Chinese Art Gallery) to promote Chinese art. During the late 1960s, he and Zhang Daqian lived near one another in the Carmel area of California and developed a close friendship. They frequently exchanged artistic ideas and occasionally collaborated, with Zhang adding landscape elements, inscriptions, or supplementary passages to Zheng’s paintings. According to the recollections of Zheng’s daughter, Zhang was not only a neighbor but also her father’s regular dining companion: Zheng loved good food, and Zhang’s household had an excellent chef. Their shared appreciation of food, art, and convivial company deepened a friendship that also found expression in their collaborative paintings.
This personal relationship provides an especially meaningful context for the present work, which was created during the early years of Zheng’s residence in California. It records not only the meeting of two artistic hands but also the daily friendship and intellectual exchange between two painters living far from China.
Zhang Daqian expressed extraordinary admiration for Zheng Yuebo’s paintings of cats. On Zheng’s Sleeping Cat, Zhang wrote: “All who see this sleeping cat painted by Yuebo are astonished. They believe it is no less accomplished than the works of Liang Fengzi and the monk Muxi; I fear that even those two may not have equaled it….”
“Liang Fengzi” refers to Liang Kai (active ca. 1200–1250), the celebrated Southern Song painter renowned for his abbreviated and highly expressive brushwork. Muxi Fachang (ca. 1210–ca. 1269) was an influential Chan Buddhist monk-painter celebrated for his spontaneously brushed animals and birds. Zhang thus suggested not only that Zheng’s paintings of cats equaled those of Liang Kai and Muxi, but that even these two canonical masters might not have attained Zheng’s level.
The principal subject of the present painting is likewise a cat, shown crouching beside the pumpkins and looking intently toward a bee and grasshopper. Although it is not the Sleeping Cat cited in Zhang’s inscription, the statement provides important testimony to the exceptional status Zhang accorded Zheng’s paintings of cats. Since Zhang painted the pumpkins and vine in the present work while Zheng painted the cat and insects, the painting represents both Zhang’s direct participation in the composition and his recognition of Zheng’s mastery of animal painting.
Zhang Daqian also praised Zheng’s broader achievement as an animal painter. On Zheng’s painting of the Twelve Zodiac Animals, he inscribed: “Yuebo has opened an entirely new path in his painting of the Twelve Zodiac Animals, astonishing all his contemporaries. Some have regarded him as the rebirth of Xinluo and Xugu, yet neither Xinluo nor Xugu could approach his achievement. He should instead contend for supremacy with the Cui brothers of Haoliang. Any true connoisseur will surely understand that these words are not mere flattery.”
“Xinluo” refers to Hua Yan (1682–1756), also known as Xinluo Shanren, while Xugu (1823–1896) was a leading master of the nineteenth-century Shanghai School. The “Cui brothers of Haoliang” refers to Cui Bai (ca. 1004–1088) and Cui Que (active in the eleventh century), members of a distinguished family of Northern Song court painters originally from Haoliang, in present-day Fengyang, Anhui. Their fresh and naturalistic approach transformed Northern Song bird-and-flower painting and challenged the richly decorative “Huang family” style that had long dominated the imperial academy. By declaring that even Hua Yan and Xu Gu could not approach Zheng, and that Zheng deserved comparison with the Cui brothers, Zhang placed his friend within the highest lineage of Chinese animal-and-flower painting.
Zheng’s artistic development encompassed an unusually broad range of experiences, extending from Southeast Asia and wartime China to Taiwan and the United States, and from Western painting and design to modern Chinese ink painting. He combined Western approaches to observation and form with the Chinese aesthetic principle of an active balance between presence and absence, developing a highly individual style distinguished by expressive brushwork, inventive compositions, and a profound sensitivity to animals.
The present work exemplifies this creative synthesis. Zheng’s cat is reduced to essential washes, contours, and concentrated accents, yet retains a palpable weight and individual personality. The insects are minute but vividly observed, while Zhang’s pumpkin vine supplies an expansive calligraphic structure. More than a charming animal subject, the painting is an important document of friendship and artistic dialogue between Zhang Daqian and Zheng Yuebo during their years in California.
Reference:
1. Wang Jiacheng, Biography of Zhang Daqian, p. 53.
National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, no. 264, pp. 125–126. A60000000E-I52-26412.pdf
2. Pointing Out the Landscape: A Memorial Exhibition of Zheng Yuebo, National Museum of History, Taipei, August 22–September 21, 2008. 國立歷史博物館
3. 一场时隔80年的“同学会”-中国美术学院社会美术水平考级中心
张大千（1899—1983）、郑月波（1907—1991）
《南瓜、猫、蜜蜂与蚱蜢》
1960年代末
纸本设色，镜框
南瓜及瓜藤由张大千绘制，猫、蜜蜂与蚱蜢由郑月波绘制。题识：“月波、大千合作。”钤“张大千唯印大年”及“郑月波”两位艺术家的印章。
画心：24 1/4 × 13英寸（61.6 × 33厘米）
镜框：26 × 14 5/8英寸（66 × 37.1厘米）
本作是张大千与挚友郑月波合作完成的一件妙品。画中笔力纵放的南瓜及贯穿画面的瓜藤由张大千挥写，神态机警的猫、飞舞的蜜蜂以及停驻于瓜藤之上的蚱蜢则出自郑月波之手。猫蹲坐于南瓜旁，满怀好奇地昂首凝视空中的蜜蜂，身体以宽阔的墨色与简练的线条写成；蜜蜂与蚱蜢体量虽小，却成为画面中极富生机的色彩与动态焦点。张大千以具有书法意味的笔墨写出伸展的瓜藤，将上方的昆虫、下方的猫与南瓜连为一体。大片留白使画面空灵舒展，也使两位艺术家各具特色的笔墨清晰可辨。
郑月波1907年出生于新加坡一个普通的农矿家庭。因家境贫寒，他少年时期饱尝生活艰辛，曾上铁船做工以维持生计。然而，他自幼即展现出绘画天赋，一有闲暇便作画不辍。后来因缘际会考入杭州艺术院，自此开始接受系统的专业训练。他最初学习西画，后转入图案系，并在潘天寿、林风眠等名家所营造的现代艺术教育环境中成长。其素描作品《万物皆吾与也》曾获美国动物保护协会举办的国际美展首奖，使他表现动物的杰出才华很早便受到肯定。
毕业后，郑月波曾经商并从事艺术教育。中年以后赴台湾发展，先后在台湾师范学院教授图案与素描。1962年，他应聘参与筹设国立艺专美术科，并兼任科主任，为台湾现代艺术教育培养了众多人才。
1967年，郑月波旅居美国，并创设“中华艺苑”，致力于推广中国艺术。1960年代末，他与张大千比邻而居于加州卡梅尔地区，两人过从甚密，结为挚友，并经常进行艺术交流。张大千有时会在郑月波的画作上补绘景物、题字或增添笔墨，由此留下了一批记录两人友谊与艺术对话的合作作品。
据郑月波女儿的回忆，张大千不仅是他们在卡梅尔居住时的邻居，也是父亲经常一起吃饭的“饭友”。郑月波喜爱美食，而张大千家中恰有一位手艺极好的厨师。两位艺术家因美食、艺术与日常交往建立起的深厚情谊，也自然延伸至笔墨合作之中。
这段私人友谊为本作提供了格外亲切而珍贵的历史背景。本画创作于郑月波旅美初期，不仅呈现了两位艺术家笔墨的相遇，也记录了两位远离故土的画家在加州共同生活、彼此切磋的一段岁月。
张大千对郑月波的画猫艺术推崇备至。他曾在郑月波的《睡猫图》上题道：“月波作此睡猫图见者莫不惊叹，以为不减梁风子、僧牧溪，予恐二人未必及此……”
题语中的“梁风子”指以简笔和高度表现性笔墨著称的南宋画家梁楷（约活动于1200—1250年）；“僧牧溪”则指中国禅宗绘画史上极具影响力的僧人画家牧溪法常（约1210—约1269）。张大千不仅认为郑月波画猫足以与梁楷、牧溪相提并论，甚至直言“二人未必及此”，认为这两位中国绘画史上的经典名家也未必能够达到郑月波画猫的水平。
本作的主体同样是一只猫：它蹲坐于南瓜旁，昂首凝视空中的蜜蜂与瓜藤上的蚱蜢。虽然本作并非张大千题语中所指的《睡猫图》，但这段题语直接证明了张大千对郑月波画猫艺术的高度认可。本作由张大千绘南瓜及瓜藤，郑月波绘猫、蜜蜂与蚱蜢，既包含张大千对画面的直接参与，也体现了他对郑月波动物画成就的由衷推重。
张大千对郑月波整体的动物画艺术同样给予了极高评价。他曾在郑月波所绘十二生肖图上题道：“月波别开生面作十二生肖图，侪辈莫不惊叹，以为新罗虚谷复生，新罗虚谷何能望其项背哉，直当与濠梁崔氏昆季争胜，世有知音，必不以余为谀辞也。”
题语中的“新罗”指号“新罗山人”的清代画家华嵒（1682—1756），“虚谷”即晚清海上画派名家虚谷（1823—1896）。“濠梁崔氏昆季”则指北宋宫廷画家崔白（约1004—1088）与崔悫（活跃于11世纪）。二崔原籍濠梁，即今安徽凤阳，是北宋中后期花鸟画革新的重要人物。他们以清疏自然、富有野逸生趣的画风，突破了宋初以来“黄家富贵”一派长期主导宫廷花鸟画的局面。张大千认为华嵒与虚谷尚不足以企及郑月波，只有将其与崔白、崔悫兄弟并列，方足以说明其艺术成就。这无疑是对郑月波动物画最为崇高的评价之一。
郑月波一生的艺术道路横跨南洋、战乱时期的中国、台湾与美国，并经历了由西画、图案设计到现代水墨的多重转变。他将西方的观察及造型方法与中国绘画虚实相生的审美观念相融合，逐渐形成了以表现性笔墨、新颖构图及敏锐动物观察见长的个人风格。
本作正体现了这种艺术追求：郑月波笔下的猫被提炼为墨块、轮廓与富有力量的笔触，虽用笔简约，却具有鲜明的重量感与个性；昆虫细腻生动，张大千所绘的瓜藤则为画面建立了纵向伸展的书法性结构。因此，本作不仅是一幅充满生活情趣的动物画，也是张大千与郑月波在加州时期友谊及艺术交流的重要见证。
1. 王家诚，《张大千传》，第53页；《故宫文物月刊》第264期，第125—126页。 A60000000E-I52-26412.pdf
2. 指点江山——郑月波纪念画展》，国立历史博物馆，台北，展期：2008年8月22日至9月21日. 國立歷史博物館
3. 一场时隔80年的“同学会”-中国美术学院社会美术水平考级中心
Painting inspected under glazing. Scattered areas of abrasions and indentations along top center, vertical abrasions with minor loss in upper left side measuring approx 4 inches, two indents along right side center, small puncture in upper right corner. For condition report and additional photos, please contact the Asian Art Department.
