Lot 8008: Zheng Wuchang (1894-1952) Three Friends of Winter, 1934

Three Friends of Winter, 1934
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, inscribed, dedicated to Zhiguang, dated jiaxu dong (1934, winter) and signed Wuchang with one artist's seal reading Zheng Wuchang.
51 3/4 x 18 1/4in (131.5 x 46.4cm)

Footnotes

• 鄭午昌 嵗寒三友 設色紙本 立軸 1934年作
  
  Like many of his fellow 20th century Chinese painters, Zheng Wuchang was also a teacher, art historian and prolific author. Writing dedicated academic studies on Shitao's landscapes, Yangzhou school artists, and 19th century artist's monographs, his most well-known treatise is Zhongguo Huaxue quanshi (中國畫學全史, A Complete History of Chinese Painting) an extensive overview of Chinese artists and their practice. His promotion of Chinese art was not limited to the past, as a founding member of the Mifeng Huashi (Bee Painting Society), he also sought to promote traditional Chinese painting in 1930's Shanghai.
  
  The present painting features a dedication to "Zhiguang"--likely Xie Zhiguang (1900-1976), Zheng Wuchang's fellow Bee Society member and Shanghai-based artist, who in 1934 was enjoying enormous popularity as a commercial artist (see lot 8011), in addition to his success in exhibiting guohua painting.