After more than a decade of struggle overseas, Mr. Mu Jiashan has gone through the gamut of human experiences, from wandering, depression, loneliness and anxiety, to self-confidence and eventual success. Prior to completion of his graduate studies in 1991 as a Chinese painting major at the Nanjing Art Institute master program, he had been a worker, solider, and teacher who went through the trials and tribulations of the New Tide of 1985 and the repercussions of new literati painting. During his college years, the school of radical cultural thinking began to subside in Chinese society while the school advocating a return to traditional culture showed an rising momentum. Nanjing, as the place of origin of the namesake Jinling (aka. Nanjing) school of painting, is steep in the history and influence of traditional literarti painting. Mu Jiashan bears visible imprints of Shi Tao of the late Ming Dynasty, and of Meixi and the Jinling schools. It is precisely in the traditions of Jinling painting that are found the rebellious and innovative genes that do not blindly follow the rules set in stone—the kind of genes that must also be flowing in Mu’s blood.

　　In the mid-1990s, Mu, a young painter educated in traditional art and well-trained in his profession, went to New York, United States of America—widely recognized as the Mecca of modern art of the West—to develop his art career with great anticipation and ambitions. After launching his adventure in the U.S., while his heart was intertwined with nostalgia for Chinese painting and ambition for innovation, he was bent head over heels trying to bring westerners around to accepting Chinese ink and wash. Much beyond his expectation, in American society where there was little knowledge of oriental art, particularly of traditional Chinese art, it was more than difficult for the art of ink and wash painting to gain a toehold in the avalanche of the avant-guarde art world. Ink and wash painting, characterized by its poetic nature and emphasis on the fun of brush and ink, was regarded as a product of agrarian society and a withered flower of yesteryear, not suitable for the post-industrial hi-tech information age. Perhaps it was this avant-guarde art of the West in great variance with the traditional Chinese concept of art that prompted Mu Jiashan to keep pondering and forced him to study studiously the nature, principles and functions of art as well as the commonality and difference between Chinese and western art. From incomprehension and anger, he gradually changed to facing the reality calmly, sorting out and coming to grips with the pulse and direction of modern western art while turning around to explore in depth the evolution of traditional Chinese painting. This helped increase his cultural self-consciousness: He realized that he should be more deeply rooted in traditions, inheriting and developing its spirit and techniques to acquire modern ideas and styles while respecting the artistic and cultural creations of other nations, drawing on some of their useful nutrients for his own use. Interestingly, soon after his arrival in America, his painting style started its gradual change. He cast aside the new literati painting with which he had been fascinated for some time while in China, and turned more inclined towards searching amidst the painting styles of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties for resources for his creativity.

　　A study of the history of growth of western art reveals an interwoven pattern of evolution and revolution in its change of styles and outlook. With the onset of the modern era, revolution has become the predominant means. In contrast, Chinese art has always been going through a course of evolution, from antiquity till present. On the one hand, this has to do with China’s long history as an agricultural society. On the other hand, it has been predetermined by the philosophical concept of harmony which advocates worshiping the integration of nature and man, a concept and practice that can be traced back to the pre-Qin days. The goal of traditional Chinese painting is not the direct, objective depiction of beings and things or reflection of the present but, rather, the conveyance of concepts, thoughts and feelings that have been distilled and condensed. It is an art deeply enshrined in poetic principles. It contains a concept of “detachment from the Earth” that is remote from reality but, when tasted leisurely, reveals its roots that are deeply imbedded in the soil of reality. This is due to the fact that artists, who live in reality, cannot express their character and real feelings through their works divorced from the cultural sentiments of the day. It is precisely this self-contradictory feature of traditional literati painting that has been subjected to incessant challenges, criticism and “reforms” throughout periods of social change in modern China. Meanwhile, it has tenaciously kept rising against great odds. If we cast our eyes back to the 20th century, such grand masters as Wu Cangshuo, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong and Pan Tianshou all invariably blazed new trails from traditions against strong headwinds. Now that the Chinese literati ink and wash traditions are the subject of a whole array of questioning and fault-finding on its own soil, it is entirely understandable that they are not accepted by people in an alien cultural and linguistic background of the West. What’s more, this state of affairs is attributable to our ineffective advocacy abroad. After clearing his thoughts, Mu Jiashan proceeded with his experiments in artistic practice in a composed manner, making tireless efforts through lectures, teaching, academic exchanges and exhibitions until he finally established himself in the international painting arena and, in the process, expanded the influence of contemporary Chinese painting.

　　What Mu Jiashan employs is the approach of “opening up the present by borrowing from the ancient”. Ancient Chinese traditions constitute the roots of Chinese painting. They are soaked in the Chinese cultural spirit, one that is dissimilar from the cultural spirit of other nations. The artistic glamour of these traditions is found in the abstract freehand brushwork and image composition as featured in literati ink and wash, the touring view approach for treating nature as is adopted in traditional scenery painting, the temperament and grace that result from the black-and-white contrast and the brush and ink changes. In fact, these features of literati ink and wash are in tune with the aesthetic concept of modern art of the West; in many respects western modernist art has been influenced by, inter alia, the language of traditional Chinese painting. However, the particular social environment of the West and the thinking mode in hot pursuit of the new and different have pushed to the extreme the anti-tradition tendency that is after expression, symbolism and the abstract. Chinese painting, which worships gradual change and shuns “sudden change” and ”radical change”, cannot possibly cope with the myriad changes by remaining unchanged. If we are indulged in our fascination with the creations and achievements of our predecessors to the neglect of the change of the times and the new aesthetical demands of a contemporary world, if we don’t work hard to open up a new phase for ink and wash painting, it will eventually be forsaken by this era. As a U.S. resident, Mu Jiashan feels particularly deeply about this than his peers who live a cozy, stable life in China. It was perhaps the combined force resulting from the clashes between the two lines of thinking, i.e., Chinese traditions and American innovation that gave Mu Jiashan the wisdom and passion that drove him to fight hard and accomplish a great deal, breaking new ground in his artistic creation.

　　Viewing Mu’s works of the past few years, one can easily detect a change in his style. He has adopted a relaxed approach and sought to express his inner feelings freely in his works. He keeps reminding himself, “The changes in ink and wash should follow the course of nature so that the qi (air) and rhythm will give rise to liveliness in shape, so that the product will benefit from the right approach.” By the course of nature he means genuinely revealing one’s inner world by staying away from affectedness and masks. Correspondingly, he tries to stand above worldly fashion in register, not to ingratiate himself with viewers or to paint the so-called good paintings to curry favor with everyone. For a motto to encourage himself with, Mu quotes Huang Binhong’s words: “A painting is not good till it is heavily criticized by people on the street.” We find in Mu an artist who has freed himself of the hot pursuit of a comprehensive layout and brush/ink perfection as are reflected in his early works. For layout, he now tends to paint just one corner of the landscape and, on the basis of taking in the overall posture of the entire object, he focuses on the power and momentum of the brush as well as the rhythm of the ink. In creating dry-ink shanshui (landscape), his technique is different from Huang Binhong’s dry-ink dye painting and Zhang Ding’s dry-ink landscape. Instead, he pays more attention to the power as expressed by the brush’s sudden stops and turns as well as the rhythm which, by extension, express his inner mind. Mu Jiashan looks down upon West-idolizing ideas, believing as he does that Chinese painting has a bright horizon in today’s world. Meanwhile, he is open-minded and brave enough to assimilate some western techniques without losing the traditional spirit of Chinese painting. Such is the case in the expression of space and composition. In a caption to one landscape painting, he writes, “In Chinese painting, ink and wash are regarded as superior. Since Wang Wei’s days, too much premium was placed on the poetic environment and the calligraphic approach, with little multi-dimensional idea for deeper expression in the composition. Putting equal emphasis on eastern and western art of our contemporary world represents the way to a new approach. ”

　　A painting, be it Chinese or western, has two levels—the spiritual and the technical. Only when they are integrated in a perfect fashion can there be art in the true sense of the word. The fact that Mu Jiashan’s creations of Chinese painting have attracted so much attention in the international art circle is attributable to his high awareness of his national culture, deep-seated artistic cultivation and broad vision. Exercising his ink and wash skills with wisdom and power of understanding Mu displays the cultural spirit of harmony between man and nature as enshrined in Chinese traditions. This spirit is precisely what is lacking in our civilized society that is inundated with scientific and technological information. What he has contributed to us is a form of ink and wash that is non-stereotypical, innovative, creative, open and courageous. This is thought-provoking to the painting world of today: Whether our works are to serve the populace in China or to face the world, artists should have a consciousness of their national culture and pay full attention to the purity of their artistic style. In the final analysis, they should have comprehensive cultivation in art.

　　Professor Shao Dazhen

　　Doctoral Supervisor of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts

　　Honorary Chairman, Fine Arts Theories Committee, China Artists Association