On the Mean Doctrine in the Evolution of ZHANG Da-qian’s Ink&color-splah Painting Style

ZHANG Da-qian was a prominent painter in the20th century and was well-known all over the world. His ink- splash and color-splash art is quite creative and infective and has offered a model of reference for the modern transformation of the Chinese painting. In the ink-splash and strong color period, he created masterpieces one after another. However, he soon abandoned such heavy ink-splash and color-splash style with striking artistic characteristics and turned to mean style of combi- nation of splash and painting with light ink and color as the main characteristics. The reasons are worthy of study. His retur- ning to the mean style was the result of the internal need of the Chinese painting and his adaptation to an old man’s psychology as well as the aging of both painter and his painting on the basis of his versatility. This reflected his rational thinking and wise choice in the transformation of the Chinese painting from its traditional style to the modern one.