A Study of ZHANG Shanzi and ZHANG Daqian, andArt Life

The art of ZHANG Shanzi and ZHANG Daqian, the two brothers, received vast attention in the 1930s. And the attention to them and publication of their works in the magazine Art Life,were relatively intensive. Out of its forty-one issue publication history, nearly twenty issues had the content related to the brothers. It included their personal works, artist introductions, collections from the Dafeng Tang, and image reports. Its dissemination surpassed that of professional journals such as Liangyou Huabao and Beiyang Haibao.Hence the widest communication related to them was realized in the public. This stands as an important case of modern art dissemination by artists. The artistic dissemination of the ZHANG brothers in Art Lifereflects a unique cultural ecosystem. This not only demonstrated the magazine’s admiration for outstanding traditional Chinese painters but also illustrated the heightened promotional awareness of the ZHANG brothers. They actively utilized mass media, enhancing their artistic influence through this magazine. As a result, their work reached more audience.