Fang Dan: Portrait of Tang Shizhang (John Thompson)

JT Photos
Bios Doc

Portrait by 方丹 Fang Dan; calligraphy by 陳子慧 David Chan

The above portrait by 方丹 Fang Dan¹ is dated 1979.

Fang Dan, JT, Lo Yuk Ying, Lau Shing-Hon

At right Fang Dan is shown with me, well-known photographer of the Hong Kong film and entertainment industry 廬玉瑩 Lo Yuk Ying (external link) and Lau Shinghon, director of the film 慾火焚琴 House of the Lute as well as this documentary about my work. Fang Dan did this paper and ink portrait when we met at the end of the shooting of the film.

陳子慧 David Chan Chi-Wai,², who wrote the calligraphy with this portrait (translated here and dated March 1979), was the art director of House of the Lute. This site has other examples of his calligraphy, such as this closeup from the top of the page introducing the film and this closeup from the page introducing Sima Xiangru.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 方丹 Fang Dan (1940-2017) Two other paintings by Fang Dan
Fang Dan (original name 郝明 Hao Ming) was quite well known as a painter but perhaps became better known for his collected correspondence with leading cultural figures he met during his lifetime. He was born in 1940 in 延安 Yan'an (Wiki) as 郝明 Hao Ming, son of the well-known printmaker 郝麗春 Hao Lichun (1912-2012; Wiki), better known as 力群 Li Qun. Under his father's influence Hao Ming studied painting and calligraphy in Beijing. There he was naturally able to interact with many high level people in the arts world, but in 1975 he moved to Hong Kong and later spent some time the in the U.S. before moving back to China. Throughout this period he corresponded with and commented on numerous significant people. A number of his paintings have inscriptions by famous people and thus have commanded high prices. I have not found anything in English about him but here are three articles in Chinese:

These articles all have further information about Fang Dan himself. The first one includes a photo of him ("Hao Ming" in the fourth photo). The third one is about his collected papers, known as the 丹鶴樓收藏專場 Red Crane Pavilion Collection after the name of his home in Beijing. These were so well-known that when they were auctioned in 2012 at 北京榮寶齋 Beijing Rong Bao Zhai (拍賣 Auction, 典當 Pawn and 出版 Publishing House) they are said to have sold for over 8 million RMB (see under auction.zhuokearts.com, which is also the download site for the upper image at right).

At right are two paintings by Fang Dan that I have found online.

西廂聽琴圖 In the Western Chamber Listening to the Qin, 1973 (View)
This painting by 郝明 (方丹) Fang Dan has calligraphy by 俞平伯 Yu Pingbo (1900-1990). Yu was a graduate of Peking University and, as professor at Yanjing University, a leading authority on the novel 紅樓夢 Dream of the Red Chamber. Because his views on the novel were personally attacked by Mao Zedong, he suffered greatly during Cultural Revolution. The painting was sold in 2012 at the auction of his Red Crane Pavilion Collection (see the download site, auction.zhuokearts.com).
雞趣圖 Chicken Impulse, 1989 (View)
Here Fang Dan's painting has his own inscription. Painted in America in 1989, it was downloaded from auction.zhuokearts.com.
(Return)

2. 陳子慧 David Chan Chi-Wai
House of the Lute was David Chan's first project as art director of a film but he then went on to be film art director for the famous 許氏兄弟喜劇 Hui Brothers comedy films as well as a successful innovative artist. A Hong Kong native, he has been active in China and Japan as well as Hong Kong both in art and film and as a business manager. For art and film see his filmography and this announcement of his 2008 calligraphy exhibition.
(Return)

Go to my home page or the Guqin ToC