Discovering the Forbidden City Jang Guofang and His oil Paintings of the Imperial Palace - (WC2Y)

Discovering the Forbidden City Jang Guofang and His oil Paintings of the Imperial Palace : In the course of creating the Forbidden City series of works, Jang Guofang derived inspiration from the luxurious rooms and traditional Chinese decorations and received even more inspiration from the people who lived in them - princesses, empresses and imperial concubines. But the painter did not want to recreate ??? true history??? in the traditional sense, nor did he want to put rigidly on the canvas the scenes of that time and the way the specific people expressed their thought. The painter has no intention to explain the past time. The aspect of the pictures as records of actual events was covered up by the non-historic method of creation. Jiang Guofang has actually imparted a new content to historical themes and used it as a way of expressing his personal concept of art. The painter himself said, ??? I look upon all the pictures as cultural products. Like all other cultural products, they must be inspired by certain things. But I am not writing a history book, nor do I want to explain history. Not a single one of my pictures involves a specific person or event. The history of the Qing dynasty provided me with only the raw material so that I can pursue my way of art.???