Chang Shu-ch'i (1899-1956)
Eagle on Pine
Framed, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, 19.5 x 25 in. (50 x 64 cm.)

Even in this country people in their seventies may know this name. He was the one whose various post cards circulated widely in the forties into the sixties. And he was the one who painted a painting of one hundred pigeons to honor President Franklin Roosevelt on the occasion of his third election. The government in war-time capital Chung-kung gave an elaborate cocktail party to celebrate the event. This painting is now in the FDR Museum in Hyde Park, New York. Professor Chang was subsequently invited to tour America and demonstrate his painting. This Eagle was a demonstration piece done in Boston in 1943. Mary B. Goodwin watched the artist as the eagle appeared. Richard and Esther Goodwin, who inherited the painting, have generously given it to the collection for safe keeping.

I knew Professor Chang while I was a student at National Central University where he taught painting. As an admirer, I watched him paint several times. He was trained at Shanghai School of Art and was attracted primarily to "Bird and Flower" subjects. This is painted on "hard" or non-absorbant paper, using Chinese ink, watercolor and white paint. It is an excellent example of the way he portrays the lively image of the subject with powerful calligraphic skill to catch the eyes of the observer.

Donated by Esther and Richard Goodwin, professor Emeritus, Connecticut College.