Singer and composer Jay Chou’s newest piece Greatest Works of Art already has more than 16 millions views on YouTube since its debut on July 5. Chou paid tribute to some great artists Dali, Van Gogh, Munch, Monet, and Modern Chinese painter Chang Yu in the song. Who is Chang Yu (or Sanyu)?
Chang Yu was born in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, on 14 October 1901. His family owned one of the largest silk-weaving mills in Sichuan, the Dehe Silk Factory, which was managed by Sanyu's eldest brother Chang Junmin. After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic in 1911, China was faced with growing autocracy from within and encroaching imperialism from without. A unified voice demanded the rejuvenation of the country through modernization, which, at that time, meant Westernization. Many resolved, therefore, to travel abroad to learn the ways of the West in order to benefit their troubled nation.
As a response to this call, students traveled to France under a government-sponsored work-study program. Although it is uncertain whether Sanyu participated in this program, his decision to make France his destination in 1921 was no doubt inspired by the migrating wave of art students, such as Xu Beihong and his partner Jiang Biwei with whom Sanyu became close friends. In this free and uninhibited environment, he could experiment with Western sketching techniques to explore and express the lines of the human form. Sanyu’s early works in Paris comprise exclusively ink and pencil drawings of nudes and figures, of which over 2000 examples survive today.
Since Sanyu was trained in Chinese calligraphy in his youth, it is not surprising that a majority of his nude drawings were done in Chinese ink and brush. The trained calligraphic stroke, with its varying innuendos, afforded Sanyu a unique chance to delineate the human body, not so much in terms of its anatomy but more as a means of expressing the beauty and sensitivity of a flowing line. With only a few strokes, relying on the fluidity and innate qualities of brush and ink, he was able to capture the essence of his subject.
Sanyu, along with Xu Beihong, Yan Wenliang, Lin Fengmian and Liu Haisu (collectively, the Four Great Academy Presidents) are widely known as the most prominent first-generation Chinese oil-painters who studied in France in the early 1900s.
華語流行音樂天王周杰倫新作「最偉大的作品」七月五日在YouTube發佈以來，至今累積超過一千六百萬點閱，其MV中致敬偉大藝術家的狂想曲表現手法形成熱門話題。他在致敬的近代藝術家中沒有忘記旅法名畫家常玉。其他像是馬格裡特1927年移居巴黎，達利1926年去了巴黎；常玉1920年後一直留在巴黎，莫内常駐巴黎，徐志摩1925 年也來了歐洲。作詞者之一黃俊郎表示，這支曲子的大部分歌詞會對應到一張畫、一本散文、一首詩、或是一個典故。歌名叫「最偉大的作品」，有很多層意思。在周杰倫曲中出現45秒的畫面，向常玉致敬，我們來溫習一下這位畫家其人其畫。
常玉1901年（另說1900年）生於四川南充，他少時家境富殷。1919年（另說1920年，也有說1921年）常玉以留法勤工儉學的方式到達巴黎。他與徐悲鴻、林風眠熟稔，常玉的藝術觀點卻與他們不同，他不進美術學院進修，常在咖啡館裡一邊看《紅樓夢》或拉著小提琴一邊畫畫，走著另外一條繪畫道路—從畫壇、畫廊和巴黎人的生活中去瞭解法國現代繪畫的脈絡，以此為基調從事藝術創作，並堅持此理念一生。
二十世紀三十年代，常玉四川南充家中的兄長去世，他的經濟狀況也急轉直下，始料不及的變故，使常玉從花花公子瞬間變得一貧如洗，生活很是艱辛。他曾經做過陶器，也做過以商補藝的生計，還曾在巴黎和柏林從事過宣傳體育事業的活動，但都沒有多大的收效。1938年歐戰即起，常玉的經濟狀況如雪上加霜，他還繼續定期地舉辦展覽。三十年代他曾參加過法國秋季沙龍、法國獨立沙龍，特別是在歐洲地位很高的法國杜勒裡沙龍（Salon des Tuileries），常玉在巴黎有了不小的影響。據巴黎的老華僑說，常玉那時本該已經成名了，但常玉最終未能真成名。
常玉在巴黎一邊艱難地維持著生計，一邊堅持不懈的繼續從事繪畫創作。從常玉的繪畫風格來看，他始終沒有改變個人的創作理念。常玉的早期繪畫作品多重於裸體創作，表現形式有油畫，有水彩，有水墨，也有炭筆，總體以白色和粉色為主調。他的繪畫筆調灑脫，行筆暢逸，使人能感覺到常玉在遵循中國傳統技法的同時，又在努力試圖突破傳統格局的束縛而傾力探索。評論家王進玉認為，常玉在繪畫上具有的時尚意識與先鋒精神是有目共睹的，與同為革新派的徐悲鴻宣導寫實主義繪畫有所不同，他選擇了具有個體化、抽象性的藝術表達，並將簡練流暢的繪畫風格體現於裸體題材創作上。
常玉的女人體作品一反常人裸體畫的表現角度，他以裸女的整個身體輪廓表現他心內的風景。常玉的靜物作品是他內心世界的一面鏡子，畫中的花朵大都孤單無力，殘花敗韻、強撐姿色，像失去母親的孩子般孤單寥寂，無依無靠，直叫人有“殘月伴秋寒，冷冷清清”的淒涼感。