Cai Zhen: Painter of Old Shanghai
Inspired by her own heritage, Cai Zhen paints the heritage buildings of old Shanghai, bathing them in sunlight and vibrant color.
Cai Zhen, self portrait
We first encountered Madame Cai at an art exhibition featuring the watercolor paintings of architect Alexandre Leonard’s buildings – only later did we realize that the sweet-faced lady who had welcomed us so warmly was the artist!
Cai, who has been painting since her retirement in 2012, is today recognized as one of the most talented painters of Shanghai’s historic architecture. “I grew up surrounded by this architecture,” she explains, and her art is inspired by her strong attachment to an older Shanghai – although hers is not an idealized old Shanghai. Instead, the beautiful buildings are set in a modern context – fancy cars zipping by, rusting bicycles, air conditioner units. There’s no doubt we’re in the 21st century.
An active member of the Chinese-language Shanghai Heritage Society, Cai participates in their activities several times a week, delighting in learning about the buildings that are her subjects.
Cai first picked up a paintbrush as a young girl in the mid-1960s, in the lane neighborhood where she grew up. Her home was near Nanjing Road – so close, in fact, that childhood photos taken on the family’s rooftop terrace feature Shanghai’s pride, the Seventh Heaven Hotel, then the second tallest building in Shanghai. Designed by American architect Elliot Hazzard in 1932, it was an extension to the Wing On department store.
Cai on the roof terrace of her childhood home, with the Art Deco Wing On tower behind her.
The four Cai sisters, all grown up, on their roof terrace off Nanjing Road.
Her father had been an underground Communist agent in Nationalist-controlled Shanghai in the 1940s, an educated man who was rewarded after the revolution with a nice home in a prime location. But at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Red Guard leaders labeled him a “capitalist roader”. Yet even during those difficult days, says Cai, he retained his optimism and love of life.
Cai’s father noticed his youngest daughter’s talent for drawing, so he hired a respected old artist in the neighborhood to teach her the basics of drawing, focusing primarily on portraiture. She also received lessons in classical ballet – all the rage at the time, thanks to the revolutionary ballets that were promoted throughout China during the Cultural Revolution.
Like most others of her generation, life, and artistic training, was interrupted by three years “down to the countryside” following graduation.
Work and studies in the ensuing years moved art further down the priority list: When she returned to Shanghai, she worked as a laboratory technician in a pharmaceutical factory, studying in her spare time, and eventually working as a treasurer for over 20 years. Marriage and the birth of a son made painting a distant memory.
The ‘Green House’, home of paint king D.V. Woo. Designed by Laszlo Hudec, 1933, painted by Cai Zhen, 2018.
Shortly after Cai’s retirement, though, she was walking down Fuzhou Road – the street of books and stationery – when art supplies in a shop window caught her eye. She thought to herself, “I used to love painting – now that I’m retired, why don’t I take it up again and see if I still like it?” She showed some of her watercolors to friends, who encouraged her to paint more.
More encouragement came in 2014, when she won an award at a group show, inspiring her to keep painting. She now paints at least two hours a day, seven days a week, with a prolific output: a painting a week, if everything is flowing!
The Gascogne, Leonard, Veysseyre & Kruze (1935), painted by Cai Zhen, 2017.
Yet Shanghai still has so many historic buildings that Cai’s list of potential subjects is quite long. Most of her work to date has been focused on buildings in the former French Concession, but there are many heritage buildings in the Jing’An, Hongkou and Yangpu districts that still await her distinctive artistic treatment.
“Historic Shanghai is most often portrayed through old black-and-white photographs,” says Cai. “But old Shanghai was extraordinarily vibrant and colorful. As a painter, I use my brushes to show old Shanghai with color, to show the most beautiful aspects of its past. I feel like I am a guardian of her heritage buildings.”
Madame Cai’s notecards and postcards are available at Madame Mao’s Dowry, 207 Fumin Lu/Julu Lu. For information on prints and paintings, contact Madame Cai on WeChat at caizhen99.