[3] Born in Liaoyang of Liaoning Province, Zhang graduated from the Western Painting Department of the Jinghua Art Academy in 1936.

In 1977, he produced the portrait of Zhou Enlai that can be seen in the National Museum of China and was awarded the title of "advanced worker" by the Ministry of Light Industry and the Central Academy for Industrial Art.

Zhang is best known for his portrait of a solemn Mao Zedong dressed in a simple gray tunic.

From 1950 to 1957, he was on the team that created the huge oil painting of Mao Zedong hanging from the Tiananmen (which is modeled on Zhang's portrait).

After an outcry from the Chinese public, many of whom still revere Mao and feared the historic painting could leave China, the auction was halted and the painting was eventually sold to the National Museum of China, with co-financing by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.