Wu Guanzhong
Between Paris and Beijing.
Wu Guanzhong studied in Paris and combined Western abstraction with Chinese ink. During the Cultural Revolution he was forbidden to paint.
Wu Guanzhong was born in 1919 in Yixing in Jiangsu province. He began studying electrical engineering but switched to art after a visit to the art school in Hangzhou. There he studied both Western painting and Chinese ink painting, with teachers such as Lin Fengmian and Pan Tianshou.
In 1947 he won a scholarship to Paris and studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts. He admired Cézanne, van Gogh and Gauguin. In 1950 he chose to return to China to contribute to the country's new art. He taught at art schools in Beijing, but his interest in formalism and Western modern painting made him suspect at a time when socialist realism was the rule.
During the Cultural Revolution he was sent to work in the countryside and for several years was not allowed to paint. By his own account he painted in secret when he could, with simple materials. After the 1970s he was able to work freely again and soon became one of China's most acclaimed artists.
Wu Guanzhong's style combines Chinese ink with Western abstraction. Landscapes, villages, trees and water are transformed into lines, dots and patches of colour. He compared his art to a kite whose string must never break: however abstract it becomes, it must stay in touch with reality and with the people. He provoked debate when he wrote that brush and ink in themselves are “equal to zero”, worthless unless they are filled with content.
In 1992 he became the first living Chinese artist to have a solo exhibition at the British Museum. He donated many works to museums in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. He died in 2010 and is regarded as one of the most important bridge-builders between Chinese and Western art.