Wu Guanzhong

Wu Guanzhong devoted himself to landscape oil painting creation from the 1950s to 1970s, and carried out exploration on the nationalization of oil painting. He tried to combine the intuitive vitality of European oil painting in depicting nature, the richness and delicacy of oil colors with the traditional Chinese art spirit and aesthetic ideals. Since the 1970s, Wu Guanzhong gradually engaged in Chinese painting creation. He attempted to use traditional Chinese materials and tools to express modern spirit, and explored the innovation of Chinese painting. He was born on August 29, 1919 (the fifth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar) in a peasant family in Zhaikou Township, Yixing County, Jiangsu Province. In 1926, he attended Wu's Primary School. In 1930, he entered Yixing County's Eshan Primary School. In 1931, he graduated from primary school and was admitted to Wuxi Normal School. In 1934, after completing three years of normal junior high school, he enrolled in the Electrical Engineering Department of the Industrial School co-founded by Zhejiang University. In 1935, he applied for the National Hangzhou Academy of Arts. In 1936, he entered the National Hangzhou Academy of Arts to study Western painting, and also studied Chinese painting and watercolor painting. In 1937, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, and the principal Lin Fengmian led all the teachers and students to evacuate Hangzhou with the people. In 1938, he graduated from the secondary school of the Academy and was admitted to the undergraduate program of oil painting, studying under Chang Shuhong and Guan Liang. At the same time, he also studied Chinese painting. In 1940, he transferred to Chinese painting, became a student of Pan Tianshou, and copied many masterpieces of ancient paintings. In 1941, he still loved the colors of oil painting, so he transferred back to the oil painting department. In 1942, he graduated from the National Hangzhou Academy of Arts. He served as an assistant at the National Chongqing University. In 1943, he held his first individual painting exhibition at the Youth Palace in Shapingba, Chongqing, Sichuan. In 1946, he was selected as the first winner of the national government-funded painting scholarship, and went to France for further studies. In 1947, he studied at the studio of Professor Soufflot at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris to further his studies in oil painting. In 1948, his works were exhibited at the Paris Spring Salon and Autumn Salon. In 1950, he returned to China after his studies abroad and taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1953, he became an associate professor at the Department of Architecture, Tsinghua University. In 1956, he taught at the Beijing Institute of Arts. In 1964, he taught at the Central Academy of Arts and Design. In 1970, during the "Cultural Revolution," he was sent to work in the countryside in Hebei Province. In 1973, he was transferred back to Beijing to participate in the creation of hotel paintings. In 1978, the Central Academy of Arts and Design hosted the "Wu Guanzhong Art Exhibition." In 1979, he was elected as a Standing Committee Member of the China Artists Association. In 1987, the Hong Kong Arts Centre hosted the "Wu Guanzhong Retrospective Exhibition." 1991, he was awarded the highest honor of the French Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. In 1992, the British Museum broke its tradition of only exhibiting ancient relics, and for the first time held an exhibition titled "Wu Guanzhong - A Chinese Painter of the 20th Century" for the living painter Wu Guanzhong, and solemnly collected his large-scale new ink and color work "The Paradise of Birds." In 1993, the Cernuschi Museum in Paris held the exhibition "Going Global - Wu Guanzhong's Oil Painting, Ink Painting, and Sketches," and awarded him the "Golden Medal of the City of Paris." In 1994, he was elected as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1999, the Ministry of Culture of the State hosted the "Wu Guanzhong Art Exhibition." In 2000, he was selected as a Corresponding Academician of the French Academy of Arts, the first Chinese artist to receive this honor. This was also the first Asian to hold this position in the nearly two-hundred-year history of the French Academy. On December 26, 2006, The Chinese University of Hong Kong conferred upon Professor Wu Guanzhong the title of "Honorary Doctor of Literature." In August 2007, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House published "The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong." On the evening of June 25, 2010, at 23:57, Wu Guanzhong passed away at the Beijing Hospital, aged 91.