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In 1936 Wu Guanzhong enrolled in the Hangzhou Academy of Art, where he studied Western oil painting under Lin Fengmian (1900–1991). From 1947 to 1950 he was in Paris, immersing himself in the works of Cézanne, Gauguin, and Matisse before returning to China as a lecturer at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Wu developed a hybrid style that he expressed in Chinese landscapes of remarkable beauty. "I felt that I was pursuing something: the people's feelings, the earth's rhythms, a traditional style and the formal principles of modern Western art," he wrote in 1982. Wu's modernism conflicted with the views of the academy's director and with the Social Realist style of Soviet models and he was transferred to another post. During the Cultural Revolution he was sent into the countryside for three years and did not paint. Wu began working in Chinese ink on paper only after 1972.

Exhibitions in San Francisco in 1989, in London in 1992 and in Paris in 1993 catapulted Wu Guanzhong onto the international art scene. His paintings were received to rapturous applause. Here was a Chinese artist displaying a modernity and style that was captivating both Chinese and Western audiences alike. His images displayed a beauty and simplicity that transcended barriers of language, culture and heritage.

As Wu Guanzhong, once said, “There is no boundary in terms of art; art belongs to the world, not to a certain nation or country.”

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Sunlight rock 1980

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Seascape at Beidaihe, 1986 Metropolitan Art Museum

Sound: Traditional Chinese instrumental music

Text and pictures: InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda