Draft:Wu Hsueh-Jang

• Comment: Please read WP:VERIFY Qcne (talk) 08:51, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

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Wu Hsueh-Jang Wu Hsueh-Jang at the backyard, Los Angeles, 2010
Born	1923 Dongbanqiao Township, Yuechi County, Sichuan Province
Died	2013
Nationality	Republic of China
Occupation	Traditional and modern ink-wash painter
Active Period	1950s till his demise
Known for	Landscape painting, flower-and-bird painting, abstract ink-wash painting
Awards	Golden Goblet Award in the category of painting education, Art Society of China (1984) Gold Medal in Chinese Painting, Chinese Writers’ & Artists’ Association (1985)

Wu Hsueh-Jang (1923-2013), courtesy name Tui-Bo, was an ink-wash painter-cum-art educator from Yuechi County, Sichuan Province, China.

Life

Wu Hsueh-Jang was of peasant origin, born in Dongbanqiao Township, Yuechi County, Sichuan Province, China in 1923. He passed the entrance exam and enrolled at the National Academy of Art in Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Later, he moved to Hangzhou with the academy. During his enrollment, Wu was profoundly influenced by Cheng Chang.

Wu graduated from the Division of Chinese Painting, Hangzhou National Art College in 1948. Starting from traditional elaborate birds and flowers, he mastered blue-green landscapes as well. He had even evolved his sui generis style of modern ink-wash painting since the 1960s. Wu founded the Chinese Modern Ink-wash Painting Society with other ink-wash painters such as Liu Kuo-Sung.

    Wu was humble, amiable, and indifferent to worldly rewards, which was why he called himself Tui-Bo. Calligrapher-cum-painter Chang Guang-Bin described Wu with a poem: “Learn to achieve mastery / Shirk no responsibility / Self-improvement with deep reflection / Stay as humble as foolish.” Wu had taught in Taiwan for nearly five decades. He moved to Los Angeles, the United States in 1997 and thenceforth settled there.

Career

Wu started his ink-wash painting from elaborate birds and flowers, and blazed a trail in modern ink-wash painting.

Traditional Ink-wash Painting

    Wu’s ink-wash paintings were underpinned by his extensive experience of sketching. He excelled in both elaborate and freehand paintings, and his constant determination to innovate turned a new page for modern ink-wash painting. For example, instead of the huge blanks usually seen in traditional ink-wash paintings, large clusters of plants often occupy the compositions of his works that wear gorgeous, exuberant looks. In addition, his childhood experience inspired him to create the halo-like focus effect in his paintings. Finger ink painting was his tour-de-force as well. Dipping his fingers in the ink, he evolved a painting style as simple as untrammeled.

Modern Ink-wash Painting

    Wu’s modern ink-wash paintings are strongly reminiscent of the works by contemporary Western masters such as Joan Miró or Paul Klee. However, according to Wu’s own account, he did not specifically attend such Western-style abstract training. His modern ink-wash paintings were either refined from Chinese classical images and bronze inscriptions, or inspired by children’s paintings he studied when teaching at women’s normal schools.

The Family of Six

    The motif of “the family of six” created by Wu represents various relations between modern people and their families or society. He also incorporated different postures of birds into his works that weave fantasy with humor, which epitomized his modern ink-wash painting style. Using these symbols, he created brilliant works such as Offspring and Children’s Game. These works also express his expectations for a happy family.

Journey of Native Land through Dreams

    Wu’s art series “Journey of Native Land through Dreams” marked a significant milestone for his modern ink-wash painting. After studying ancient documents and images, he developed his creative style on the basis of classical images. His works in this style are mesmerizing not only for their aura of mystery but also for the simplicity and naturalness preserved in the iconography of the ancestors. The large-scale series “Journey of Native Land through Dreams” as well as the works Historical Site and Drunken Moon are important works created in this period.

The Beauty of Calligraphy

    Wu spent more than three hours practicing calligraphy every day. Harnessing the aesthetics of calligraphy, he created serpentine lines in which the rhythmic and harmonious charm of Chinese characters finds expression.

Contributions to Arts Education

Wu volunteered to teach in Taiwan after his graduation in 1948 and had taught for nearly five decades.

·                    1948-1955 | Chiayi Secondary School, Hualien Normal School, Hualien Girls’ Secondary School, and Taoyuan Secondary School

·                    1956 | Taiwan Provincial Taipei Women’s Normal School

·                    1978 | Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Chinese Culture University

·                    1988 | Department of Fine Arts, Tunghai University

·                    1993 | Retired from Tunghai University

Major Exhibitions

·                    1994 | A Retrospective of Hsueh-Jang Wu at the Age of Seventieth, Taipei Fine Arts Museum

·                    2004 | Journey of Native Land Through Dreams—A Retrospective of Hsueh-Jang Wu at the age of Eightieth, National Museum of History

·                    2009 | Open Flexibility: Innovative Contemporary Ink Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum

·                    2010 | The New Rendition of Ink-Painting: A Retrospective of Hsueh-Jang Wu, National Chiao Tung University Arts Center (archived page, stored in the Internet Archive)

·                    2010 | Wu Hsueh-Jang Chinese Ink-Wash Painting Exhibition, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai

·                    2012 | Wu Hsueh-Jang 90th Birthday Exhibition, Taipei Gallery, Mingshan Art (archived page, stored in the Internet Archive)

·                    2017 | Linearity‧Symbols‧Eastern Geometry: Wu Hsueh-Jang Art Exhibition, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

His works have been widely collected by prestigious art museums.