- 800
Wu Guanzhong
Description
- Wu Guanzhong
- Serenity
- oil on canvas
executed in 1991.
Provenance
Literature
Condition
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Wu Guanzhong once wrote a passage after his trip to Paris: "After travelling around the world in recent years, I am more convinced that true art can only be sincere and straight from the heart. Pearls only grow in shells; ginsengs only sprout on remote mountains; lofty and elegant yellow pine trees never survive without barren and cold stone peak."1 Among the vast landscape, apart from Lijiang River, Wu is particularly interested in depicting white birch forests. We can see this subject matter constantly inspires Wu in his later artistic work. In Serenity, completed in 1991, the artist still chooses white birches as the main subject to paint. Wu once talked about white birch forests on his trip to Altay, Xinjiang Province in China: "The forest seen from a distance is in dark green. The branches and trunks of white birches are white, clear and bright, with black spots and marks on them like ornaments. Their branches are long and soft like weeping willows. When I wonder in the extensive forest, I see trees grow side by side and the river flowing through them, making me forget all my hardships and loneliness in my life."2 This passage perfectly reflects the imagery of this painting. The white birches by the water flourish in front of the forest and the S-shaped curved brook extends to an endless path, giving the painting a sense of space and depth. The reflections from the river present rippling rhythms, leading the viewer towards a tranquil world.
[1] Wu Guanzhong, ed., The Landscape of Life, Asian Culture, Taipei, 2000, p. 261, 262
[2] Ibid, p. 119