Wu Dayu 1903-1988

Taipei, National Museum of History, Exhibition of Wu Da-yu's Paintings, 9 March - 8 April 2001
Shanghai, Shanghai Art Musem, The Retro Exhibition of Wu Dayu's Oil Painting, 20 November - 10 December 2003

Wu Dayu & Li Zhongsheng

No other art institute compares with the National Peking Art School and the National Hangzhou Art School in terms of their influence in the 20th century. The two were respectively directed by Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian, both of whom received their academy training in France. But while Xu chose realism, Lin focused on modernist schools such as impressionism and fauvism. With the different point of departure of their directors, the two schools developed totally opposite artistic styles.

With a relatively high-allowance, open and free atmosphere, the National Hangzhou Art School became the important cradle of Chinese ‘New?painters and the alma-mater of artists who would later become internationally-recognized like Zhao Wuji (Zao Wou-ki), Zhu Dequn (Chu Teh-Chun) and Wu Guanzhong. Apart from the principal Lin Fengmian, the director of the Western Painting Department, Wu Taiyu, was one of their major inspirations. One of the lecturers, Li Zhongsheng (Li Chun-Shan) (who later went to study in Japan), has since become an important figure of Taiwan Avant-Garde painting.

The 2007 Spring Auctions of Sotheby’s Hong Kong will present works by the above-mentioned two distinguished abstract painters, namely “Rhymes of Beijing Opera?(Lot 17), by Wu Taiyu in his later period; and two works by Li Zhongsheng (Li Chun-Shan).

A compatriot of Xu Beihong, Wu was born in Yixing, Jiangsu province in 1903, eight years after Xu’s birth. Despite this kinship and the fact that both of them studied in France, each of them has their own unique artistic approach and direction. While Xu was a dedicated realist his whole life, Wu took the abstract route.

Wu left China for France to study in the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-arts in 1922, during which  time he was deeply influenced by fauvism, expressionism, cubism etc. When in school, he organized the Phoebus Society with Lin Wenzheng, Lin Fengmian, Li Jinfa etc. The society held an exhibition in May, 1922, from which Lin Fengmian later praised Wu’s works as having ‘extraordinary colours and grandiose creativity?

In 1927, Wu came back to his country aged 25. In that year he founded the National Hangzhou Art School together with Lin Fengmian and others. He was made the dean of the Western Painting Department.

Wu had been focusing on realistic painting after returning to his motherland. His 1935 work “Yue Fei?consists of General Yue Fei dressed in orange, beside whom are two old ladies welcoming his return. In “Speech? made one year after, it is Sun Yat-Sen in white robes that takes the frame. These works however, were ransacked before World War II and none of them survives. One of Wu’s students, Zhao Wuji (Zao Wou-ki), once said that Wu’s early works tend to display the style of romanticism while influenced by impressionism and cubism.

After the Communist Party took over in 1949, Wu was labeled as a ‘grandfather of formalism?and was fired by the National Hangzhou Art School. Nevertheless, his artistic explorations continued. In one of his articles, Wu’s student Min Xiwen mentioned that the painter had worked in both the Shanghai Fine Arts School and the Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute during that period. Although he continued to publish some realistic works, it’s the 20-odd non-realistic paintings hung on the wall of his living room that best represent his style. These works include “Young Lady Inclining on a Table?and “Image in a Mirror?/P>

“In this period, Wu abandoned the realistic elements which are commonly found in the early stages of his creative career, in order to approach the freedom of ‘formless form? ‘Min Xiwen wrote, ‘If his early and middle period are more connected with the European schools in the late 19th and 20th, these late works are more about Eastern spirit and philosophy.?In a shifting time, Wu stuck to the exploration of the inner truth of his artistic world, without compromising to any ideological stunt. ‘Eternity?has always been one of his pursuits.

The year 1976 marks the end of the Cultural Revolution. Approaching 70, Wu entered one of the most prolific and creative period of his life. Due to health issues, he could only draw on small canvas. But the artistic freedom set free his mind and soul and he made a series of abstract works. In 1984, recommended by one of his students Wu Guanzhong, Wu Taiyu’s work “Colourful Grass?was exhibited in the 6th National Fine Art Exhibition with an honourary award. Wu rejoined in the painting scene of mainland China, until his death in 1988.

“Rhymes of Beijing Opera?(Lot 17) was painted in 1980s and is considered one of the best examples of his late style. The painting depicts two faintly-visible faces with the bold use of flamboyant, contrasting colours and powerful brush strokes, presenting not merely a single movement in Peking Opera, but a condensed version of space and time on stage. Energetic as they are, these works manage to convey the introverted nature of Peking Opera in an abstract way.

Zhuang Huayue, a student of Wu’s, said: The “Rhyme?(Yun) series is the conclusion of his whole creative process, it’s the pinnacle of his personality, which he was constantly trying to improve.

Apart from “Rhymes of Beijing Opera?the “Rhyme?series also contains: Floral Rhymes, Colour Rhymes, and Composing Rhymes.

Shao Dazhen, a professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, remarked that Wu Taiyu didn’t whole-heartedly embrace abstractionism, instead, he shuffled between realism and abstractionism. ‘He knows all the subtleties of western modern art, especially the period between impressionism and cubism. And he also understands the magical capability of creating image in Chinese art.?/P>His student Wu Guanzhong said that in recent years, Wu Taiyu’s works would usually strike the viewer as being westernized at first sight, but after staying with them for a while, one would realize that they are actually a combination of the western abstract and Chinese image. ‘They are drawn with heavy colours and sharp contrast, with a strong sense of mobility. Put together, these are what make an oil painting with Chinese characteristic. Wu was swallowing and internalizing the shapes and colours of the West with the yun of China.?If a trajectory from realism to abstraction can be observed in Wu Taiyu’s career, in Li Zhongsheng's (Li Chun-Shan) case, cutting-edge abstraction was his language of choice since returning from Japan.

Li joined the National Hangzhou Art School in 1943. Born in 1911, he received his early education in the Guangzhou Fine Art School and the Painting Department of the Shanghai Fine Art School, and joined the Juelan Society - the earliest fine art society in China which advocated for modern art - in 1932. In the next year, Li went for further study at the Western Painting Department of Tokyo University and joined The Research Institute of Avant-Garde in Tokyo. The Institute had a distinctive way of teaching different from those of other academic institutions. Abstraction and surrealism were the fundamental theories with which the students were guided with a sophisticated spiritual approach.

On returning to China in 1937, Li started to teach in the National Hangzhou Art School with a die-hard stance of Avant-Garde. While the changes of the political climate at times halted Wu Taiyu in his artistic exploration, Li has chosen to move to Taiwan with the Kuomintang. Luckily, he was able to continue his quest in the midst of abstraction and surrealism.

Wu Taiyu usually takes every day objects as his material, in comparison, most of Li Chung-sheng’s works are in the absence of subject. The pureness of his paintings lies in their non-literary, non-narrative and no-subject nature. For Wu, painting embodies the painter’s feeling towards nature and the one short instant of truth within the universe; for Li, objects of nature can be totally irrelevant.

Li once said that his style was a fusion of Freudian and abstractionist thoughts, a modern Avant-Gardism that employs both ‘spiritual language?and ‘psychological language?When painting, he would deliberately ignore what came from the conscious and tried to build a connection between the brush and his subconscious, and then, in a half-conscious state, draw automatically, so to speak. In this way, the psychological state of the artist would be reflected directly in the painting.

Lot 18 and 19 show Li’s style after he moved to Taiwan. The former is an oil painting made on paper in 1964, while the latter is a 1974 oil on canvas. Both works have no realist element in their compositions. Compared to Wu Taiyu, Li uses more geometric shapes and stouthearted strokes. While the sharp contrast of Wu’s colouring feels ‘hot?the abstraction of Li reverals a certain ‘coldness?

Both Wu and Li are among the earliest abstract painters in China. Although abstraction was marginalized in their time, they did not go with the flow but kept searching for artistic possibilities, approaching the very essence of art and exposing the eternity of art to us. That is their most precious heritage