Wu Shanming Chinese Brush Ink Transmission Exhibition

On September 28th, the "Light of Void Spirits - Wu Shanming's Chinese Brush and Ink Transmission Exhibition" opened at the Pan Tianshou Memorial Hall. This exhibition is divided into six sections: "Clarifying the Way," "Writing the Soul with High Standards," "Refining the Soul and Seeing the Heart," "Using Intent and Destiny Pen," "Transforming Decay into Magic," and "The Light of Eastern Void Spirit." It analyzes Wu Shanming's exploration of brush and ink, showcasing nearly a hundred works covering various stages from inheriting predecessors to innovating and expanding frontiers. It aims to comprehensively present Mr. Wu Shanming's profound thinking and outstanding contributions in the modern transformation of Chinese painting. The exhibition will continue until October 28th. In the afternoon of that day, the "Wu Shanming Chinese Brush Ink Transmission Exhibition" academic symposium was held at the Nanshan Campus of the China Academy of Art to discuss and share Wu Shanming's important achievements in Chinese painting creation and teaching.

 

Qian Xiaofang, Vice Chairman of the Education, Science, Technology, Culture and Health Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress, Jin Yibin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the China Academy of Art, and Sun Xudong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Mao Xuefei, former Secretary of the Party Committee of the China Academy of Art, Yang Jianxin, former Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Meng Yunsheng, former Vice President of the China Academy of Art and Director of the Xiaofeng Art Museum, Hu Zhonghua, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the China Academy of Art, Han Lu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of the China Academy of Art, Chi Shahong, student representative of Wu Shanming and former Vice President of the Zhejiang Academy of Art, Gao Yeyun, wife of Wu Shanming and painter, Fang Yuan, member of the Standing Committee of the Pujiang County Committee. Chen Yongyi, the director of the Pan Tianshou Memorial Hall, presided over the opening ceremony. Jin Yibin, Han Lu, Chi Shahong, and Gao Yeyun spoke separately.

 

Wu Shanming (1940-2021) was born in Qianwu Village, Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. As one of the leading figures of the second generation of Zhejiang style figure painting, Wu Shanming is renowned in the contemporary Chinese art world for his ethereal and ethereal ink figure paintings. This exhibition is guided by problem research and focuses on important issues such as Zhejiang style figure painting, freehand line drawing, and the transformation of ink painting in Wu Shanming's artistic career. It systematically displays his evolution trajectory from early sketching to later emotional expression. The exhibition presents a large number of original sketches and masterpieces from various periods, many of which are on public display for the first time. For example, Wu Shanming's undergraduate graduation work "Flying Snow Welcomes Spring" has been separated from the audience for nearly 60 years; The painting 'Ruzi Niu', which participated in the National Art Exhibition, was exhibited to the public for the first time since the 6th National Art Exhibition in 1984; The exhibition also presents multiple sets of fine line drafts and corresponding freehand line drawing works in a comparative manner, providing valuable first-hand materials for understanding Wu Shanming's artistic methods and teaching ideas. In addition, this exhibition pays special attention to the academic analysis of the correlation between his freehand brushwork line drawing system and the aesthetic of light ink "virtual spirit". Several famous calligraphers and painters are invited to interpret more than 20 typical works, in order to reveal the process of Wu Shanming pushing traditional brushwork language to a new realm of modern meaning. Visitors can scan the QR code on site to watch the explanatory video.

 

In order to fully showcase Wu Shanming's artistic exploration process, this exhibition specially interprets the exhibition theme through Wu Shanming's masterpieces from 1985 to 1995 and a batch of Su Mo masterpieces in the later period. In addition, there is also a batch of Wu Shanming's sketches, comic books, ink figure paintings and other works from his student days in the exhibition, showcasing his basic painting skills and talents. There are also portraits of predecessors such as Huang Binhong and Wu Fuzhi that he painted, as well as works by Mr. Li Zhenjian and Mr. Fang Zengxian that he collected.