Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA)

Shitang_Wu Guanzhong.jpg

Shitang

Wu Guanzhong donated one of his masterpieces Two swallows to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We are very fortunate to receive A riverside village of Ningbo which is the original sketch of that ink painting, and the amazing story behind its creation was revealed.

When Wu Guanzhong was teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Crafts in the 1980s, he took his students to Luzhi in Suzhou, to do sketching. After the lesson, all the other students returned to Beijing but a postgraduate student named Zhong Shuheng followed him to the Zhoushan Islands to sketch. They left Zhoushan for Ningbo afterwards to catch a train back to Beijing. Seeing that there was still some time before departure, they decided to walk around the neighbourhood. Along the way, Wu Guanzhong was deeply attracted by some waterfront dwellings. He was so thrilled that he made this sketch hastily. When Zhong Shuheng realised that the train was about to leave, she urged him to run back to the station. Wu recalled with a smile that, "Passers-by thought something had happened when they saw us, an old man and a young woman, running madly. The train pulled off the station just after we boarded."

It was in that hurried moment that Two swallows came in shape.

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A riverside village of Ningbo

If you were to sketch anything, what would it be?

Appreciation and discussion

Turning a sketch into an ink painting

Besides pen and ink, Wu enjoyed using various media for his sketches, such as watercolour, markers and felt tip pens. He was able to capture the vibrant and lively atmosphere of a scene through his bold use of colours. On the other hand, his monochromatic sketches usually feature thin lines with more details, while strong brushstrokes highlight the shape of majestic mountains and rocks.

Sketching with colours

Resource Kit Overview

Do you notice the red square seal that often appears in Wu Guanzhong’s paintings? It is a seal carved in relief with the character “Tu”. Tu (sow thistle) is a herb with a bitter flavour. Wu used it as a metaphor for his life — from experiencing war as a student, to coming upon the Cultural Revolution that broke out after his return to China from Paris. With all the sufferings and bitterness, he decided to use the character as his alias. Despite life’s challenges, Wu did not grow to be resentful. Through adversity, he was able to pursue truth and beauty in the world, and his experiences became an endless source of inspiration for his art.  If you were to give yourself a pseudonym, what would it be? What best describes your personality, emotions and values?

Activity: My pseudonym

Turning a sketch into an oil painting

Let’s add a bit of colour to Wu Guanzhong’s sketches, shall we? (There are more sketches in the PDF.) Do they look and feel different to you after you have added some colours?

Activity: Colouring sketches

Artist Introduction

We can tell from the paintings above that Wu Guanzhong did not plainly sketch from reality, rather he liked to change the positions of objects and landscapes to enhance the composition of his works. This was the master’s special image retouching skill and he called it “move-the-site sketching”. He would extract the most attractive elements from a scene, then rearrange or reconstruct them to form the unique image he had created in his mind. He said sketching was about capturing the spirit of things, not merely their shapes and form which made no difference to a photograph. That is why his works are so beautifully composed. They may resemble the real landscape, yet it is hard to find a viewpoint that captures the precise scenery — all because he had reshuffled everything to create a new image!

The master’s image retouching skill

Let’s try to apply Uncle Wu’s “move-the-site sketching” technique. Choose what you would like to sketch, rearrange the objects any way you wish, and complete a unique sketch using your preferred medium. Do you notice the environment and the colours around you? What catches your attention?

Activity: Sketching the everyday life

Offering you insights into the creative philosophy and emotional journey of Wu Guanzhong from his sketching trips. 


Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Wu Guanzhong Sketching from Nature

Appreciation and discussion

Background Knowledge