01 Bridge linking water-ink painting and oil painting

　　Wu Guanzhong’　s engagement in water-ink painting dates back to the late "Cultural Revolution" period.

　　In 1974 he created a small-scale 40cm by 39cm color-ink painting titled Chongqing,the Riverside City. In 1988, he added a short preface to this painting as follows:

　　This painting is the bridge linking my oil painting career and color-ink painting career. My friend Zheng Wei liked it, so I presented it to him in about the mid 1970s. My affection for this painting, currently hanging in Zheng Wei’　s house, reflects the affection I cherished in my heart for oil painting and then my later hazy tendency towards color-ink painting. It reminds me of the time when my son was dispatched to labor in Inner Mongolia and returned home with a pair of shepherd’　s felt boots. My wife scissored them and stitched them into an approximately 1/9 m2 piece of felt for a cushion for my painting. Riverside City of Chongqing was painted on that piece of felt. Time and tide have changed substantially since its creation.

　　A short preface composed in 1988 at the request of Zheng Wei By Wu Guanzhong

　　In the early 1980s, I came to Wu Guanzhong’　s house near Shicha Lake in Beijing with some of my classmates studying for a Master’　s degree and was deeply touched by his hard living and working conditions. His room was small, crowded with goods of various kinds. A small desk was placed near the window with the painting felt. Despite that it was slightly better and larger than mentioned in the short preface above the felt was only suitable for creating small paintings. It was simply due to shortages relating to the creation of oil paintings that he took up water-ink painting.

　　Wu Guanzhong’　s passion for water-ink painting, however, burst out like a sluiced torrent. The accomplishments he later achieved in the field of water-ink painting are even more conspicuous than those in his old trade-oil painting. But for his water-ink painting Wu Guanzhong could not have exerted such an intense impact on the fine arts, and likewise without his oil paintings, Wu Guanzhong-style water-ink painting could not have developed.

　　The thread running through Wu Guanzhong’　s numerous paintings of various genres is his evolution to modern ideas. Resorting to the artistic media of water-ink and oil painting successively, he makes incessant artistic experimentation and exploration. The process of evolution of water-ink from micro idealistic painting to macro idealistic painting and the progressive approximation to abstraction facilitated a corresponding evolution of oil painting. What is hard to realize in oil paintings are presented through the medium of water-ink while what is hard to achieve in water-ink painting finds its way to his oil paintings. In this way, his water-ink painting and oil painting interact with and complement each other. They are instrumental in his rapid transcendence over an increasing number of peers in painting, and a progressively bigger creation. To put it in another way, water-ink painting plays a trailblazing role in the development of Wu Guanzhong’　s art and he resorts to water-ink painting for all his artistic ventures, which later gradually find their way to his oil paintings.

　　Among his artistic predecessors who shuttle between oil color and water-ink, Wu Guanzhong is the exclusive and unique artist who facilitates and heavily drawing on their interaction, interdependence and integration.

　　Works like Riverside City of Chongqing signaled a radical change in the layout of his artistic creation and he henceforth ended up becoming an amphibious artist drawing heavily on both water-ink painting and oil painting alike, which facilitated his artistic changes and creations.

　　A pair of felt boots used by his son for treading on the snow-covered plain eventually forged a trailblazer and bellwether for contemporary water-ink painting in Mainland China.

　　02 Lin Wu painting school [1]

　　Water-ink painting in the 20th century in China can be divided into painting schools, exemplified by the Wu (Changshu) Qi (Baishi) Flower and Bird Idealistic Painting School , who ushered in the use of gold and stone into their works, the Zhang (Daqian) Liu (Haisu) Color Splash Painting School and the Xu (Beihong) Jiang (Zhaohe) Realistic Figure Painting School, among others.

　　Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong fathered the Lin Wu Idealistic [2] Painting School that elicits the imaging and brushwork formula typical of traditional calligraphy and painting and incorporates artistic ideas intrinsic to contemporary and modern western art.

　　The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong Volume 5 is his first published volume of water-ink paintings, incorporating 242 paintings he created from 1974 to 1985, a decade witnessing Wu Guanzhong’　s initial dabbling at water-ink painting, the materialization of his basic water-ink painting style and a key period for the formation of the "Lin Wu Painting School".

　　Chinese literati calligraphy and paintings are characterized by an intense idealistic spirit and abstract ideas, but the new water-ink paintings from the New Cultural Movement heralded by the "May Fourth Movement" of Mao Tsetong era originate from new realistic painting style that reinvigorated the approach of "learning from nature". While artists like Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe and Li Keran, among others, were blazing the trail for new realistic arts, Lin Fengmian embarked on his road of exploration of a new idealistic art, hence becoming a lonely forerunner. When the discrepancy in personal taste and artistic orientation was transformed to a yardstick for judging the ideology upheld by an artist, Xu Beihong inappropriately indulged in fame while Lin Fengmian unjustifiably degenerated into artistic obscurity.

　　After the "Cultural Revolution", an increasing number of people reclaimed Lin Fengmian as an artistic master and Wu Guanzong, then carrying forward and expanding the artistic trail Lin Fengmian had blazed, took on the appearance of an avant-garde artist.

　　Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong went to study in France successively but their eventual artistic orientation differed from that of Xu Beihong (classical realism) and Zhao Wuji (modern abstractionism) alike. Rather, they became embroiled in the idealistic and imagist art schools prevalent in the contemporary and modern period, such as Impressionism, Post-impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism and Cubism, among others. After completion of artistic schooling in France, Lin Fengmian returned to his homeland and took office as president of the state-funded Hangzhou Academy of Fine arts. Wu Guanzhong, as a student of the academy, was not directly Lin Fengmian’　s student. The academic atmosphere Lin Fengmian advocated in the academy, however, imposed a substantial and deep-rooted impact on him, which later during his study in France facilitated the materialization of his artistic orientation to be roughly the same as that of Lin Fengmian.

　　In their eastward and westward expeditions for artistic exploration, both of them independently perceived the compatibility between Chinese and western idealistic arts, which was put forward clearly by Wu Guanzhong: "Ancient oriental arts are not far from contemporary occidental arts" [3], " Arrival of H Matisee in the east and expedition of Badashanren to the west is just an issue of time", " The exploration of soul and inspiration in contemporary western painting in effect is the same as the pursuit of artistic conception in Chinese literati paintings despite their distinctive artistic approaches". [4] Their artistic ideas, however, were then wrongly neglected and their proposition regarding the "arrival of H Matisee in the east and expedition of Badashanren to the west" up till now is no more than predictive. The double standards in ideology go too far: Those harping on the cliché of the "direct presentation of internal emotions" can not come to terms with "self-exhibition"; Those tending to label themselves as water-ink painting advocators, however, cannot stand the discussion of "form and abstraction". "Image" is a home-coined word people take pride in while "impression" has long been dismissed as "heathen". Qi Baishi’　s idealistic water-ink paintings have been universally well received while those by Lin Fengmian deriving from the same Chinese traditions were unjustifiably disparaged. The severe choice confronting discoverers of the truth conventionally neglected are: They can either pretend not to have discovered any truth and engage themselves in trivialities to pander to conventional people or alternatively herald and advocate the truth they discovered in a daring and unreserved way, suffering the misunderstandings, curses or even punishment from conventional people, ending up as warriors to uphold the truth. Karl Marx once said: "The entrance to science is like that to hell. Travelers arriving here must rid themselves of any apprehension and hesitations because any cowardice here does not help at all."[5] Lin Fengmian never hesitates and Wu Guanzhong dived into the sea of truth courageously as well.

　　03 Late-blooming flowers

　　The unique contribution Lin Fengmian made to arts are as follows: Firstly, he creatively facilitated the interaction between light, color and ink and successfully came up with solutions to the conflict between them based on contemporary and modern western ideas of light and color; secondly, he creatively transplanted and reconstructed the moistened, rapid and expressive brushstrokes typical of Chinese mural and porcelain paintings so that they are as expressive as they are not provocative. He gave impetus to the development of brush strokes through his revolt against the standards and norms of literati brush strokes and enriched tradition where tradition failed to tolerate; thirdly, he creatively transplanted and reconstructed perspective with respect to form, structure and measure in western contemporary and modern paintings and cultivated his own artistic verve and style. [6] In respect to measure and structure, in particular, he dumped the weakness in measure and slackness in structure ingrained in literati paintings; fourthly, his quietness and strong will in the process of artistic exploration contributed to his solitude and perseverance in life, ushering him into a pious and metaphorical spiritual world and fostered profoundness, serenity and implication and tranquility in his paintings.

　　Lin Fengmian’　s water-ink painting school has currently come into full blossom, best represented by Wu Guanzhong. Lin Fengmian was sworn into office as president of the state-funded Beijing Academy of Fine Arts when he was as young as 26 years old, while Wu Guanzhong’　s success was delayed by approximately 30 years.

　　At the age of 18, Wu Guanzhong began to study art in the middle school attached to Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. His academic excellence is evident in his being admitted to the academy as apprentice to Professor Souverbie in Paris. According to the noted French Chinese scholar, Xiong Binming’　s impression, when he first made acquaintance with Wu Guanzhong in 1947 before leaving for Paris, "he was already a new star in the Chinese fine arts circle."[7] Based on his talents evinced at the time of his graduation, he could have followed an artistic road resembling that of Zhao Wuji and Zhu Dequn. Intense national awareness and patriotism cherished in his heart, however, brought about a fierce psychological conflict in him. He deeply felt: "Despite that the milk of western arts provides enough nutrients for me, I fail to squeeze milk out of me that is of my own."[8] In 1950, he returned to his homeland, then a newborn China, and was appointed to teach at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the top fine arts academy in China.

　　Seething with excitement, he could not wait to contribute all he learnt to his motherland, and to facilitate a boom of national oil painting. Shortly afterwards, however, the wrenching headband of "capitalist formalism" was groundlessly fastened on his head and his figure paintings were unjustifiably dismissed as "uglifying workers, farmers and soldiers." He had no choice but to switch to scenic painting, henceforth ending up as a scenic painter. Due to the apprehension that students were likely to be ideologically misled by him, he was transferred from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to teach technological watercolor in the Architectural Department of Tsinghua University. Wu Guanzhong has long suffered the pain a patriot suffers when groundlessly dismissed by his motherland as a traitor.

　　Wu Guanzhong is exceptionally sensitive to the rhythm of form. He was more often than not excited by the crisscross of vehicle wheels on the ground and the grotesque structure of prancing stone sculptures near Taihu Lake, but the impulse for artistic creation simmering in his heart could not find release. He had no choice but to compromise, treading along the beaten track. The cultural policy during the "Cultural Revolution" instigated and resulted in cultural dictatorship, making artistic exploration more challenging. He was even deprived of the right to paint for as long as 3 years.

　　Without reform and opening up, Wu Guanzhong would not have been artistically successful. He suddenly realized that while he was struggling for artistic prominence, his former classmates Zhao Wuji and Zhu Dequn had achieved great success in Europe. He was delayed by 30 years, the prime of his life! He did not regret returning to his homeland for he never doubted his choice of taking artistic root in his motherland. He resolved to put full throttle to his pursuit of art! His exploration of theory in art, rather than simply a hobby for theoretical argumentation, is his pleading for himself and the law of art as well as his rallying cry for progress overriding regress. He started his art in the real sense, hoping not to be strangled again.

　　04 Emotional expression and idealistic painting

　　Lin Fengmian realized the possibility of harmonizing Chinese and western painting against the antagonism of copying artistic targets directly, a tendency shared by ancient Chinese and contemporary western art. He perceived the necessity of reconciling them and he excelled in emotional and idealistic expression, and form and structure respectively. [9] He pioneered the integration of western form and structure with Chinese emotional and idealistic expression in the artistic orientation.

　　Wu Guanzhong’　s artistic starting point begins where Lin Fengmian’　s terminates. He furthered the exploration of the integration of emotional and idealistic expression with form and structure--micro idealistic paintings excel in emotional and idealistic expression blended with form and structure, while macro idealistic paintings excel in form and structure instilled with emotional and idealistic expression.

　　Let’　s first take a look at his mini idealistic paintings.

　　What stands out in this volume are exemplified by New Bamboos Alongside the Li River, Forest along Bingjiang, The Mazong Ridge of Zhajiajie, An Ancient Town in West Hunan, The Putuo Mountains, A Mulberry Garden, Housholds on the Waters, Riverside Bamboos. The general feature of these paintings is the fusion of emotion and scenery, expression of emotion through scenery and scenery triggering emotion: The sceneries in those paintings refined and processed in image, compared with those of his macro idealistic paintings, are more realistic and true-to-life; Despite that these works lay stress on emotional expression in their brush strokes, form and structure are implied in the emotional expression in the sceneries depicted in the paintings, which corresponds to his approach to oil painting at that time.

　　Also incorporated in the volume are some idealistic paintings that attach importance to scenery, form and structure alike, such as An Old Tomn of the Jiao River and The Hua Mountains in the Sunshine, among others, which reflect Wu Guanzhong’　s pursuit of artistic conception in his works.

　　What is artistic conception? [10] What are the differences and linkages between artistic conception and emotional expression?

　　In On Artistic Conception in Paintings, "artistic conception" is summarized by five words, namely, simplicity, emotion, remoteness, tranquility and implication.

　　"Simplicity means incorporation and condensation of purity and innocence; emotion means scenery is metaphorical of emotions; remoteness means the interaction between reality and virtuality; tranquility refers to containment of motion through tranquility; implication means nature is figurative of laws in the universe. The five aspects interact with one another and unite in artistic conception. [11]

　　Artistic conception is generally interpreted as the fusion of emotions and scenes in artistic works but it goes farther than this. Wang Changling (698-757), a poet in the Tang Dynasty who first employed the concept of artistic conception, put forward three conceptions, namely, "physical conception", "emotional conception" and "artistic conception" expressive of "appearance", "emotion" and "truth" respectively. [12]In this sense, implication is the sublimation of "emotion" and conception is the sublimation of scenery. Harmony between implication and artistic conception boasts more artistic taste than fusion of emotion and scenery.

　　Scenery can be elicited from emotions depicted in Ancient City of Jiaohe and Mount Hua under the Sun at their first sight while artistic conception will be exuding from implication if the two paintings are appreciated again.

　　The cliff-like scenery of An Old Town of the Jiao River and The Hua Mountains in the Sunshine shooting into the sky are substantially exaggerated in the two paintings but the word "exaggerated" here, with second thoughts, is not exact in that they depict "trueness" in terms of artistic conception, the trueness that incorporates deeper and more extensive spiritual imagination. This kind of trueness is what Da Chongguang in the Qing Dynasty defined as: "Artistic verve cannot be painted. It comes from trueness in artistic conception."[13] The mystical and oppressive atmosphere of the ancient city smacks of the nostalgia while the grotesqueness lingering on Mount Hua is reminiscent of hollowness and elegance. This kind of surreal spiritual imagination imbibed in a true physical scene[14] is what I refer to as "implication".

　　The other two factors relevant to "implication" are remoteness and tranquility. The ancient city is depicted close, against a remote backdrop, and Mount Hua towers into the sky set off by a hollow surround. The tranquility of the ancient city is reminiscent of the infrequency of human activity in its ancient time and the red sun hanging above Mount Hua suggests cold emptiness and boundless vastness.

　　It is safe to state that the space in the two paintings facilitates the sublimation of emotional expression to artistic conception and the spiritual experience deriving from real scenery fosters artistic conception in the two paintings. The basic psychical feature in the spatial experience of artistic conception is concentration of mind and silent psychical meditation. Quietness and reverence combine to bring forth artistic conception. Discussion of artistic conception without space is nothing but somniloquy.

　　Among the first generation of artists to explore new water-ink paintings, Lin Fengmian is the most outstanding in pursuit of artistic conception, followed by Wu Guanzhong, who carries forward Lin Fengmian’　s artistic cause. The separation between them is that Wu Guanzhong does not have the sense of tragedy as Lin Fengmian, hence he is described by Xiong Binming as an artist expressing happiness in his works. [15]

　　05 Breakthrough in line

　　In the process of Wu Guanzhong’　s artistic exploration, oil painting leads water-ink painting in respect to mini idealistic expression while in respect to macro idealistic expression, oil painting is led by water-ink painting.

　　The most significant breakthrough Wu Guanzhong made lies in macro idealistic painting. Breakthrough in line is the logical starting point where Wu Guanzhong breaks away from Lin Fengmian in ideas for macro idealistic water-ink painting and that fosters the possibility of heralding "Lin Wu Painting School" in water-ink painting.

　　Wu Guanzhong is engaged both in oil painting and water-ink painting, which in China represent two cultures. He facilitated their interaction and interdependence, which also precipitated a clash in his soul, but from which he spotted the bottleneck to break through.

　　The discrepancy between the physical properties of fluid water-ink and the stagnant oil color implies the advantage of water-ink. The complete set of strict norms for literati water-ink paintings like "houses must be painted with traces noticeable", "force must be felt at the back of canvas" and so on, brings to the fore the full play of the properties of water-ink, featuring fluidness. Therefore, starting from fluidness, he discovered the possibility to integrate Chinese paintings with western paintings, but at the same time he revolted against Chinese and western arts. Line, therefore, is the optimal medium to bring the property of fluidness into full play.

　　Lin Fengmian had perceived this very early on. Fluid, rapid and exposing brush point, the lines he employs are disloyal to convention in every respect. He was quite discreet in employment of such lines and subordinated the fluid lines to structure and artistic conception before he discovered powerful approaches to fight the tradition.

　　Wu Guanzhong followed Lin Fengmian in experimentation with lines and brought line into the fore through creative restructuring and reinforcement of their capacity to fight traditions by various means. He brings lines into full play and uses them to become his primary approach to structuring. The romantic and dynamic arts in the Chu and Han Dynasties, the aggressive and free cursives and macro idealistic paintings, image-based structuring typical of Chinese mountain-water paintings and the "formal logics" intrinsic in western contemporary and modern arts (to quote Wu Guanzhong’　s words) are all sloughed off in the breakthrough of lines employed in a rounded way, and reshuffled into Wu Guanzhong’　s unique artistic vocabulary.

　　The norms of Chinese traditional brush stroke rightly suggest that fluidness is prone to slickness and frivolity. As a matter of fact, some of Wu Guanzhong’　s paintings, revered as they may be, fall prey to frivolity but in his most successful works, frivolity is curbed through his discreet "formal logic". This is the case, for example, in his experimentation regarding (i) chromatic structure. Following Lin Fengmian, Wu Guanzhong incessantly utilizes the colors in western paintings in his water-ink paintings. His most outstanding contribution in this regard lies in his employment of gray tint set off by the bright-color backdrop as in The Putuo Mountains or alternatively light, bright color with a tint of gray as is the case in A Night Feast Over a Thonsand Years. (ii) Graphic structure. An Old Town of the Jiao River excels in evenness, Sunrise in thrill, Old Woods in entanglement and A Pair of Swallows in rational division. (iii) Structure of dots and lines. Wu Guanzhong’　s proposition "Brush and ink equal zero", rather than neglect brush and ink, in effect means that brush and ink without content are meaningless. Distinct from the ideas of brush and ink advocated in literati calligraphy and painting, the structure of dots and lines, including their inherent rhythmical structure and harmony, are what Wu Guanzhong attaches importance to. From his works like Cypresses and Soul of the Wu Gorge, we can see that he adds unexpected pauses, revolutions as well as continuation and discontinuation in the movement of lines and ushers in stagnancy to fluidness to foster elasticity in the lines. On the other hand, incessant repetition and entanglement of dense dots and lines proceed to a symphony of dots and lines.

　　Wu Guanzhong invented a funnel-like painting instrument, through which thick ink flows onto the canvas. He must move his "brush" rapidly under the guidance of intuition. Due to its supply, the ink expands to four directions quickly upon touching the canvas. The rapid movement of the "brush", however, imposes its own logic on the movement of the ink, fostering wiggles in its fluidness. The heavy thick lines and fluid thin lines interact with each other, fostering kaleidoscopic artistic effects. The movement of dots corresponds with that of lines, ending up like flying snowflakes, exploding stones or splashing waves, dense and scarce as well as latent and bald alternately, hence traditional brush and ink are plunged into a new life. The proposition that "Kite shall never desert its line"[16] appears and disappears alternately in some of his works.

　　06 Acquaintance with Jackson Pollock

　　In the process of his independent artistic exploration, Wu Guanzhong accidentally met J. Pollock, who laid canvas on ground and painted his works freely with a pail full of pigment. This kind of dribbling and splashing paint of abstract expression is called the art of "action painting school". It is, however, distinct from Wu Guanzhong’　s works in regard to the artistic ideas and implications in the works, but bears some resemblance in terms of intuitive impression. This resemblance is noted by many art critics who unfailingly mention Pollock when they discuss Wu Guanzhong and his works. The heyday for dribbling paint creation was from 1947 to 1951 when Wu Guanzhong was studying in Paris and initially returned to his homeland. Pollock preceded Wu Guanzhong by 30 years in this field and, due to this fact, some critics dismissed Wu Guanzhong as imitating Pollock.

　　If we take two or three paintings from their works and make a comparison between them, we find the above proposition is rootless in terms of methodology. Comparison does not make sense unless from the perspective of the artistic system. In terms of this, the most substantial distinction between Wu Guanzhong and Pollock lies in Wu’　s adherence to the experience of real life. No contemporary artist of his time is comparable in terms of the variety in artistic genre, desire to self-evolution and richness in imagination. Stereotyped artistic presentation cannot be found in Wu Guanzhong’　s works and his consistency in artistic style lies in his eclecticism in artistic genre, which is facilitated through his unique and rich experience of real life.

　　The richness of his works also derives from Wu Guanzhong’　s rich imagination in formal structure and the rich image activated by the clash between experience of life and imagination in form. He is an artist preferring vitality to profundity in his works. The vitality in his works originates from his incessant discovery that refrains from imitation. The clash between experience of life and imagination in form gives rise to various painting series witnessing his progressive approximation from concretism to abstraction in his works. From this volume alone, the following examples can be elicited:

　　(i) Painting series featuring aggressive and galloping dots and lines like The Jungle of Xishuangbanna, Woods Around the Temple of Comfucius, Old Woods, Cypresses and The Pine Soul, among others.

　　(ii) Painting series featuring fluid and dense dots and lines like Spring on a Sea Lsland, Lion Woods, and The Soul of the Wu Gorge.

　　(iii) Panting series featuring free and emotional brush strokes like A Seaside Fisherman Village, Terraced Paddies in the ”Heaven on Earth”, Waterfalls at the Foot of the Yulong, Mending Net, and Spring Snow on the Ba Mountains.

　　(iv) Painting series featuring rational makeup of dots and lines like, the Chongqing, Ferry in Western Hunan, Hometown of Lu Xun, A pair of Swallows and Big Manors of the Zhou Village.

　　If the overall structure of Wu Guanzhong’　s painting series is analyzed, its richness, pluralism, complexity and uniqueness are surely amazing.

　　Pollock’　s influence upon Wu Guanzhong is limited to a few of his linear works created through dribbling approach. The lines in these works are aggressive and galloping.

　　Wu Guanzhong "made artistic acquaintance with Pollock completely by chance" in that the Chinese mainland was closed to western avant-garde art since 1949. When Wu Guanzhong was conceiving his works featuring aggressive and galloping lines, he did not even know the existence of such an artist as Pollock. Tiger and A Corner of a Garden were created in 1975 when the "Cultural Revolution" had not yet come to close and the movement of "Criticizing Heathen Painting" and "Fighting Rightist" was in its heyday. Wu Guanzhong, however, had a strong urge to express the abstract implications inherent in rattans and branches felt in the water-ink paintings he was painting during this period. He released such an urge on his canvas without regard to political risks. The works he later created featuring aggressive and galloping lines are born from the matrix of these concrete-image paintings.

　　Woods Around the Temple of Confucius and Waterfalls at the Foot of the Yulong, his initial attempt at passionate macro idealistic painting, were created in 1980 when, despite that the tug of war for "Two Whatevers" and negation of the "Cultural Revolution" had just came to an end, and the first light of reform and opening up could be seen, the norms for the arts advocated during the "Cultural Revolution" still lingered doggedly (despite that the theme in the works during this period opposed the "Cultural Revolution"). Pollock’　s arts had not yet been introduced, but Wu Guanzhong had made successful initial steps in dribbling paint.

　　Even in his works bearing artistic resemblance to those of Pollock, the aggressive and galloping lines are still remindful of the artistic conception featuring withered rattans and ancient trees, which can not be found in Pollock’　s art.

　　Wu Guanzhong is radically distinctive from Pollock in terms of the art system.

　　07 Abstraction of nature

　　Can we still feel the influence of Pollock when appreciating Wu Guanzhong’　s painting series featuring rational structure? Rational and tranquil structures contrast sharply with aggressive and galloping dots and lines in Wu Guanzhong’　s works. Based on their interaction, curves turn to straight lines, revolution to tranquility, passion to reason, motley color to black and white, exuberance to hollowness, hot to cold and thin lines to thick lines.

　　In my impression, Huang Yongyu who also employed a broad and scrubbing brush was also contentious, but Wu Guanzhong is different in his free mastery in a slanting brush stroke. This batch of paintings is obviously distinct from those by Huang Yongyu in their use of black and white as well as rational makeup. The most noted cold abstract artist in the western world is Mondrian. Wu Guanzhong, however, shows substantial independence through abstraction of nature, a black and white world, as well as simplicity and hollowness.

　　Abstraction of nature is the general feature evinced in all of his works approximating abstraction. Abstraction of nature refers to an abstraction that does not break away from objective painting of real life. Abstraction of nature, necessitating the harmony between concreteness and abstraction as well as conception and taste, is the bridge Wu Guanzhong builds to span western art and Chinese art. Wu Guanzhong’　s uniqueness in the exploration of such harmony lies in juxtaposition--through mutual antagonism instead of complementation. Take The Former House of Qiu Jin as an example. On the one hand, it is Qiu Jing’　s former residence, a tranquil place reminiscent of past history, in which some sparrows and swallows intensify the quietness. The red brush strokes near the door are more the artist’　s homage than simply the doorplate. On the other hand, the painting takes on an shape in black and white, in which close-up treatment of scenes and succinct brush strokes facilitate the transformation of white walls and black tiles into abstract structure. I define these two aspects as arising from antagonism simply because the relationship between artistic conception and structural taste in the painting is not that between superior and inferior. Rather, they are juxtaposed to form one united "image" and hence should be appreciated alternately. This is Wu Guanzhong’　s venture and creation alike, understandably exposed to the risk of failure.

　　It is artistic conception, verve and taste that bridge western art and Chinese art, and facilitate the abstraction of scenes and give structure an emotional quality. This, in effect, is the extension of the artistic thread running through Chinese idealistic painting. The juxtaposition of life conception and structural implication is based on the tradition inherent in Chinese idealistic paintings--communicability and compatibility between "Kite shall never desert its line" and " similarity derives from discrepancy, between "formal logic" and "layout" and "brush ink" as well as between abstraction of nature and the spirit intrinsic to idealistic painting. Wu Guanzhong’　s "anti-tradition", in essence, is his adverse inheritance through adverse meditation on tradition.

　　08 Creation and meditation

　　After the "Cultural Revolution", Wu Guanzhong’　s theoretical exploration was in its prime along with an unprecedented blossoming of his artistic imagination. Despite that his theory is not as extreme and unilateral as that of Bell the impact formalist aesthetics had on him is obvious. His articles overwhelmingly bombarded the propositions of "theme determines" and "theme precedes", criticizing narrow-minded realistic painting and arguing for the law of "beauty of form" and "beauty of abstractness". He pointedly put forward the concept of "aesthetic blindness", lamenting that "Young students’　 ignorance of key artistic knowledge is devastating". [17] He robustly pointed out: "Artists lacking the sense of form are like soldiers without arms."[18] When his Content Determines Form came out in the March 1981 issue of Fine Arts, his avant-garde views on art immediately invited criticisms with a political tint.

　　Wu Guanzhong’　s theoretical writings that incorporate rich and perspicacious evaluation and analysis of Chinese and foreign art are powerful and overwhelming. In contrast, his passive and defensive antagonists, rather than contain his theory, in effect give boost to the propaganda of his theory. Exploration on artistic form rose rapidly to become a hotspot of the fine art circle on the Chinese mainland.

　　Wu Guanzhong blazed a trail for his art in the late period of the "Cultural Revolution", which can be defined as "nodded by the mass and applauded by experts". [19] In his heart, however, this means applause from European fellow artists and acceptance by the mass in China with respect to his art. Suddenly enlightened, he daringly retrieved the artistic road he embarked on while studying overseas but later diverged from. Along the artistic road, he made exploration into idealistic painting into which he wittily incorporates a clear and fresh painting style. "Politically heathen paintings" were under fire at the time but he would never compromise, prepared for possible obscurity all his life.

　　At the turn of the 1970s to the 1980s following the close of the "Cultural Revolution", Wu Guanzhong found enlightenment and inspiration for the second time in his artistic career. He began to delve deep into the aesthetics of Chinese "Idealistic Paintings" and the idea of "artistic conception", hence he progressed from scenic painting to idealistic painting. He fostered the bridge that spans Chinese and western arts and created a number of works pregnant with an oriental poetic conception.

　　A number of macro idealistic paintings, created from 1980 constitute his third artistic enlightenment and in the light of the ideas of "depiction" and "abstraction", signal his breakthrough in abstraction of nature and his discovery of another medium bridging Chinese and western arts.

　　The approach to art deriving from "Kite shall never desert its line" appears to hinder abstraction but, in essence, this is a pivotal choice because he thenceforth established abstraction of nature as his personal artistic law, which is in line with Chinese culture with its respect for nature.

　　[1] In 1991, I mentioned “Lin Wu System” in my essay Wu Guanzhong and Lin Fengmian (Literature Study, Vol. 4, 1991) Zhai, Mo published the similar view later. Now I would rather use “Lin Wu range” instead.

　　[2] Write Conception here corresponds to Paint Realistically, not to Fine Brushwork (a concept of traditional Chinese wash drawing). It is a concept relating to style and form that generally refers to brush stroke, carving skill, and finger work, through which one’　s emotion can be expressed. It also means the conception in the artist mind – the idea, the intention, the image, and the spirit, which are the latent source of artistic creation of painting, woodcut and sculpture. Therefore, most movements in modern art history, such as Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism etc. could be covered by Write Conception.

　　[3] Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[4] Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[5] Karl Marx, Preface of a Critique of Political Economy, Marx and Engels’　 Florilegium, Vol. 2

　　[6] Lang Shaojun, On Artistic Styles of Lin Fengmian, Jiangsu Art Monthly Pictorial, Vol. 10, 1989

　　[7] Xiong Bingming, Preface of Wu GuanZhong’　s Album in Art, Deyi Arts Company, 1987 Edition

　　[8] Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Art Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[9] Lin Fengmian, Lyric Vivid and Other, Prospects of Eastern and Western Art, New View on Chinese Painting, etc. See Modern Artist Lin Fengmian, Xuelin Publishing House, 1988 Edition

　　[10] Artistic Conception generally includes the following theory. 1) Emotion blended with scenery, Wang Guowei in his Human Words and Language said: “The one, who can write out true scenery and true emotion could be called one with artistic conception, otherwise the work is without artistic conception”. Zong Baihua in his Emerging Chinese Artistic Conception said: “Artistic conception is the crystallization of emotion and impression”. 2) Detachment theory, Pu Zhenyuan in An Oriental Detachment Aesthetic Theory said: “I hold the theory that ‘　Artistic conception is detached from scenery’　”. (Literature and Art Study Vol. 1, 1992) 3) Harmony of Ego and Object, Li Zehou in his By-talk on Artistic Concept Expression:” Artistic conception is the harmony of conception, emotion and spirit with realm, form and mind, in other words, it is the harmony of an object’　s scene and a subject’　s emotion.” Guangming Daily, September 16, 1957 4) Model theory, Zhu Guangqian in History of Western Aesthetics has a note: “Kant’　s ‘　aesthetic image’　 is similar to the ‘　artistic conception’　 applied by ancient Chinese poets and painters, namely the typical visualization or ideal. 5) Theory of the Ideal, Zhou Guchen said in his So Called Artistic Conception: “Ideal shall be called history when it is realized in realism; while it is called artistic conception when it can be achieved in an art work, World of Art, Vol. 2, 1982. 6) Realm Theory Chen, Zhi in his About Artistic Conception said: “It means the subject’　s emotion represented by realm.” Fine Arts, Vol. 4, 1964

　　[11] Liu Xiaochun, On Artistic Conception in Painting, Literature & Art Studies, Vol. 5, 2000

　　[12] Wang Changlin, in his Poetry Style said: “Poetry has three ideal realms: (1) Natural Objects. To write poetry on landscape, magnify the mighty beauty of fountains, rocks, mist, and peaks, where the heart is enchanted and the body is situated. Impressed by heart, expressed through brush, and when the brush has done picture, mind remains. It is called form-likeness. (2) Emotion. Joy and sorrow are hidden in the body while being exposed through conception, then spreading your imagination and grasped by the sentiment. (3) Conception. Though held in the heart is also exposed through conception, thereafter getting at the underlying truth.” See Guo Shaoyu edited Selected Essays of Past Dynasties of China, Vol. 2, Shanghai Gu Ji Publishing House, 1979 Edition

　　[13] Da Chongguang said the tenet of his writing of Hua Quans: “How to create artistic conception of communion of the ego with the mighty universe by using a tiny brush and ink.” See Shen Zichen edited Collection of Famous Essays on Painting in Past Dynasties, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1982 Edition

　　[14] “Jing xiang” (Impression) is a word extended from “Jing x’　iang” (Material Reality) by Zong Baihua. In the enlarged edition of his book Emerging of Chinese Artistic Conception he had the following interpretation of artistic conception: “Music and architecture … express profound artistic conception in one’　s heart by non nature-imitated impression”. On interpretation of Chuangtse’　s “Xiang Wang”, he also said:” ‘　Xiang’　 means impression, ‘　Wang’　 means illusion. Artist creates illusory impression, to symbolize the reality of universe and life.” We use Zong, Baihua’　s “Jing xiang” to name material reality and impression.

　　[15] Xiong Bingming, Preface of Wu Guanzhong’　s Album in Art, Deyi Arts Company, 1987 Edition

　　[16] This is the important creed of Wu Guanzhong, which has been expounded and emphasized again and again. The general idea is: Abstract form should be connected with its sources in life by a string. Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Art Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[17] See Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Art Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[18] See Wu Guanzhong–Essays on Art, Sichuan Fine Art Publishing House, 1980 Edition

　　[19] Another creed of Wu, Guanzhong, also relates “melodies of superior taste find MORE to join in chorus.”