Only Chinese version is available

City night

• Artist

  Wu Guanzhong

• Year

  1997

• Media

  Ink and colour on paper

• Dimensions

  96.3 x 179.8 cm

• Museum No.

  FA2002.0008

• Artist Bio

  Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) was a master painter of the twentieth century in the Chinese and international art circles. Born in Yixing, Jiangsu province, he was admitted to the National Arts Academy of Hangzhou as a young man where he learnt from Lin Fengmian and Pan Tianshou. In 1947, he was the recipient of a national scholarship that put him on the road of further studies in France. His travel companion to France was the sculptor Xiong Bingming. In 1950, Wu Guanzhong decided to return to China through Hong Kong. Since then, he taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, Beijing Academy of Fine Arts and Central Academy of Fine Arts and Crafts respectively. During the Cultural Revolution, Wu was sent to the farmland of Hebei province for hard labour, yet he persisted in painting throughout the days of hardship. He first started painting with oil and then moved on to ink, searching for a way to fuse Eastern and Western art. His works bring together the aesthetics of traditional Chinese ink and modern Western art, pioneering the unique “Wu studio style” and endowing us with a wealth of great classics.

  Wu Guanzhong had an enduring connection with Hong Kong. He visited Hong Kong on many occasions, such as hosting art exhibitions and attending academic seminars and talks by invitation. He made acquaintance with many members of the art circles. He also did sketching on the streets in Hong Kong, and the city is the subject of many of his paintings. In 2002, Wu Guanzhong gave an unprecedented demonstration of landscape sketching at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Unperturbed by bad weather, he captured the Victoria Harbour on paper in the rain. The occasion became a favourite tale of the local art circle. Wu highly rated Hong Kong’s cultural environment, asserting that Hong Kong was a place of fair and equitable systems where people made practical efforts and valued truth. To him, Hong Kong was a confluence where he could “see both the East and the West at the same time”. It is a quality that can also be found in his art creations.

  Wu Guanzhong made it clear that he would leave his best works to the nation and the people. He made several donations of artworks to public museums both in China and overseas during his lifetime. Over the years, he and his family made many donations to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, making up a huge collection of over 450 items. Together with two other paintings acquired earlier and donation from private collector, the Museum now boasts the largest and most diverse collection of works of Wu Guanzhong, as well as one of the key international centres for modern Chinese painting collection and research in the world.

• Description

  Besides bridges and waterways in water towns, Wu Guanzhong also enjoyed painting bustling modern cities. To portray the brightness of city nightscape with ink, he explored various routes, yet remained unsatisfied with its subdued effect.

  After numerous attempts, he created City night at the age of 78. He also wrote an article to share his exploration and what he had learned, “I started by focusing on the interlace of bold horizontal and vertical brushstrokes, and the illusion created by staggering buildings. They stand tall and compete with each other to reach for the sky as far as the eye can see. What the picture shows is a whole architectural complex but not any specific buildings. Neither is the city supposed to be Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen. The big and small dripping dots can be windows and doors, or otherwise. All of them complement the building silhouettes and chime in with the line and surfaces. The intense red, yellow and green dots and planes dance over the blacks, whites and greys. They are the eyes of the night, the burst of colourful merriments, and the most dominant notes in the painting.”

  One can say this painting embodies the artist’s concept of modern Chinese painting, while reflecting his tireless search in art.

• —Collection of Hong Kong Museum of Art, donated by Mr Wu Guanzhong and his family

• More information
  Hong Kong Museum of Art