WU Changshuo
(China 1844–1927)
- Title
- Loquats
- Place of origin
-
China
- Period
- Republic 1912 - 1949 → China
- Year
- 1918
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
- Dimensions
-
181.5 x 82.0cm image; 247.0 x 100.5 x 110.0cm scroll [height x width x rod]
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated u.r., in Chinese, inscribed in black ink, “…the year of Wuwu (1918)…Wu changsuo…” Signed top c., in Chinese, stamped in red ink "Junqing zhiyin [artist's seal]". Signed upper c., in Chinese, stamped in red ink "Changshuo [artist's seal]". Signed c., in Chinese, stamped in red ink "Wu Changshuo [artist's seal]".
- Credit
- Purchased 1987
- Accession number
- 460.1987
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
‘Wu Changsuo was a poet and a calligrapher before he became a painter and it was association with Ren Bonian that inspired him to become an artist. Wu subsequently became one of the leading figures of the Shanghai school, renowed for the directness, colour and sense of spontaneity of his work. This scroll typifies Wu’s energetic style distinguished by a graphic bravura in both the painting and the calligraphy. Having earlier studied calligraphy and ancient epigraphy Wu had a special appreciation of the opportunities of calligraphy and this is well demonstrated in his wonderful and expressive brushwork. The subject matter of the mature and ripening loquats combined with the sheer energy of the brushwork echo a sense of lively regeneration in the artist, who painted this scroll in his 75th year. The poem, also written by Wu, read:
'During the May 5th festival,
the good food ripens with the warm wind,
though its colour is like yellow gold,
that hardly relieves poverty.
Placed with pomegranate flowers on the table for appreciation.
In the 'wuwu' year four days before the ninth day of September,
a guest in the Qu Zhi Sui Yuan studio,
Wu Changshuo at the age of seventy-five.
Hanging on the wall,
Resembling Li Futang's old brushwork.
Written by a Fu-Daoist at Chan Bi Xian studio.'’‘The Asian Collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales’. pg.166.
© 2003 Trustees, Art Gallery of New South Wales- Bibliography (11)
-
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Art of the Brush - Chinese & Japanese painting calligraphy, Sydney, 1995, 13, 14 (illus.). Cat.no.3.7
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 206 (colour illus.).
'Chinese Painting', pg. 42-52., Asian Collection Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1990, 1990, 46 (colour illus.), 47.
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 260 (colour illus.).
Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 78 (illus.).
Voices & Visions from China 2002, 2002, (colour illus.). See: Contents: Visual & Performing Arts, Traditional painting.
'Modern Chinese Paintings in the Art Gallery of New South Wales: The Shanghai School and its Impact' by Edmund Capon, pg. 104-109., Orientations Sep 2000, Sep 2000, 106 (colour illus.). fig.3
'The Shanghai School and Modern Painting', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 166-167 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 167 is a detail of this work.
Adventures in Asia. An education kit for the Asian gallery 2003, 2003, 7 (colour illus.). card no.7
'Contemporary Art from China' by Jackie Menzies, Look Sep 1988, Sep 1988.
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Chinese Painting, 1985, 14 (illus.). Cat.no.21-22
- Exhibition history (3)
-
Chinese Painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 Nov 1991–27 Jan 1992.
Art of the brush, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Sep 1995–12 Nov 1995.
Chinese New Literati Painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Aug 1997–05 Oct 1997.
