Lilac
Wu Guanzhong
1991
- YEAR:1991
- MEDIUM:Oil on canvas
- DIMENSIONS:45.5 x 38.3 cm
Introduction
Wu Guanzhong was an artist from the second generation of Chinese to study in France, devoting himself throughout his entire life to exploring both oil painting with Chinese characteristics and the modernization of ink painting. Lilac, a work from the pinnacle of Wu’s career, dates from the year he was made officer of the French Ministry of Culture’s Ordre des Arts et Lettres. Wu created very few floral still lifes during his lifetime. In 1991, he had stopped painting due to immense sorrow at his wife’s hospitalization for cerebral thrombosis, but Wu’s creative desire was rekindled once he saw his wife’s early painting studies of lilac flowers. Employing traditional ink painting techniques and the use of negative space, he rendered the lilacs — symbols of sorrow, first love, and romance. His brushwork is varied yet harmonious, and his colours fresh and lively, unfolding the profound affection shared by the couple over 45 years of mutual support.
