Wu Xue-rang endured the turbulence of his time while devoted to artistic creation and education. A master of contemporary ink painting, he commanded all the techniques of traditional painting but persisted in innovating in this traditional art form.

Born in Sichuan in 1923, Wu entered the National College of the Arts in Chongqing. After the Sino-Japanese War, he moved to Hangzhou with the college. He chose to major in ink painting and calligraphy, focusing on landscape painting and flower and bird painting. Soon, with the eruption of civil war, Wu came to Taiwan with the help of Wang Ri-zhang, the College’s president. After teaching in several high schools, Wu began his academic career at Chinese Culture University in 1978, moving to Tunghai University in 1988. An important contributor to artistic education in Taiwan, Wu also won several awards for his artistic works.

In his day-to-day life, Wu concentrated solely on creating ink paintings with both traditional and innovative techniques. Besides painting directly from nature, he also explores other styles and media. Wu’s works are characterized by a tendency to beyond the bounds of the traditional styles and find new ways of expression. He began to take part in various art competitions in 1956; he won a prize in the Eleventh Provincial Art Exhibition. Afterwards, his artistic career gradually took off and his multi-faceted styles slowly took shape.

In this memorial exhibition, we present about 50 works by Wu Xue-rang to trace the development of his artistic career. We would like to express our appreciation to the artist’s family, who kindly offered their collections for this exhibition.