Must See: Wu Guanzhong Donation Collection

An Unbroken Line - The Wu Guanzhong Donation Collection
From Singapore Art Museum Website

Wu Guanzhong's donation of 113 works to the Singapore Art Museum in 2008 is the highest valued donation presented to a public museum in Singapore. This exhibition will showcase all 113 works representing five decades of the artist's creative oeuvre.

A key significance of Wu Guanzhong’s art is the crossing and synthesising of the two art forms of ink and oil which represent art historical and aesthetic contexts of traditional Chinese and western art.

Wu started painting in ink only in 1974, when he was aged 55, but his earlier oil works were predicated on ink aesthetics as with his subsequent inks on oil foundation.

A prolific writer of essays and art theory, his Formal Beauty of Painting foreshadowed a revolution in art in the immediate post-Cultural Revolution period when it was published in 1978. To Wu, the feelings of the individual were supreme. Equally important, however, was the individual's emotional link with the community. Hence his famed line, the "Unbroken Kite String", which expounds the connection between formal abstraction and everyday life, and acknowledges its source in the community.

A strong advocate of developing culture and the arts, and a man who holds deep respect for intercultural values, Wu’s broad brushstroke gesture of presenting his largest donation to the Singapore Art Museum will be celebrated jointly by the art community as well as the Singapore public when the galleries open their doors on 9 April. This exhibition is co-organised by Singapore Art Museum, Shanghai Art Museum and National Art Museum of China.

My comments:

Hi friends,

I was at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) today and I highly recommend everyone to make a visit to the Wu Guanzhong Collection.

For those who do not already know, Wu is an artist extraordinaire who survived the Cultural Revolution and is considered a National treasure. During the Cultural Revolution, he was forced into the countryside for hard labour and was only allowed to paint on Sundays. Hence he carried a small board with him and painted amongst other artworks, one exhibit entitled Field Chrysanthemums, 1972, an oil on board.

This very donation created much controversy in China as many Chinese were not happy that Wu chose to donate this collection with an estimated worth of S$66 Million to Singapore ahead of his own country. Wu has strong emotional links with Singapore and his eldest son, Keyu is now a Singaporean.

Read here about the donation.

Wu is a true citizen of the world and his humanity transcends language and nationality.

If you have only one day in Singapore, skip Sentosa or the Zoo, visit the Wu Guanzhong Donation Collection!

Please do not miss this.

I know you will enjoy it,

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan