Wu Fuxing's Name Appreciation

Author: Ma Fenghui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Wu Fuzhi (1900-1977), originally named Shiwei, later changed his name to Xi and styled himself Wu Xizi, was from Pujiang, Zhejiang. From a young age, he inherited his family's scholarly traditions and devoted himself to poetry, calligraphy, painting, and calligraphy. His early painting style was influenced by Jiang Nansha and Yun Nan Tian, and after entering the Shanghai Art College, he became deeply inspired by Wu Changshuo's freehand brushwork, which dramatically transformed his artistic style. Later, he carefully studied the works of ancient and modern masters, drawing inspiration from various sources, and ultimately established his own unique style. By the 1930s of this century, he had gained fame in the Chinese art world, renowned for his mastery of poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He excelled in freehand flower-and-bird painting, occasionally creating landscapes and figures. His art emphasized momentum, profoundness, and variation. His artistic characteristics included spirit, transformation, novelty, liveliness, weight, boldness, freshness, and elegance. He developed a distinctive style that was ethereal and graceful, rich and vibrant, elegant and full of charm. Mr. Liu Haisu once praised him as "superb, marvelous, and transcendent." His painting subjects were diverse, breaking traditional conventions and surpassing his contemporaries, especially in his depictions of orchids, which were described as "rare in his time" and "unparalleled." His calligraphy was forceful yet elegant, dynamic and varied, complementing his paintings perfectly. In his early years, he co-founded the "Bai She" painting society with Pan Tianshou and others to study and promote Chinese painting art. He was a great master of modern Chinese flower-and-bird painting. He served as a professor at Shanghai Art College, Fujian Normal College, and the National Art College, and after the liberation, he became a professor and head of the Chinese Painting Department at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now the China Academy of Art). He was prolific in both creation and writing, making outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese painting and the cultivation of artistic talent. He was a leading figure of the modern Zhejiang school of Chinese painting and one of the founders of its teaching system.