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Lot Essay
“Bamboo shoots are delicious, but their form is even more beautiful.
I often carried my painting tools just to seek out bamboo forests—
what a world it must be when the bamboo forest enters harvest season!”
— Wu Guanzhong
Wu Guanzhong once mentioned: “Since the 1950s and 60s, I’ve carried my painting tools into the wild, conceiving and composing on the spot. I moved my easel to capture fragments of reality—while the overall atmosphere was subjectively constructed, grounding each romanticized detail in plausibility.” (From Dung Basket to Dinning Cart: 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Wu Guanzhong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2019, p.66.) By the 1960s, Wu had shifted his focus from figures to nature. Before fully devoting himself to ink paintings, he melded the impressionistic techniques acquired during his studies in Europe with traditional sensibilities, capturing moments where landscapes and human spirits converge.
Painted in 1963, Bamboo Grove epitomizes the period of exploration and transformation. Unlike his typical depictions of famous landmarks, this theme not only encompasses his childhood memories of digging bamboo shoots, but also metaphorically echoes to his artistic journey: resilient, upward striving, and ultimately transcendent. Through the layered oils and the characterised brushworks, Wu constructed depths and perspective. Hues including brown, green, and pink blended into a misty path, inviting the viewer into a quiet, tender mountain walk.
Wu Guanzhong revisited the subject of bamboo shoots and groves in his ink paintings during the late 1970s, demonstrating the significance of the theme in his artistic vision. However, it was relatively rare for him to capture such scenery in oil. Furthermore, due to the political turmoil, much of his work from the 1960s was destroyed, making this painting, Bamboo Grove, particularly precious and evocative.
I often carried my painting tools just to seek out bamboo forests—
what a world it must be when the bamboo forest enters harvest season!”
— Wu Guanzhong
Wu Guanzhong once mentioned: “Since the 1950s and 60s, I’ve carried my painting tools into the wild, conceiving and composing on the spot. I moved my easel to capture fragments of reality—while the overall atmosphere was subjectively constructed, grounding each romanticized detail in plausibility.” (From Dung Basket to Dinning Cart: 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Wu Guanzhong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2019, p.66.) By the 1960s, Wu had shifted his focus from figures to nature. Before fully devoting himself to ink paintings, he melded the impressionistic techniques acquired during his studies in Europe with traditional sensibilities, capturing moments where landscapes and human spirits converge.
Painted in 1963, Bamboo Grove epitomizes the period of exploration and transformation. Unlike his typical depictions of famous landmarks, this theme not only encompasses his childhood memories of digging bamboo shoots, but also metaphorically echoes to his artistic journey: resilient, upward striving, and ultimately transcendent. Through the layered oils and the characterised brushworks, Wu constructed depths and perspective. Hues including brown, green, and pink blended into a misty path, inviting the viewer into a quiet, tender mountain walk.
Wu Guanzhong revisited the subject of bamboo shoots and groves in his ink paintings during the late 1970s, demonstrating the significance of the theme in his artistic vision. However, it was relatively rare for him to capture such scenery in oil. Furthermore, due to the political turmoil, much of his work from the 1960s was destroyed, making this painting, Bamboo Grove, particularly precious and evocative.