Author:Wu Wen-Pin

Size:Length:224 x Width:74 (cm)

Size description：120×60 (畫心)

Introduction：Wu Wen-Pin was a Taiwanese ink wash painter, born in Beiping (now Beijing), China. During his childhood, he lived in Tianjin with his family and studied plum blossom painting under his neighbor Li Che. Later, he returned to Beiping and, during high school, learned gongbi (meticulous brush technique) from Yan Shao-Hsiang. In 1944, he was admitted to the National Beiping Art College, majoring in traditional Chinese painting. In 1948, he relocated to Taiwan. After retiring from military service, Wu worked at a television company and the Academia Sinica, all while continuing to create art in his spare time. In 1977, he collaborated with Chang Dai-Chien, Huang Chun-Pi, Fu Chuan-Fu, Chi Kang, Cheng Chieh-Tzu, Chiang Chao-Shen, and Ou Hao-Nien on the long scroll painting “To Conquer the Unrighteous with the Utmost Benevolence,” which was exhibited at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. In 1989, he founded the Chinese Gongbi Painting Association and was elected as its president, actively promoting the revival of gongbi painting in Taiwan. In 1995, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum held the Wu Wen-Pin Seventieth Retrospective Exhibition, and in the same year, he was awarded the Golden Duke Award for National Painting Studies.

Wu specialized in figure painting, believing that traditional Chinese painting captures human postures through lines, not based on realism but on the principle of “depicting meaning through form.” He was highly dedicated to gongbi painting, regarding it as a discipline that fosters practical precision, with its beauty naturally emerging through artistic conception. In terms of art history, he argued that gongbi painting predates xieyi (freehand brushwork) and remained dominant until the late 10th century. However, from the Yuan and Ming dynasties onward, painting shifted toward “spontaneous brushwork with little concern for form,” leading to the gradual decline of gongbi painting.

This artwork is executed in gongbi technique, depicting a towering ancient pine tree with figures beneath it. The pine tree symbolizes moral integrity, while the three individuals gazing up at the tree evoke a classical aesthetic. The artist employs rich mineral pigments, including ochre, malachite green, and azurite, to create a vibrant composition. The pine needles, tree trunks, rocks, and figures are meticulously outlined and colored using fine brushwork, while the distant mountains and lower vegetation are rendered with a combination of gongbi and xieyi techniques. The composition is structured and powerful, while the painting style remains warm and full-bodied, embodying a sense of grandeur and refinement.

Accession number:PT06906200