Bamboo
1955
Bamboo, along with orchid and plum, are favorite subjects for scholar-artists in Chinese painting. Having botanically simple forms, these plants can be pictorialized with a scholar’s existing skills in writing calligraphy, using brush and plain black ink. Wu Zaiyan doesn’t use a brush; he was a specialist in finger painting. He dipped different parts of his hand and fingers into ink and water and applied it on paper to render jagged leaves and the delicate movement of the insect’s feelers. A native of Nan’an in Fujian province, Wu spent his childhood in Indonesia and Singapore. He taught at the Nanyang Academy in Singapore.
Ink on paper
Overall: 17 1/4 x 26 1/4 in. (43.8 x 66.7cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
55.166
Provenance: Artist
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
