Wu Guxiang was one of the leading painters of the Orthodox School in Shanghai. His landscape style is said to derive from the Ming masters Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) and Tang Yin (1470-1523).
The inscription on this painting, however, quotes the Qing master Yun Shouping (1633-1690): ‘You must grasp the spirit of freezing coldness. Its appearance is solemn, and its light is dim. It accumulates layers after layers, and you can follow the trace to a new realm of enjoyment. The breath of coldness floats over tables and chairs, and the fierce storm starts from the tip of a hair. You must get the similarity of the spirit, and take the shape of the nature. This can be used to describe the painting of snow.’
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 24 September-1 December 1996, Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Vainker, Shelagh (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1996), no. 88 on p. 67, p. 10, illus. p. 67 fig. 88
Vainker, Shelagh, ‘Modern Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum’, Oriental Art, 42/3, (Autumn 1996), p. 3, illus. p. 2 fig. 1
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