The Long Museum (West Bund) will present Light within Ink: Portraits of Wu Guanzhong through Chua Soo Bin’s Lens & Works by Wu Guanzhong from November 7, 2024 to January 5, 2025. The exhibition features 70 pieces of photographic portraits of Wu Guanzhong shot by Chua Soo Bin between the 1980s to 2000 and 24 pieces of Wu Guanzhong’s paintings selected from the different periods of his artistic career.

Chua Soo Bin is a remarkable Singaporean photographer and a Cultural Medallion award recipient. From 1985 to 2000, he continuously documented the creative life of Wu Guanzhong, capturing Wu’s artistic practice, his life and emotions through his lens. During this period, Wu Guanzhong kept pushing the boundaries of his artistic exploration in terms of formal and abstract beauty, and presented exhibitions in Singapore, Britain, France and Japan. His far-reaching influence formed an important impetus for Chinese art to be seen on the global stage. This precious collection of photographic portraits on view cast a vivid light on Wu Guanzhong’s vibrant experiences while working and traveling in Singapore, Indonesia, UK and France. These photographs are not only valuable archives of the Chinese art master but also a rare opportunity for audience to revisit the elegant demeanor and charisma of the master in his later years.

In 2019, the Long Museum (West Bund) presented Legends: Chua Soo Bin’s Photographs and Twentieth-Century Chinese Art Masters’ Paintings, which featured portraits of 14 masters of Chinese painting in their late years under the lens of Chua Soo Bin in tandem with a selection of representative paintings of these artists. The combination of photographs and paintings enriched the content of the exhibition and in the meantime, offered an alternative perspective for audience to appreciate the charisma of these art masters. That exhibition was acclaimed by critics and audience alike. It’s worth mentioning that it was thanks to the shooting of the “legends” series that Chua got to know Wu Guanzhong. The two of them hit it off immediately, leading to a friendship that spanned more than 20 years. The photographs on view in this exhibition also provides an opportunity for audience to gain insights into their precious friendship through these beautifully intimate portraits.

Light within Ink: Portraits of Wu Guanzhong through Chua Soo Bin’s Lens & Works by Wu Guanzhong marks a new step taken by the Long Museum in the study and curation of thematic exhibition featuring portrait photography. Upon the receiving of this generous donation of photographs by Mr. Chua Soo Bin, the Long Museum started the conception of this exhibition. Following the previous curatorial strategy, the exhibition also features the juxtaposition of portrait photographs and paintings, intending to present a multifaceted picture of Wu Guanzhong’s life, work and charisma. The Long Museum looked into the collection of Wu Guanzhong’s works and borrowed a number of his representative works from institutional and individual collectors. The vivid moments captured in the photographs cast light on Wu Guanzhong’s spiritual world; and the paintings produced by him during different periods of time constitute a holistic portrayal of his long and prolific artistic career. I believe the exhibition will undoubtedly evoke new inspirations and feelings among the audience.

This year marks the 105^th anniversary of the Wu Guanzhong’s birth. The Long Museum launches the exhibition on this occasion in the hope of reviewing the marvelous artistic journey of the Chinese painting master through photographs and paintings. Wu Guanzhong sought inspiration from the collision and integration of Chinese and western art and culture. Pioneering Chinese artists who studied abroad, with Wu Guanzhong being a representative figure, kept exploring between tradition and modernity, east and west, imbuing new verve into the innovation and growth of Chinese art and making unremitting efforts to promote the exchanges of eastern and western art and culture. The pioneering spirit and visionary ambition of them will definitely inspire younger generations to brave the waves and keep going. 

About the Artist

Chua Soo Bin (b.1932) is a renowned Singaporean photographer, an important art curator. He has developed a keen interest in fine arts and photography in his youth and attended Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1950. He was an active member of the art world in the 1950s and 1960s and made prominent achievements since. In 1955, he was awarded the Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (ARPS) and the Honorary Excellence FIAP (Hon. EFIAP), the highest honor of the International Federation of Photographic Art. From 1972, he distinguished himself as a photographer of international renown with his creative work in advertising. He won the top prize for PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) Award and the Singapore Creativity Award in 1986 for his photography featured in the Singapore Airlines 1985 Calendar. One of his most notable achievements was his acceptance of the Cultural Medallion (Photography) awarded by the Government of Singapore in 1989.

From 1989 to 1992, he held his touring solo photography exhibition Legends in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Xi’an, Hangzhou, Taipei (China), and Hong Kong(China). Between 2005 and 2011, the exhibition went on to tour Chongqing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming, Guiyang, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Singapore. His works have been collected by the Singapore Art Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Memorial Hall of Lingnan School of Painting, National Art Museum of China, Shenyang Museum, He Xiangning Art Museum, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guiyang Art Museum, Yunnan Art Museum, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Zhejiang Art Museum.

Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010), born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, was a renowned Chinese modern painter and art educator. He devoted his whole life to the exploration of the nationalization of Western oil painting techniques and the modernization of Chinese painting. In 1936 he enrolled in the National Arts Academy of Hangzhou, and after his graduation in 1942, he began to teach at the Architecture Department of Chongqing University. In 1946, Wu traveled to Paris to study oil painting at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts on a government scholarship, and his works were exhibited at the spring and autumn season Salon exhibitions in Paris. He returned to China in 1950 and taught respectively at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Architecture Department of Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Beijing Fine Art Academy and Central Institute of Arts and Crafts (later known as Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University). In 1991, he was honored by the French Ministry of Culture with the Officier dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2002, Wu became the first Chinese artist to be named Correspondant by the Academie des Beaux-Arts de I'Institut de France. In 2006, he was granted an honorary doctorate by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Wu served as the member of the 8th, 9th and 10th CPPCC National Committee and advisor of China Artists Association.