Master's works bring modernity to traditional painting

As one of Shanghai's most representative Chinese ink painting artists, Wu Hufan (1894-1968) is famous for his landscape paintings which showcase his superb use of light and vivid colors. An ongoing exhibition at the China Art Museum Shanghai displays some of his most celebrated creations.

Opened on Aug 6, A Unique Peak of Shanghai: the Exhibition of Wu Hufan brings more than 80 paintings and calligraphy works from collections of the China Art Museum Shanghai, the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, Suzhou Museum in Jiangsu province, the Shanghai History Museum and Duoyunxuan, as well as private collectors. The exhibition runs until Oct 27.

The China Art Museum Shanghai has hosted a series of group exhibitions in the past few years, elaborating on the characteristics and development of a distinctive "Shanghai Style", or haipai, of modern Chinese art, according to Wang Yichuan, executive director of the museum.

"We wanted to explore this direction and focus on specific artists. We chose Wu as the first featured figure because he made a great impact on China's art scene in the latter half of the 20th century."