ILLUSTRATED:

WU Guanzhong Collection, Der-Yi Art Company, Hong Kong, 1988, color illustrated, pp. 98-99

"Hometown" created in the 1980s, is a superb example of Wu Guanzhong's "Hometown" series. Portraying a typical village in the south of China, the houses are depicted with black tiles and white walls, reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy, and with water flowing under willow trees in spring, it is highly evocative of Chinese traditional painting.

Wu Guanzhong, throughout his life, painted wonderfully expressive images of his hometown. And especially from 1981, after he had returned to his hometown of Yixing in Jiangsu Province, where he spent a month sketching his old haunts. From the series, a very clear and deep feeling of nostalgia emanates from every brushstroke. In our present work "Hometown", Wu's deep connections with his childhood village are wonderfully captured in every brushstroke of the black tiles and white walls, the little bridge over the flowing stream, the spring willows and the soaring swallows. All of these beautiful scenes are captured and depicted gracefully. We can imagine that Wu had a wonderful childhood in the countryside, which left him with such unforgettable and lifelong memories. We are also fortunate that he chose to share these memories with us in such an evocative and emotional way, creating for us a cherished picture of a village in Southern China.