EXHIBITED:
John Way Retrospective-80 Years, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, 2001

ILLUSTRATED:
John Way Retrospective-80 Years, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, 2001, color illustrated, pp. 282-283

John Way was born in Shanghai in 1921. He studied calligraphy since childhood, and excelled at inscriptions of the Chou and Qin dynasties as well as tablet inscriptions of the Wei and Han dynasties. Way’s works received encouragement and praise from Yu Youren. In 1937, the sixteen-year-old Way held a calligraphy exhibition at the Shanghai Da Xin Gallery. Famous calligraphists Yu Youren, Chang Dai-chien, Zhao Shuru, Liu Haisu, He Xiangning, Wu Hufan, and Wang Yiting all wrote inscriptions for him, giving him much recognition. Way later moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong, then to the United States, while maintaining decades of compassionate friendship with Chang Dai-Chien and other famous calligraphists.

John Way came to Hong Kong in 1949. Apart from continuing calligraphy writing, he also started to actively study western art. In 1956, Way and his wife moved to Boston. Oil painting gradually became his creative focus. From there, Way came up with the unique language formed by fusing stone calligraphy with abstract expressionism. After Way’s first exhibition in the US at The Nexus Gallery in 1960, he continued to be active in the scene. In 1965, he participated in the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art exhibition “Painter without a Brush, Contemporary Art Boston” together with other artists including Pollock, de Kooning and Klee.

John Way moved to California in 1973. His art works also matured, with his later works further exemplifying the spirit of stone calligraphy. In his major 2001 work “Abstract (diptych)”, the eighty-year-old artist fused western abstraction and the collage expression method with the calligraphic perception of Chinese Han bricks and Wei tablets, bringing a deep sense of speed and weight to the brush strokes, making his calligraphy robust and brightening his color paintings. Organic changes can be seen within the repetitive order of his structures. Way used the brush and the collage method to construct rich textures, exchanges between yin and yang, and a lingering charm. Way has the pride of a cultured person and also shows a profound and far-reaching ambition.