Chinese school, modelled on WU GUANZHONG; 20th century. "Village View". Ink and graphite on paper. There are tears on the outer perimeter without affecting the drawing. Apocryphal signature and inscription. Measurements: 31 x 41.8 cm. In the oriental culture, painting has a great link with calligraphy, materials such as brush and ink are fused in both disciplines. The material thus becomes a highly appreciated artistic motif, both for its form and for the content it is capable of conveying. Aesthetically, the work is close to the precepts of the multidisciplinary artist Wu Guanzhong, who worked in painting, ink and watercolour drawing, engraving, calotype and even made some enamelled porcelain pieces. Possibly the most renowned contemporary Chinese artist, Wu focused his work on the Chinese landscape, both natural and urban, depicting its architecture, plants and animals, characters and natural landscapes, in a style inspired by Post-Impressionism and drawing on traditional Chinese ink painting. He was also a prominent writer and critic of contemporary Chinese art. Born in Yixing (Jiangsu), he studied engineering at the Zhejiang Industrial School, and in 1936 moved to the Hangzhou National Academy of Arts in the same city to study both Chinese and Western painting under masters Pan Tianshou and Lin Fengmian. He graduated in 1942, and five years later he moved to Paris thanks to a scholarship from the Chinese government, which enabled him to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the city. On his return to China he took up a teaching post at the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, and later at Tsinghua University and the Normal School of Fine Arts in the same city, where he taught Western art. His exhibitions at the British Museum in London, the Metropolitan in New York and the Hong Kong Museum of Art are particularly noteworthy. Wu Guanzhong is currently mainly represented at the Singapore Art Museum, to which the artist himself made a major donation of work, although he is also present in other leading museums around the world.