Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) remains one of the most important artists of the 20th century \u2013 a bridge-builder who combined traditional ink painting with the bold abstraction of Western modernism.<\/p>\n
Later this month, the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDance) will explore his visual language in the cross-disciplinary Grand Dance Poem In Between \u2013 Wu Guanzhong\u2019s Ink Odyssey<\/em>.<\/p>\n Co-presented with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and co-organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), the production will be a highlight of both the French May Arts Festival and the Chinese Culture Festival 2026, which kicks off in June.<\/p>\n One of the show\u2019s highlights will be to see how Wu\u2019s visual language is translated into a sensory spectacle of dance, light and sound.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a story of entrustment,\u201d explains Nadia Lau, curator of the HKMoA, which holds the world\u2019s largest public collection of Wu\u2019s work \u2013 over 460 pieces. \u201cIn June 2010, just days before he passed away, Wu Guanzhong instructed his son to bring his final four paintings from Beijing to Hong Kong to donate to us. We held a reception that evening, and he passed away that same night. It was as if he could finally let go, knowing his last works were safely entrusted to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n This trust was not given lightly. Wu\u2019s relationship with the museum dates back to 1985. Lau recalls a pivotal moment in 2002 when curators grouped three works \u2013 Two Swallows<\/em> (1981), Former Residence of Qiu Jin<\/em> (1988), and Reminiscences of Jiangnan<\/em> (1996) \u2013 to be displayed together as a trilogy. \u201cWhen Wu Guanzhong saw this, he later wrote that he was \u2018captured\u2019. He felt the museum truly understood the essence of what he was trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/27\/fbab7f1e-60d5-4c1a-a7c6-8460b2ad42aa_a1c2803f.jpg\" "\\"An")
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