What are the achievements of the "Three Treasures of Art"?

The "Three Treasures of Art" are Ieoh Ming Pei (1917-), a Chinese-American architect, Zao Wou-ki (1917-), a French-Chinese painter, and Zhou Wenzhong (1917-), a Chinese-American composer.

Ieoh Ming Pei

(Ieoh Ming Pei) (1917-) Chinese American architect, born on April 26, 1917 in Guangzhou, was born to a prominent family in Suzhou, where he spent a part of his childhood in the family-owned Suzhou Garden, the Lion's Grove. His father was Bei Zuyi, one of the founders of the Bank of China. he came to Shanghai with his father at the age of 10, and came to the United States at the age of 18, where he studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, and set up an architectural practice in 1955, before retiring in 1990.

In 1918, his father became the general manager of the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China, and he spent his childhood in Hong Kong; in 1927, his father was transferred to a new post and the family moved to Shanghai. Junior high school in Shanghai YMCA High School, high school graduated from St. John's University High School, and later went to Penn State University, because he thought he did not have the talent to draw and transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Bei buried in the library, trying to absorb the information related to the modern architecture of Europe, Kirby Yi's work is the most fascinated by the works of Bei's work later presented by the sculptural nature of the works, is y influenced by the Kirby Yi. 1939, graduated in 1939. He graduated in 1939.

I.M. Pei's architectural works:

1956 - 1963 Lusi Chapel, East Coast University, Taichung, Taiwan

1961 - 1967 National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

1962 - Place Ville-Marie, Montreal, Canada

1968 - 1974 Christian Science Center, Boston, MA

1968 - Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

1969 - Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, Columbus, IN

1969 - 1975 John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL

1971 - Harbor Towers

1972 - Dallas City Hall Dallas, TX

1973 - Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

1974 - 1978 National Gallery of Art East, Washington, D.C.

1976 - Wilson Common, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY: The New York Times chose it as one of the top ten best student activity center buildings in the nation at the time

1977 - Hancock House, Boston, MA

The largest all-glass fa?ade with a single pane of glass at that time Due to the lack of sophistication of the glass curtain wall technology at the time, there were incidents of glass falling off in the early stages of the building's construction, which were later resolved through technological improvements.

1978 - 1982 Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana

1979 - 1986 Javits Convention Center, New York, New York

1981 - JP Morgan Building, Houston, Texas

1982 - Xiangshan Hotel, Beijing, China

1982 - J.P. Morgan Building, Beijing, China

The J.P. Morgan Hotel, Beijing, China

The hotel was the first work by a foreign architect in China after the country's reform and opening up, and set off a major debate in the Chinese architectural community about combining traditional Chinese architecture with modernism.

1982 - 1990 Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

Then Hong Kong's tallest building, it had twice the floor area of the Norman Foster-designed HSBC Hong Kong, while costing less than one-fifth as much.

1985 - Wiesner Building, MIT Media Lab Boston, Massachusetts

1989 - Louvre Extension, Paris, France

One of the top ten projects in Paris for the bicentennial of the French Revolution, and the only project commissioned by French President Francois Mitterrand, rather than following a bidding competition. commissioned by French President Francois Mitterrand instead of a bidding competition.

1990 - New Wing of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany

1995 - Head Office of the Bank of China, Beijing

1996 - 1997 - Miho Museum, Koga City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

1998 - Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio

2002 - Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

2004 - Chinese Embassy in the U.S., Washington, D.C.

2006 - Macao Science Center, Macao, China

The Kennedy Library

The work that really put I.M. Pei on the map as a world-class architect was the work of I.M. Pei. world-class architects was the design and construction of the John F. Kennedy Library. Kennedy Library. In 1964, in honor of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, it was decided to build a new library in Boston Harbor. Kennedy, it was decided that a permanent building, the John F. Kennedy Library, should be built in Boston Harbor. Kennedy Library. At first, the Kennedy family did not pay much attention to I.M. Pei, a "newcomer" among the large group of top-notch architects who had been selected, but when he vividly described the design of the site, the choice of building materials, and how the building was given a special purpose and significance, he gained the admiration of the Kennedys' widow, Jacqueline. She asserted, "I.M. Pei's world of aesthetics is unmatched, and I chose him after much consideration. The building was fifteen years in the making. Inaugurated in 1979, the library caused a sensation in the American architectural community because of its innovative design, bold shapes, and technical excellence. It was recognized as one of the best masterpieces in the history of American architecture. The U.S. architectural community declared 1979 the "Year of I.M. Pei," awarding him the American Institute of Architecture's Gold Medal for that year.

The East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

I.M. Pei's architectural design is widely recognized by the architectural community as having three characteristics: First, the building's shape is naturally integrated with its environment. Secondly, the space treatment is unique. Thirdly, the building materials and interior design are exquisite. These characteristics are fully reflected in the design of the East Wing.

Over the decades, I.M. Pei has been responsible for the design of many museums, colleges, commercial centers, and skyscrapers throughout the U.S., as well as a number of large-scale buildings in Canada, France, Australia, Singapore, Iran, and Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He is a deservedly world-famous architect.

According to rough statistics, nearly half a century, I.M. Pei designed more than one hundred large-scale buildings, winning more than fifty awards. He has won twenty-four awards for nearly fifty large buildings designed in the United States.

The first time I.M. Pei won an award was in 1959. It was the year he won the American Institute of Architects' Honor Award for his design of the Myerha Mall in Denver, USA. In the same year, his design for a new building in Denver received the Society's Merit Award. After the 1960s, he won more awards, most notably in the 1980s.

The glass pyramid in the grounds of the Louvre

In the early 1980s, French President Francois Mitterrand decided to remodel and expand the world-famous Louvre. To this end, the government sought a wide range of design proposals. The respondents were all famous architects from France and other countries. Finally by President Mitterrand, invited the world's fifteen reputable museum curators on the design of the conscription program selection choice. As a result, thirteen of them chose I.M. Pei's design. He designed a glass pyramid to be built in the Napoleonic Courtyard of the Louvre using modern construction materials. Unexpectedly, when this matter was announced, it caused an uproar in France. It was thought that this would destroy the style of the 800-year-old building, "destroying both the Louvre and the pyramid". But President Fran?ois Mitterrand, against all odds, went ahead with I.M. Pei's design.

The glass pyramid, designed and built by I.M. Pei, is 21 meters high and 30 meters wide at the base, and rises in the center of the courtyard. Its four sides by six hundred and seventy-three pieces of diamond-shaped glass assembled. The total surface area is about two thousand square meters. The total weight of the tower is two hundred tons, of which the net weight of the glass is one hundred and five tons and the metal support is only ninety-five tons. In other words, the load of the support exceeds its own weight. Therefore, connoisseurs believe that this glass pyramid is not only a masterpiece embodying modern artistic style, but also a unique attempt to utilize modern science and technology.

In the large glass pyramid of the north, south and east of three small glass pyramids for the embellishment of three five-meter-high, with seven triangular fountains into a plane and three-dimensional geometric fountains of peculiar beauty. People not only no longer blame him, and said "the Louvre courtyard flew a huge jewel".

The same year, he also won the Putzke Prize, known as the Nobel Prize in architecture. This prize is a worldwide honorary prize for the best architectural achievement established in 1979 by the "Kai Hai" Foundation and awarded annually. I.M. Pei is the fifth person to receive this award. The award is an evaluation of the work of recent decades.

Since then, Pei has won the award almost every year. In 1984, he won an honorable mention from the Torre Society for the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel in Beijing. In 1985, he was jointly elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1986, he received the Medal of Freedom from President Reagan as one of twelve immigrants of all races who had made outstanding individual achievements. In 1988, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Mitterrand at the dedication of the glass pyramid of the Louvre. That year he also received the fourth National Medal of Arts from President Reagan. In 1989, I.M. Pei's design for the underground extension of the Louvre was completed and he was inducted into the National Hall of Fame for his achievements with the glass pyramid. In 1990, I.M. Pei and his son, L.C. Pei, received the "Los Angeles Beautification Award" for their collaboration on the design of the Billy Wilson office building in Los Angeles. In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Tuomas College in New Hampshire. In 1992, he received the National Top Ten Citizen Award from President George W. Bush.

The Fragrant Hills Hotel

I.M. Pei went to the United States in 1935 to study. Afterwards, he started his own family on the other side of the ocean and became famous, and it has been sixty years since then. But his deep love for China still lingers in his heart. He was born in Guangzhou, so he often called people "I am from Suzhou" and "I am from Guangzhou". His wife, Irene Lu, studied at Willis College in the U.S. and later studied garden design at Harvard University. The couple still speaks fluent Mandarin, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou. The couple's clothing, home furnishings and habits remain traditional Chinese. They have three sons and one daughter, and all three sons have the character "Zhong" in their names. In order, they are Bei Dingzhong, Bei Jianzhong and Bei Lizhong. The daughter's name is Bei Lian, also typically Chinese.

In the early seventies, I.M. Pei returned to China for the first time to visit his family after an absence of nearly forty years. With infinite emotions in his heart, he came to China many times afterward. He said fondly overseas that my roots are in China and that China has a great pull on me, so whichever time I go back, I feel as if I have returned to my own home.

The traditional Chinese architectural art has left a deep impression in I.M. Pei's mind. The long corridors and winding paths of Suzhou gardens, the rockeries and water pavilions, and especially the complementary pattern of the buildings and the surrounding natural landscape, as well as the use of light and shadow aesthetics, are all traces of his decades of architectural design career. The new Xiangshan Hotel, located in Beijing's Xiangshan Park, is an elaborate work that combines modern architectural art with traditional Chinese architectural features.

In 1979, I.M. Pei accepted the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel. In his usual conscientious and meticulous style, he not only went to Fragrant Hill many times to survey the terrain, climb the peak and look down on the surrounding environment. And he went out of his way to visit Beijing, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Chengde and other places. Examining the local big buildings and gardens. Finally took the building a series of irregular courtyard layout, so that it and the surrounding water and mountains, ancient trees in the sky into one. Therefore, the new Xiangshan Hotel, the external appearance seems to be very ordinary, like a girl within the show, at first glance seems not amazing, but the more you look at it, the more you will feel the natural beauty of her light makeup.

Compared with the skyscrapers designed in the past, the Fragrant Hills Hotel is not large. But I.M. Pei says, "The Fragrant Hills Hotel occupies an important place in my design career. I've worked ten times harder than I ever did on any building I've designed overseas," he said. He also said, "From the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel, I tried to explore a new path. I tried to explore a new path by designing the Fragrant Hills Hotel, which embodied the essence of Chinese national architectural art in a modernized building. There were only two designs in the prolific architect's office. One was the design of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in the United States, and the other was the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel in Beijing. The other is the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel in Beijing. It is clear that the design of the Fragrant Hills Hotel really occupies an important place in his mind.

In 1984, I.M. Pei designed a 70-story, 100-meter-high building for the Bank of China in Hong Kong. It was the tallest building in Hong Kong at the time, and the tallest building in the world outside the United States at the time. This was due to the fact that his father was the earliest founder of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, which gave him a sense of kinship with the building. But he also emphasized that the building was one of the symbols of China in Hong Kong, and that it should be "raised". It has to show some style and grandeur, which is also a source of pride for China.

Missouri Museum of Art

Missouri Museum of Art was built by Japanese Misuko Koyama for her collection. Impressed by I.M. Pei's 60-meter-high clock tower in Japan and the glass pyramid of the Louvre in France, Misuko Koyama commissioned I.M. Pei to design the museum in 1990. Given the owner's complete trust in the architect, everything was done with respect for the designer's opinion, and no expense was spared in building this paradise on earth at a total cost of 25 billion yen.

I.M. Pei presents us with an ideal picture of a mountain, a valley, and buildings hidden in the clouds, a theme around which many works of ancient Chinese literature and paintings center: a long, winding path leading to a grassy pavilion in the mountains, hidden in seclusion, accompanied only by the sound of a waterfall... ...that is a fairyland far from earth. The mountains are high and the roads are dangerous to reach this place, and this is exactly the journey of those who seek the path.

Maximizing the natural landscape

The excavation of the museum was carefully planned. Special tunnels were built to maximize the protection of natural slopes and tree growth, and a series of platforms were constructed to minimize the impact on the surrounding soil, water and vegetation. During the filling process of the art museum, an earthquake-proof wall, more than 20 meters high, was carefully designed to separate the second basement level of the building from the rocky mountain, and after covering it, the original appearance of the mountain has been restored after a few years, and the natural landscape is as good as new.

Recreating the memory of Suzhou Garden

In front of us is another small circular square, in the middle of the square, there is also a circle, and engraved with a cross cross pattern. I think it must be the same meaning as the small square of the welcome hotel, I did not rush to climb the three steps, but first to see the traditional shape, and all the glass roof, and the moon gate under the interplay of light and shadow. I.M. Pei himself said it was a reference to the structure of Japanese temples, but I felt it was a reminder of the Suzhou gardens of Pei's youth.

In the space between the roof glass and the steel pipe supports, a wood-colored aluminum grille is designed to filter light. In addition to its aesthetic success, the grille's dreamlike shadows splashed across the museum's lobby and corridors are a strong and unexpected counterpoint to the traditional Japanese "shadow culture" of bamboo curtains.

It has always been my favorite way to purify the geometry hidden in the form. In this introductory building, the frame line of the roof is made up of large and small squares and triangles, which intersect with each other like a geometric illusionist painting. It doesn't end here. If you take the waist of the largest triangle in the roof and extend it to both sides, it will naturally connect with the diagonal edges of the wall on both sides of the steps, and what we see is a huge, stable square triangle, which is where I.M. Pei's masterstroke comes in. If there is a Japanese influence, it should be the emphasized clean outlines and silhouette effects.

The entrance building is transparent, regardless of the front and back walls. The unique design of the skylight is the "sun hat" under the Xing glass. Berry Ming's buildings often use this sun treatment, but are the use of aluminum alloy, this time is all the use of wood materials, light through the roots of the reflex after the scattering of space, so that the interior appeared to be a kind of warm and soft mood. After entering the front door, through the glass window that looks like a wide-angle silver screen. You can see the pines and the mountains outside the window, like a transparent screen painting, welcoming the audience.

A wave in the rhythm of the mountains

Modern architecture has a diversified tendency, and one of its branches is to move towards a place that can be traveled, viewed, and lived in, and where the spirit can be exalted. In fact, what is called architectural reality must be to show you spaces that are easy to remember, or experiences that have never been experienced before.

What makes the Miho Museum unique is that, in addition to being far from the city, the most special part of the building is that 80% of the building is buried underground, but it is not really an underground building, but rather, because the ground is a nature reserve, there are a lot of restrictions in Japan's nature preservation law. It is built on a hill, and if you look at it from a distance, the part of the roof that is exposed to the ground meets the curve of the peaks, as if it were a wave in the rhythm of the mountains. It is hidden in the midst of all the greenery, and maintains a proper harmony with nature.

Rich and intricate Oriental complex

Suzhou Museum

Designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, the new Suzhou Museum is located in the northern part of the ancient city of Suzhou in a historically protected neighborhood adjacent to the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Chungwang Mansion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and is designed to cover an area of 15,000 square meters, with an investment of 338 million yuan, including demolition and relocation. When completed, the museum will house the treasures of the 2,500 year old city of Suzhou, and the building will not only make up for the lack of a place to collect antiquities, but will also become known as one of Suzhou's most traditional yet modern buildings. The museum includes a 7,000-square-meter exhibition hall, a 200-seat auditorium, an antiquities store, administrative offices, and a library of documents and research centers, plus a space for storage and some Chinese gardens.

"In terms of the overall layout, the new museum cleverly uses the water surface to blend in with the world heritage site of the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Zhongwang Mansion, a national key cultural relics protection unit, in the immediate vicinity, to become an extension of the architectural styles of the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Zhongwang Mansion as well as a modern version of their interpretations." The design of the new museum's roof was inspired by the traditional Suzhou landscape of sloping roofs - with its flying eaves and meticulous architectural detailing. However, the new roof has been reinterpreted by technology and evolved into a marvelous geometric effect. The glass roof will mirror the stone roof, allowing natural light to enter the event area and the museum's exhibits, orienting visitors. Metal sunshades and nostalgic woodwork frames will be used extensively under the glass roof to control and filter the sun's rays entering the exhibition areas. The layering of light is wonderfully poetic and picturesque. The new pavilion and the Humble Administrator's Garden borrow from and reflect each other, and it will be a modernized continuation of the famous Humble Administrator's Garden of a generation. Many people reflect that looking at the design of the new hall, the more you look at it, the more flavorful it is, and you will feel a mind-blowing effect.

The new museum is divided into 3 parts: the center part is the entrance, the hall and the museum garden; the western part is the exhibition area; the eastern part is the modern art gallery, educational facilities, tea service and the administrative and management function area, etc. This part will also be the actual passageway connecting with the Chungwang Mansion. The foundation stone of the museum was laid and opened in November 2003, and it was officially opened to the public on October 6 this year.

Bank of China Tower

The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, designed by I.M. Pei Architects, was completed in 1990. Total floor area of 129,000 square meters, 70 floors above ground, the building height of 315 meters, plus the height of the top two poles **** there are 367.4 meters. When completed, it was the tallest building in Hong Kong and the tallest skyscraper outside the United States. The structure is supported by 4-cornered, 12-storey-high giant steel columns, with not a single column in the interior. A closer look at the Bank of China Tower will reveal many of the usual designs of Bay's works. Taking the plane as an example, the Bank of China Tower is a square plane, diagonally delineated into four groups of triangles, each group of triangles of different heights, the section of the height, making the various elevations in the strict geometric norms of the varied, as for the plane of the concept, it can be traced back to the Madrid Tower in 1973, Madrid Building, is also a square front to do the polygonal The Madrid Tower is also a square front with a polygonal division, the combination of which, when analyzed, is a variation of two equal quadrilaterals. The shape resembles the bamboo's "rising", symbolizing strength, vitality, vigor and enterprising spirit; the hemp stone facade of the base represents the Great Wall and China.

I.M. Pei's Design Philosophy:

Throughout his work, I.M. Pei has added light to the modern city since the Industrial Revolution, and can be said to have kept pace with the times. By 1988, I.M. Pei had decided to stop accepting large-scale architectural projects in favor of a careful selection of smaller buildings, and the heights of the buildings he designed were getting lower and lower. That is to say, closer and closer to the ground level, which I think is a return to nature. This museum is a clear indication that in his later years, Bekking had a vision of the Orient, especially the distant landscape of his hometown, the ideal landscape painting of Chinese mountains and waters. Japanese critics have well said that this work marks a new milestone in the long architectural career of K.M. Pei.

The original idea for the Miho Art Museum came from the prose "Tales of Peach Blossom Garden" by Tao Yuanming, the idyllic poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in China, and a household name in Japan as well as a Chinese classic. So as soon as the museum's curator, Misuko Koyama, saw the four Chinese characters, she was immediately delighted to accept I.M. Pei's idea. What a rich and intricate complex for an architect born in China and established in the United States to build an art museum with a typically Chinese landscape in Japan, where there is a big one.

The meaning of architectural construction

People often complain that architecture is subject to various constraints that prevent it from realizing its original purpose. However, it is often due to these constraints that the creativity of Misu is realized, and the Misu Art Museum is a perfect example of this.

I.M. Pei was interviewed by a reporter in New York on Jan. 21, 1997, who said, "The shape of the structure is of course dictated by the topography, and according to local regulations, the total area of 17,000 square meters is only allowed to be exposed to the ground for about 2,000 square meters of the building, so that 80 percent of the museum has to be underground. "

Now we see the completed building, which is more than we could have imagined, can be described as a masterpiece of constraints, and in the constraints we see the genius of I.M. Pei's handiwork. From the outside, we can only see many triangles, prisms and other glass roofs, in fact, they are all skylights, but once inside, the bright and spacious space exceeds people's expectations.

The whole building consists of one floor above ground and two floors below, with the entrance on the first floor. When you look up after entering the main entrance, the intricate combination of skylights with multiple facets and angles will become your important memory of this museum. A light yellow wooden material is used to make the light-blocking lattice, while the material used for the wall and floor of the interior is especially a light earthy-yellow limestone made in France, which is the same as the one used by I.M. Pei for the design of the forecourt of the Louvre Art Museum. It should be said that this aspect also fulfills Misuko Koyama's own hope of pursuing the first-class level.

North and South Wings and Collections

The facility consists of two wings, the North and South, which are connected by a passageway that gives the entire building a sense of relief, which is clear from the building's floor plan. The North Wing focuses on Oriental fine art, while the South Wing houses the Western fine art collection, with both basement floors serving as service spaces. The north wing houses the collection storage complex, while the south wing houses the offices of the trustees and curators.

I.M. Pei's repeated use of geometric shapes is well known, and his quest for refined, washed-out forms is extreme. And this time, due to the special requirements of the gallery in terms of construction, some specialized spaces had to be designed inside in order to be able to display some specific artworks. For example, for the display in the South Asian Art Gallery, the top of the Gandhara carving from Pakistan in the late 2nd century AD, a 7 skylight was specially designed. The light that spreads from above is highly mystical.

The design of the collection's warehouse is now unconventional in that it was designed on the lowest level, making water and moisture resistance a major construction challenge. Insulation was used on all walls to prevent frost from forming due to the temperature difference between inside and outside. On the other hand, in order to prevent water from seeping through the soil that covers the building, a waterproofing agent made in Switzerland that is resistant to cold and roots (i.e., erosion by tree roots) was used, and cement was built on top of it to prevent accidents from occurring in the event of a party.

Not just the building itself, others, such as the placement of works of art, collection of the environment, I.M. Pei has made considerable efforts, the most prominent example is the display and collection of air-conditioning system design. The most prominent example is the design of the air-conditioning system for the exhibition and collection. There is no direct air-conditioning in the exhibition room, but rather it is set up around it to protect the precious works of art. The new concept is to allow air with ideal temperature to penetrate into the exhibition space without convecting the air inside, so that the impact on the works of art is kept to a minimum. The same measures were taken in the collection storage. For the lighting in the exhibition room, the heat-generating light source, which is harmful to the exhibits, has been eliminated, and lighting is provided by the optical fiber material that has been developed in the last few years.

Borrowed Scenery and Gardening

Borrowed scenery is the use of artificial means to intercept or cut a part of nature and incorporate it into a garden, which is a common practice in traditional Chinese gardening, as well as in Japan.

See I.M. Pei's use of this technique. The museum is located one kilometer away from the Shinji Shumeikai buildings, and in order to show the connection with this group of buildings, immediately after entering the main courtyard, one can look out the window and see the mountains and the Shinji Shumeikai shrine and bell tower, which are only exposed on the roof.

In the North Hall, there is an atrium with a courtyard, which was commissioned from a Japanese gardener. The beautiful relationship between the buildings surrounding the courtyard and the hillocks and blue sky and white clouds beyond reminds me of what I saw at the Kyoto Shugakuin Rikyu Shrine. It is too localized now. I.M. Pei's vision of the art museum facility as a whole is truly ingenious and breathtaking.

Zao Wou-ki (1921-) is a French painter.

Zao Wou-ki was born in 1921 in Beiping, China, into a family of scholars. His family has a long history, which can be traced back to King Yan of the Song Dynasty. Since his childhood, Zao Wou-ki was gifted and interested in literature and Chinese and foreign history. His family, especially his father and uncle, attached great importance to the art of painting. His father used to take great pains to explain to his children the falseness of a work of art from the point of view of aesthetics and technique, while his uncle used to bring back postcards from Paris to Zao Wou-ki that were imitations of famous paintings. In an intellectual family, everyone was interested in and curious about the art of painting, and it was in this environment that he was inspired to become a painter.

In 1935, at the age of 14, he enrolled in the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied for six years, from sketching plaster casts and models to oil paintings, and also took courses in copying Chinese paintings, the theory of painting, and Western art. His early works were mainly based on Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso, and his style of painting was closer to the Western Impressionism. It is also known as the "figurative" period. In 1941, Zao Wou-ki held his first solo exhibition, but he was not satisfied with the traditional Chinese paintings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. He was looking forward to a more satisfying training. So he traveled to Paris in 1948 with his first wife, Xie Jinglan. During his time in Paris, he met many painters, such as Raji, Hartung and Branham, became familiar with Eliseev, then director of the Cernucci Museum of Art in Paris, and befriended the poet Michaux, who also met his third wife, Fanshwa, in Paris.

His paintings were fully developed in Paris, and in May 1949 he had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie K?tz. While he was painting, he was thinking about the fact that Western painting had reached a point where it had to be broken through, so he took a leap into the world of abstraction, inspired by Klee's paintings.

He continued to explore the possibilities of painting, and the realization of the Chinese ink rendering and spatial concepts brought his painting to another stage. Afterwards, his paintings are allocated with color and space, leading the viewer into an infinite world that seems intangible and tangible.

Zao Wou-ki transitioned from Cézanne and Picasso to Klee, and at this time, art also transitioned from structuring a complete world to the stage of random creation. At this point, the viewer can no longer define the connotation of the work directly from the visual image, and the work "Still Life" from 1952 is an example of this transition. In the picture, some dried branches and miscellaneous objects are randomly placed in a strange shape and filled with a desolate and mysterious atmosphere. For the artist, the still life is the color and symbol, under a certain light, with a variety of warm and cold tones, he got rid of the figurative painting style, from the decomposition of the subjective appearance, so that the objective form appears in a simple form. After his 1958 work "Clouds", Zao Wou-ki's works were no longer titled, and he only indicated the date of creation on the back of the canvas.

Chinese-American composer. Originally from Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, born in Yantai, Shandong Province, Zao Wou-ki went to the United States in 1946 to study composition at the New England Conservatory of Music, and then to Columbia University in 1949, where he studied musicology and composition, and received a master's degree in music in 1954; he became a U.S. citizen in 1958, and has served as a professor at the University of Illinois, a visiting professor at Columbia University, and a professor and chairman of the Department of Music at Columbia in the 1970s, and in 1978 established a U.S.-based music school at the same university. In 1978, he established the U.S.-China Arts Exchange Center at the same university and became its director. His works include the orchestral piece "The Flowering Moon is in the Spring Breeze", "Two Pieces of Tang's Delightful Sketches", "Landscape Painting", "Fisherman's Song", "Gua Metaphor", and "Knowing How Much the Flowers Fell", etc., the piano piece "Yang Guan San Fai", etc., "The Nun's Soliloquy" for trumpet, brass and percussion ensemble, and "Sifan", an oratorio.