| Wu Weishan | |
| Birth Date: | January |
| Birth Place: | Dongtai, Jiangsu, China |
| Nationality: | Chinese |
| Known For: | Sculpture |
Wu Weishan (; born: January 1962) is Curator of the National Art Museum of China, Vice-Chairman of the China Artists Association, President of the Chinese Academy of Sculpture and Director of the Academy of Fine Arts at Nanjing University.[1] He has been actively promoting Chinese art on the world stage and has made great contribution to the international cultural exchange of China. He was awarded the First Award for Person of the Year in Art of P.R.C. in 2014 by the People's Republic of China. He was granted the title of "Artists with High Moral Virtue and Artistic Achievements of China" in 2015 and "Goodwill Ambassador for China Voices" by the State Council Information Office, P.R.C. in 2016.
Wu Weishan was born in Dongtai, Jiangsu, China in January 1962. His father Wu Yaoxian (Chinese: 吴耀先) was a teacher, good at art and literature.
When Wu was 16, he started to study Chinese folk clay sculpture for three years in Wuxi, China's famous cradle of clay figures.
In 1987, he graduated from the Art Faculty of Nanjing Normal University.
He pursued his postgraduate studies at Peking University, and then at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Wu Weishan holds several positions including Curator of the National Art Museum of China, Vice-Chairman of the China Artists Association, the president of the China Academy of Sculpture and a professorship at Nanjing University, an honorary doctor of philosophy at Inje University, South Korea.
He is a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, the Society of Portrait Sculptors, UK and the Steering Committee of China City Sculpture. He is also a standing member of the China Sculpture Institute, professor of cultural lectures at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
He became the "Y.K. Pao Distinguished Visiting Artist" of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and also "'Gong Xueyin' Outstanding Scholar" of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was selected as Nanjing's first Top 10 Cultural Notables in 2006.
In 2016, he was conferred the Honorary Doctor by Herzen University and Honorary Professor by Imperial Academy of Arts.
In addition, he was awarded the "Ukraine Development Medal" by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, as well as the Honorary Medal of Ukraine President Foundation.
Wu Weishan has long been tapping into and drawing on the rich traditional Chinese culture and is committed to expressing the spirit of Chinese culture through his sculptures. With such belief, he created a large number of influential works which were then exhibited worldwide and collected by many key museums. One of his sculpture collections, consisting of a host of historical figures of China, is hailed as "Image Maker of the Time" by the respected scholar Ji Xianlin and is remarked as "representing the spirit of a new China" by international critics.
There is a sculpture garden named after him in South Korea and "Hall of Sculptures of Wu Weishan" established in Nanjing Museum. Many of his works, including "Conversation between Qin Baishi and Leonado Da Vinci" and "Confucius", have been permanently collected by National Museum of Rome, Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge and other world's most renowned museums, while his most representative sculptures, "Confucius" and "Asking Way", can be found in various countries. UN Secretary-General Ban KiMoon commended Professor Wu for his sculptures, saying that they reflect not only the soul of a country but also that of all mankind. Wu Weishan has engaged in sculpture creation for more than twenty years, and has created more than 500 sculptures including historical and cultural notables and ordinary people, home and abroad. In his sculptures, he advocates the integration of the expressive spirit of traditional Chinese art; in theories of fine arts, he is the first to put up the "On Expressive Sculpture" and "Theory of Eight Major Styles of Traditional Chinese Sculpture", blazing a new trail of expressive sculpture in China. His sculpture works for some ordinary people in our daily life express the sincere and honest vitalities, penetrating into a great many people's heart. These elegant sentiments originate from his adeptly life-catching eyes and poetic soul. His works are full of Chinese wisdom and traits. The "Sleeping Child" was selected for the 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors, UK, and won the Pangolin Award.[2] Mr. Anthony Stones, Chairman of the British Royal Portrait Sculpture Association, commended Wu Weishan as being "an outstanding Chinese sculptor who has established an indigenous stylistic approach to portrait and figurative sculpture.
Professor Wu composed a history of Chinese culture by a series of sculptures for cultural celebrities: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Lu Xun and Feng Youlan. These sculptures unambiguously express his anticipation for the strength of character and soul that are needed in this era. He was invited to build the sculptures for the Netherlands Beatrix of the Netherlands|Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard and also Philippine Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo|President Arroyo. Netherlands Queen praised the respected cultural aged men sculptured by him as "walking out from the 5000-year culture".
Wu Weishan is the first person who puts forward the "Theory of Impressionistic Sculpture" and "Eight Styles of Chinese Sculpture" and published several treatises and books to elaborate his theory. This theory summarizes the great tradition of Chinese sculpture and plays a major guiding role in boosting sculptural creation in today's China.
His achievements have been reported in two episodes of "Extraordinary People of the East" by China Central Television.
His works are collected by the National Art Museum of China, Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, Honolulu Museum of Art, and the Fourth University of Paris etc. In Nanjing Museum, there is a permanent "Gallery of Wu Weishan's sculptures of Cultural Notables", and also there is a "Sculpture Studio of Professor Wu Weishan" at Macao Polytechnic Institute.