Giant pandas themselves appeared only recently in Chinese art, and did so largely due to the excitement pandas generated among Westerners in this century. Wu Zouren, who studied both in his native China and in Europe, championed less widely known subjects in the arts. His skillful use of brush and ink, in a traditional hanging scroll format celebrates these shy and rarely seen animals. Perhaps the recent appearance of pandas in Chinese art, and in Western art as well, indicates an emerging subject for future artistic endeavor. Wildlife artists such as Robert Bateman have painted pandas, and like the inspirational quality of some earlier Chinese paintings, the images of giant pandas rendered by modern artists may serve to educate and inspire others to value pandas.
Pictures contain the greatest treasures of the empire.
1992 Friends of the National Zoo.