Reminiscing about the River

1988
Not on view
Considered one of the most important painters in postwar Hong Kong, Wucius Wong was active in New York’s Chinese American artistic circle in the 1980s and 1990s. Reminiscing about a River is typical of Wong’s style of this period, when he made ink landscapes set within geometric structures. The painting depicts a sprawling mountainous landscape from an aerial view with winding rivers and streams creating depth and movement. Borrowing a concept from Wong’s early career as a graphic designer, the crisscrossing structure that divides each panel into quadrants draws the eye to the painting surface. For Wong, design elements such as this modernize ink painting’s perspectival orientations. Using brushwork and layers of ink wash in various densities, Wong achieves dramatic light contrasts and atmospheric effects that reflect a wide range of art historical influences from Rembrandt’s and Caravaggio’s treatment of light to J. M. W. Turner’s romantic landscape, and Northern Song monumental landscape painting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Reminiscing about the River
  • Artist: Wucius Wong (Wang Wuxie) (Chinese, born Guangzhou 1936)
  • Date: 1988
  • Medium: tryptich of black ink with watercolor on paper mounted to hanging scroll
  • Dimensions: tryptich open: 69 11/16 in. × 9 ft. 7 15/16 in. × 1 7/16 in. (177 × 294.5 × 3.7 cm)
    scroll c open: 69 11/16 × 40 3/16 × 1 7/16 in. (177 × 102 × 3.7 cm)
    scroll b open: 69 11/16 × 35 13/16 × 1 7/16 in. (177 × 91 × 3.7 cm)
    scroll a open: 69 11/16 × 39 15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (177 × 101.5 × 3.7 cm)
  • Classification: Works on Paper
  • Credit Line: Gift of Matthew J. Edlund, 2023
  • Object Number: 2023.612.1a–c
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.