Pursuit of beauty

Liang Shiqiu, a renowned author and friend of Wen Yiduo at Tsing Hua College, said of his "Tsinghuapper "illustrations that "countless flowers are blooming in profusion from a single brush".

Wen Yiduo's works not only express his pursuit of ideals, beauty and truth, but also a love of his country and home culture. "The sentiments only intensified while he was abroad," Shui says. "He later recalled, 'I missed the mountains and waters in China, the woods, animals, buildings and the people.'"

Wen Yiduo once said, "I love China because it is my motherland, but particularly because of its venerable culture."

Tsinghua relocated to Hunan province in 1937 to evade Japanese invasion, and months later to Kunming, Yunnan province. Wen Yiduo, along with some students and staff members, walked for 68 days from Changsha to Guizhou province and finally to Kunming. He made 36 sketches during that time, which show the landscapes, the cultural sites and people's lives during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). These works are also on show.

Wen Lipeng says, "It was at Tsinghua where my father began to paint. A century has passed, and his 'Tsinghuapper' works have returned for the show at his alma mater.

"He expressed beauty with his brush, extolled beauty with his poetry, appreciated beauty with his words, and devoted his life to creating beauty."