Unbounded love

In his painterly portrayal of landscapes and figures, Yan Zhenduo presents the vividness and vigor of all living things. It is hard to believe that the paintings were created by an artist with a single arm.

Yan lost his left arm while he was a small child during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). When he hails the creativity of nature and the unyielding spirit of lives with bold brushwork and a bright palette, he is also communicating to viewers his persistence with art and life.

Crossing Borders, his solo exhibition at Tsinghua University Art Museum, surveys his career spanning nearly seven decades.

Yan was regarded as one of the most accomplished students of modern master Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) while at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Yan has been following his teacher's footsteps to present the temperament of Chinese culture and philosophy in oil paintings, and to modernize the look of Chinese ink art with a coherent, semi-abstract style.

The exhibition runs through to Aug 20.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.

Tsinghua University, Haidian district, Beijing.

010-6278-1012.