
When we presented woodblock prints by the young Chinese artist Wen Mujiang for the first time in June of 2006, he was little known. After having won several important awards like the golden prize in the First International Yunnan Print exhibition he is on the summit of contemporary Chinese printmakers. This page presents major series by the artist including his latest titled "Faces".
Mr.Wen Mujiang was born in 1970 in Hunan province in China. He graduated from the printmaking department of Hubei Art Institute, and after his graduation he became a teacher at the art department of Hunan Science and Technology Institute.
The resume of Wen Mujiang starts with the 9th National Chinese Art Exhibition in 1997 and ends at the time when this article was written with the 11th National Chinese Art Exhibition, September 28 until October 12, in the Art Museum of Jiangsu province, Nanjing city.
In September 2008 Wen Mujiang won one of only two golden prizes at the 1st Yunnan International Print Exhibition.
Below we present several major woodblock series by Wen Mujiang including a work of cooperation with one of his students, Yin Xiurong.
If you are interested in acquiring art works by Mr. Wen Mujiang you can check the online auctions of artelino or you can purchase his works on a Chinese web site (in English) Chineseprintmaking.com maintained by Ms. Celine Jin Sha. I know Ms. Jin Sha since 2003. This is a hundred percent trustworthy site and to my knowledge the best source to buy art prints by contemporary Chinese printmakers if you want to buy directly from China.
The series Faces was started in 2008. "Face No. 2" received the golden prize in Kunming in autumn of 2008. Current prices for a print from this series is roughly $2,000. If you are interested in buying a woodblock print from this series, please contact Ms. Celine Jin Sha.


Women Flower is a cooperation art work in woodblock technique made by Wen Mujiang and one of his former best students, Yin Xiurong - now graduated. It is kept in a kind of Chinese pop art style. The edition size is very small with only 5 pieces and because it is a cooperation work the prize is lower compared to works exclusively created by Wen Mujiang.




In my personal experience a print series by Wen Mujiang is not the result of some long-term planning but rather a spontaneous decision. When he likes a design or is fascinated by a specific theme, then he may decide to expand a print into a series. Sometimes the title of a series is not quite clear or might see a change after the first design was created. That's the case with Human Condition, respectively Situation.






Shadow of Breeze consists of 6 designs. Each shows a group of elderly women and small children from a remote village. And on each print you can see the shadow of airplanes on the ground or the shape of an airplane in the air. Shadow of Breeze was created in 2007.






The series The Faraway Sparrow Sounds dates from different years. Five designs are consistent. Three more have a rather different design and are as early as 1993. Somewhat confusing.









The woodblock prints by Wen Mujiang are rather large like most art prints by contemporary Chinese artists. The series Red Tone is smaller in format and consists of 10 different designs. Wen Mujiang has described this series himself pretty well.










Author: Dieter Wanczura
(October 2009)
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