Weiming Zhu


Autumn Wind 16 1/4" x 16"	Blue Cloud 21 1/2" x 22"

Boat Dwellers 16" x 16 1/4"	Deep Night 20" x 25 1/2"

Deep Snow 20" x 25 1/2"	Fishing Harbor 21 1/2" x 22"

Fishing Village 16 1/2" x 19"	Noon 20" x 25 1/2"

Zhu Wei-Ming was born and raised in Zhejiang Province, China, where he is currently Professor of Printmaking at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. As a member of the Chinese Artist’s Association and Chinese Printmakers Association, Zhu’s work is internationally appreciated and has been collected by many galleries and museums in China and abroad including the British Museum in London, the Association Culturelle Europe-Asie and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and the Portland Art Museum in the U.S. Zhu has also been awarded many prizes. His work, “The Way of Master” won the Golden Medal of Outstanding Creation in the 9th Chinese National Printmaking Exhibition in 1986. In 1996 and 1997, Zhu participated in the exhibitions Contemporary Chinese Prints and the important International Print Exhibition both held at the Portland Art Museum.

Zhu Wei-Ming's woodblock images reflect the artist’s deep attachment to his homeland. Variations on the theme of “water-towns” constitute Zhu’s work. In Chinese, these water towns are known as Jiang Nan which means “south of the river,” a term that also refers to the alluvial region of the Long River on China’s eastern coast where these towns are located. In this area, towns are connected together with rivers and bridges that join neighbors and villages. Boats, the major mode of transportation, can be seen navigating the waterways to transport goods to other cities. The area’s natural beauty, flourishing trade, significance in history as capital and cultural center, as well as it’s reputation for producing famous scholars and artists have led many to regard it as an “Eastern Venice.” Zhu Wei-Ming’s prints offer the viewer an intimate glimpse of the quieter aspects of life in these villages. In one image, empty boats gently float on a tranquil river that reflects the light of the night sky and in another, snow silently falls upon a sleeping house with a solitary boat moored by its side. There is a gentle lyricism to Zhu’s works yet the artist’s manipulation of line and texture gives his prints a strong graphic quality. Using a technique called fenyin muke (“gouache woodblock print”), Zhu prints thick layers of rich opaque colors against a dark or colored background using several woodblock plates, allowing him to control the texture’s density. By discovering an effective way to control the thickness of the colors as well as through a subtle understanding of line, Zhu graphically captures the misty, tranquil, and harmonious beauty of Jiang Nan.

Zhu Wei-Ming

Selected available works