Nancy Chu Woo enjoys international recognition from her paintings richly endowed with her chromatic vision fused with emerging forms. Much has been written on the beauty and expressiveness of these colourful paintings, while her venture into the realm of monochrome ink has received relatively little attention. It is, in fact, an important aspect in the evolution of her personal style, especially viewed in the context of her learning experience as an artist who was born in Guangdong, raised in Hong Kong, educated in the United States of America and returning to settle down in Hong Kong. She has traversed the boundaries of the art of the East and West and her fusion of the two great artistic traditions has provided the basis to the understanding of her achievements.
　　Indeed Professor Michael Sullivan's comment on the proliferated discussions on the blending of East and West, past and present, in modern Chinese art is very true. Yet it is interesting to note that Nancy has rarely been restricted or perplexed by these issues. As I pointed out in The World of Colour and Light, “She traverses cultural and artistic boundaries with great ease. All art, past or present, Chinese or foreign, only serves to formulate her personal expressions. There is no conscious effort to select or blend, but an integrated personal style is evolved by an artist attuned to the internationalism of the modern world as well as the freedom and vitality of the modern spirit. In this way she exemplifies a new generation of modern artists in Hong Kong." This is her identity of a modern artist with diverse backgrounds. Our discussions on Nancy's ink paintings and her training process would only be meaningful with such an understanding.
　　Nancy's education as an artist came in three phases. The first period of training in art was approximately four years, when she was attending secondary school and lasted into the early days of her study in the United States. She became a private student of Zhao Shao'ang (Chao Shao-an), a master of the Lingnan School in Hong Kong. Once a week she went to his studio to take painting lesson, which mainly consisted of copying the master's works. Nearly four years of copying and imitation might not do much to inspire her creativity, but there was a positive result of her study. That was a firm grasp of the fundamentals of Chinese painting and calligraphy, particularly the use of brush and ink. Moreover, the stylistic characteristics of the Lingnan School, and that of her teacher, are the spontaneous expressiveness of brush manner and the application of rich colours. At her tender age Nancy was already attracted by her teacher'spaintings of bamboo in wind, withered lotuses, shrivelled vines and banana plants. She was able to appreciate the free spontaneity of her teacher's style and the powerful expression from the integration of calligraphic brushwork and painting techniques.
　　Upon embarking on her study in the United States, Nancy's artistic path took a new turn. For five years she was drilled in art on two fronts. First and foremost was the university fine arts curriculum from which she received comprehensive training in Western art. She learned about volume, space, colour, depth, distance and other fundamentals of that tradition. At the same time she felt constraint by the academic discipline. She sought liberation in New York and joined the summer programme of The Art Students League. Her fellow students came from four corners of the world and brought with them diverse backgrounds. But there was one common goal that linked them together: Art. That summer left a deep impression on Nancy, as she learned to open herself up and to throw herself into art whole-heartedly. No doubt these are the keywords to the appreciation of Nancy's art.
　　Nancy returned to Hong Kong in 1973 after spending a prolonged period in New York. While devoting her time to building a home and raising a family in Hong Kong, she picked up her brushes again in the late 1970s to explore new directions for her creative work. She came upon the third phase of her study in 1982 when she sought inspiration from Yang Shanshen (Yang Shen-sum), another master of the Lingnan School. As a mature artist, Nancy was no longer content to follow faithfully the footsteps of her teacher, as during her years under Zhao Shao'ang. She was aware of her own needs and decided what to learn from Yang. She requested to study landscapes in splashed ink, hoping to develop her skills in the use of brush and ink, at the same time to investigate the numerous possibilities of the xuan paper. In other words, she aspired to the transcendental realm of monochrome ink painting where the use of ink can be as rich as a rainbow of colours. After four years of continuous study, she produced her first group of ink paintings.
　　Landscapes and human figures are the subjects of Nancy's ink paintings. Her landscapes were mostly painted between 1986 and 1988, one of which is Pastoral Serenity (plate1). Featuring a view of the tranquil countryside, the painting is dominated by an old tree spreading its leafy branches over half of the painting surface. The centre is deliberately left empty, drawing the viewer into the far distance which is occupied by a farm house among shady trees. Nancy has shunned away from the traditional formulae for brushwork and textural strokes; instead she drags and twists a broken brush to achieve a special effect that brings out the richness of ink tones and linear rhythms. With the skilful application of light ink wash, she endows the rustic scene with a misty atmosphere and lyrical mood. The painting demonstrates that Nancy has learned well her lessons from Yang Shanshen, at the same time achieving an expression of her own. Dated 1988, Countryside II is another depiction of a rural scene, but here the main motif is a large tree done in dark ink. She allows the ink to flow freely and spontaneously, while blank areas are left strategically to give vitality and movement to the forms. Even darker ink is employed to add branches to the trees, imparting life to the entire painting.
　　Yang Shanshen left for Canada in the year 1988. The group of landscape paintings in ink remains as testimony to her years under the tutelage of the Lingnan master. By this time Nancy has turned her attention to explorations of colour and light, which would become her main focus for the next twenty years. Yet she continues to work in ink for her portrayal of human figures until this day. In these paintings she blends brushed lines and ink washes to mould the powerful plastic forms of the nudes, while the diffusion of brush and ink over layers of absorbent xuan paper creates subtle luminosities and rich textures. With these special techniques she opens up a new horizon for painting nudes in ink. Three Nudes (plate2) and Swaying I, both of 2005, best exemplify her distinctive vision and innovative technique for a time-honoured theme in Western art.
　　Though Nancy has turned away from landscape paintings in ink, her experience in broken brush and splashed ink proves to be invaluable to her later development, assimilated so deeply into a personal style that leaves no room for landscapes of the kind that we have just seen. With the xuan paper as her stage, the meeting of ink and gouache gives her world of colours a sense of richness, density, translucence and subtlety. Her paintings in ink are also enriched by her chromatic vision. Ink and colours together enable Nancy to reach new heights in her creative pursuits.
　　At a time of retrospection, we look forward to the future development of Nancy. Whether she decides to reach for greater brilliance in her world of colours, or to shed glory and splendour to return to a state of purity and blandness, we await with great anticipation.
　　Mayching Kao
　　Hong Kong, August 2007