WANG Guowei

Wang Guowei was born in 1938. In 1959, he graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts (XAFA) and remained there as a faculty member. In 1962, he graduated with a Master’s degree from the “Oil Painting Training Class of Romanian Professor Eugen Popa” held at the China Academy of Art.

From 1986 to 1994, he served as the Chair of the Oil Painting Department at XAFA, where he was also a Professor and Master’s Supervisor. He is a member of the China Artists Association.

Guanzhong Girl  is one of Professor Wang Guowei’s significant figure paintings, embodying the formal principles he developed under the influence of the “Oil Painting Training Class of Romanian Professor Eugen Popa.”

The work replaces the depiction of fleeting light and shadow with solid structure and decisive lines, while its rich, condensed colors convey the simple yet restrained vitality characteristic of the people from the Guanzhong region. The girl’s expression strikes a balance between realism and generalization, preserving a sense of actuality while carrying a timeless quality that transcends any specific moment. This painting centrally demonstrates Wang Guowei’s artistic practice of adapting the Popa system into a localized visual language.