Wu Zuoren was a renowned Chinese painter known for his depictions of natural scenery. Born on November 3, 1908 in Suzhou, China, he studied painting under Xu Beihong at Shanghai University of the Arts. Travelling to Europe in 1930, he attended classes at both the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Académie Royale in Brussels. After having mostly painted in oil, upon his return to China Wu began experimenting with traditional ink-wash techniques. In 1943, he travelled through the difficult terrain of the Tibetan plateau, painting depictions of herdsman and their yak and camel caravans. Wu went on to become the director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1958. In the mid-1980s, the artist was awarded medals by both the French Ministry of Culture and the king of Belgium. He died on April 9, 1997 in Beijing, China. Today, Wu’s works are held in the collections of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.