Art Exhibition Offers Intimate Look at Giant of Modern Chinese History

As famed calligrapher Yu Youren traced the final curve of the Chinese character for “flower” on one of his artworks, a drop of sweat fell from his brow. It landed on the paper and mingled with the ink, an unplanned mark in an art form built on discipline, control and precision. But rather than discard the work, Yu noted the accident in the margin.

That small trace, preserved on paper in 1932, is the inspiration for the title of a new exhibition at the University of Maryland Art Gallery: “Yu Youren: Water on the Petal.”

On view through Dec. 5, the exhibition explores his contributions to Chinese art, politics and education and offers a glimpse into the artist behind the brush. It brings together calligraphy, painting and rare books drawn largely from works assembled by Yu’s second son, Peng Yu, and now on loan from Peng Yu’s son, Victor Yu Ph.D. ’68, a UMD physics alumnus and longtime Bethesda, Md., resident.

“Yu Youren has always been regarded as a public figure—in textbooks, in public images,” said Curatorial Assistant Nan Zhong, a Ph.D. candidate in UMD’s Department of Art History and Archaeology. “This exhibition is definitely a more intimate window into Yu Youren than most people would see.”

Born in 1879 in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, Yu Youren rose from modest beginnings to become a major political figure in modern Chinese history. Early on, he published poems criticizing the Qing government, eventually becoming a close associate of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen. He founded several newspapers that pushed for democratic reform, and after the 1912 overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, he briefly served as deputy minister of transportation in the new provisional government.

Yu’s influence extended well beyond politics. He helped found or lead institutions that shaped modern Chinese higher education, including Fudan University, Shanghai University and what is now the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, established amid a devastating drought in his home province.

As a calligrapher, he helped standardize and modernize cursive script, drawing on the tradition of ancient carved inscriptions from his home region while developing a distinctive style that influenced artists in China, Japan and beyond. For him, calligraphy was a lifelong discipline rooted in physical and mental focus.

“He was very approachable,” Victor Yu said of his grandfather. “People from all walks of life asked him to write [calligraphy] for them, and he always did it.”

When Zhong arrived at Maryland to study modern Chinese art, Youren’s works were not yet in the gallery’s holdings. Gallery Director Taras Matla had recently learned that Yu was interested in lending works from his family’s collection. As part of his graduate fellowship at the gallery, Zhong began visiting Victor Yu’s home with Matla.

“I was like a kid in a candy shop,” Zhong said. “It’s a dream come true to get to handle works by the most significant calligrapher in early 20th-century China.”

The exhibition focuses on Yu Youren’s relationships and inner life, with many works dedicated to close friends or family members. Some of the works, such as the mid-1930s scroll “Plum Blossom,” exemplify the rich tradition of collaboration in Chinese art, with painting and calligraphy elements from various artists on a single scroll.

One of the exhibition’s centerpieces, the four-panel “Song of Integrity,” features calligraphy of a poem written centuries earlier by a loyal official facing execution, recounting examples of high-ranking figures who remained steadfast in times of crisis. Yu wrote several versions of the work over his career; the one on display at Maryland has appeared in major retrospectives in China and is considered among the most important.

Zhong acknowledges that for visitors unfamiliar with Chinese characters, calligraphy can feel intimidating. To help, he transcribed and translated each work, including the inscriptions and dedications.

He encourages visitors to think visually, too. “If you can appreciate a Jackson Pollock painting, you can appreciate Chinese calligraphy,” he said. “It’s all about movement, rhythm and line.”

For Matla, the exhibition also reflects a goal of the UMD Art Gallery to be an important center for the study of Chinese calligraphy. “You don’t have to go to China to see it,” he said. “You can see it here in College Park.”

Victor Yu said it’s meaningful to know that future generations will continue to celebrate his grandfather’s legacy. In the final years of his life, after following the Nationalist government to Taiwan in 1949, Yu Youren lived largely in isolation and longed for his homeland.

Seeing his grandfather’s works celebrated across the globe now, including at the University of Maryland, is “very much a gratifying experience,” Victor Yu said.