Wong was aboard the ship President Cleveland when it departed Hong Kong on January 20, 1948. He arrived at San Francisco on February 9, 1948. His final destination was New York City.
Wong on line 10.
Stamford Mirror-Recorder (Connecticut), July 15, 1948
Cultural Development Program Is on International Lines
... Mrs. McLean’s house will be opened to the public on Sunday, July 18, presenting an exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Paintings. These and other future exhibits will be on view daily except Mondays, 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. until after Labor Day. The Chinese Exhibition includes 70 pieces and covers the work of 30 contemporary, representative artists. The paintings were brought to this country by Professors Ya-Chun Wang and Siuling Wong at the request of the Chinese Government. They will be shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art next autumn. Dr. Wang and Mr. Wong have kindly consented to answer questions and to demonstrate the Chinese technique. ...
Stamford Mirror-Recorder, July 22, 1948
The Chinese Exhibit of Paintings
Again the palatial home of Mrs. Alice McLean at South Kortright is open to the public, and this time for a very notable exhibition of contemporary Chinese paintings.
This collection, the work of some thirty artists, has been brought to this country by representatives of the Chinese government: Professors Ya-Chun Wang and Siuling Wong, both well known artists in their own country. Dr. Wang was for many years president of the Hsin Hwa Normal School of Fine Arts. Prof Wong has been teaching at Columbia University in New York City and was formerly at the National Central University at Nanking.
The private opening of the exhibit was a most enjoyable social event, attended by the Chinese consul, his wife and young daughter, and friends of art from far and wide. There was music and refreshments and the stately walls of Riverside hung with beautiful tings on scrolls looked down on a scene of quiet gaiety. It is good to observe that the age long traditions of China are having a telling effect on the modern painters for the classic lines and soft notan of the Sung. Dynasty are found expressed in the traditional forms of rocks, mountains, clouds, and mists which date back to the early thirteenth century.
To describe one picture catalogued as number five called “Land scape” by Huang Chun Pi: On an eight foot scroll of Chinese damask is the painting some fourteen inches wide by thirty-six inches high. Near the top in rough out line are distant hills and nearer by a tea house overelooklng [sic] the rocks. The foreground is done in magic strokes expressing a rocky gorge. In the center Is a water fall touched with gleaming sunlight. The water flows downward and melts away in a misty foreground whose silvery notan is expressed in vivid masses of wet ink.
There are several studies of a similar classic character while still others are of birds, animals, fish and varied forms of plant life. A group of modern water colors are of familiar places in and about New York City—the Brooklyn Bridge, the wharves, Central park, Columbus Circle; some garbed in the snows of winter. Several of these show the familiar skyline of the city. To recount the charm of the whole exhibit would require a vast book of words, so everyone is urged to go and see for himself.
There are seventy numbers in the exhibit by some thirty artists. They will be shown daily July 18th through September 6th, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays. The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts will show this collection, augmented by the work of fifty more artists early in the fall.
Stamford Mirror-Recorder, July 29, 1948
Demonstrating Art of Painting at McLean Residence
Prof. Ya-Chun Wang, putting the finishing touches on
one of his productions; Prof. Siuling Wong, watching
operation; Neta Solomon, daughter of Dr. and Mrs.
Sydney Solomon of Stamford, an interested observer;
lady and gentleman, unidentified.
Left to right: Pasheng Yen, Chinese Consul General;
Prof. Ya-Chun Wang; Mrs. Alice McLean;
Prof. Siuling Wong.
Brooklyn Eagle, September 24, 1948
Dinner Plate Takes Editor ’Round Globe
The past couple of days we have been eating around the world, so to speak. On Tuesday we were among the guests at a press party at the new midtown Chinese Rathskeller at 125 W. 51st St., Manhattan, held in celebration not only of the opening but of the Chinese Eighth Moon (or harvest festival).
Although it comes earlier in the year than our Thanksgiving, it is a similar fete. Traditional foods are served as thanks offering for the harvest. The menu was planned as a symphony to prove the “harmony of taste, balancing of ingredients, blending of color, matching of aroma, consonance of texture and flexibility in arrangement.” Served in the beautifully appointed dining room, surrounded by murals of the distinguished Cantonese artist, Wong Suiling [sic], the food was exquisite. This was prepared in the Cantonese style, rated the best of Chinese cooking, and the type for which the Chinese Rathskeller is famous. Among the hosts were Chew and Robert Quan, proprietors, who, with their wives, headed the receiving line.
Mary Chu, who manages this midtown restaurant, helped receive and supervise the party. Distinguished, guests included Madame P. H. Chang, wife of the Consul General; Lt. Col. Lin Wen-K’Wei of the Chinese Military Delegation at the U. N., Chih Meng of the China Institute, to name but a few.
Art Digest, October 15, 1948
Skyline from Brooklyn, a watercolor executed in traditional Chinese technique by Professor Wong Siuling, has been presented to the Metropolitan Museum by Dr. P. H. Chang, Chinese Consul General in New York. A prominent Chinese painter, Professor Wong came to this country in 1938 and studied at the California School of Fine Arts and Columbia University. Last year he returned to China to serve as professor at the National Central University in Nanking. He is now in the United States again on an art mission from the Chinese government. A collection of contemporary Chinese paintings which he brought back with him are currently being shown at the Metropolitan Museum (see article on this page). Pictured above is Wong Siuling posed with the Metropolitan’s new gift, Oriental brush in hand over a very Occidental subject.
Metropolitan Shows Chinese Contemporaries
When one thinks of Chinese paintings, he is likely to visualize the grand traditional styles of the T’ang, Sung, Yuan and Ming dynaties [sic]—treasured works of later origin in American collections usually being copies of earlier masterpieces (although these copies themselves were produced by the leading masters of the day). The Metropolitan Museum now jumps nimbly over 300 years to present a large and inclusive exhibition of present-day Chinese painting, organized by the Chinese Research Society and the China Council for International Cultural Co-operation. Professors Wang Ya-chun and Wong Siuling, representing these sponsors, have worked in close co-operation with Alan Priest, the Met’s famed Curator of Far Eastern Art, and we are assured that the selection is a comprehensive one.
When I was in Japan, three years ago, a great deal of modern Nipponese painting was strongly French impressionist in flavor, and I went to the Met’s show expecting to see the same thing with a Chinese accent. In any case, I was surprised to find an exhibition entirely dominated by watercolors on the traditional vertical scrolls, depicting insects, birds and panoramic landscapes in the familiar outline and flat tone technique with the traditional Chinese taste and gentleness. Although certain Western methods of perspective have been adapted by a few of the Chinese painters, the landscapes as a rule still employ the well-known diagonal projection as a substitute. The vaunted Chinese calligraphy is still widely used, but by no means in as sure and economic a manner as executed by the old masters. Figure painting seems to interest the modern Chinese but slightly, and then in a traditional manner.
This is to express surprise but not disapproval, for in truth these modern works are decoratively beautiful and aesthetically stirring. By now, it should not be unexpected that despite wars, revolutions, invasions, starvation, pestilence and the black market, the Chinese just keep rollin’ along—after all, they have had two thousand years practice at it. As Alan Priest remarks in the catalogue, “It is either a proof of the strength of China or a last defiance of the world of science and machines. ... Look and marvel at the power of good over evil.”
Plans are underway for circulating this distinguished show in leading cities throughout the U.S., after closing at the Metropolitan on November 21.
Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), October 31, 1948
Met Receives China Art
Skyline from Brooklyn, a watercolor executed in traditional Chinese technique by Prof. Wong Siuling, has been added to the Metropolitan Museum collection. Chinese Consul General in New York, Dr. P. H. Chang, made the presentation.
Professor Wong is a prominent Chinese painter who came to the United States in 1938 and studied at the California School of Fine Arts, and Columbia University. Last year he returned to China to serve as professor at the National Central University in Nanking.
He is now in the United States again on an art mission from the Chinese government. A collection of contemporary Chinese paintings which hr brought back with him are currently being shown at the Metropolitan.
Art Digest, May 1, 1949
Western–Oriental
An exhibition by Professor Wong Siuling, in the nature of a brief retrospective, will be attended on the opening day by President Eisenhower and Dr. Chang, the Chinese Consul General, when it opens at Columbia University on May 2. As a painter in the western manner with oriental overtones, Wong Siuling has won many honors, both in watercolor and oil. His work is familiar in part from previous reviews, although several large canvases were completed just in time for the present display.
Linda, a portrait of the artist’s wife, travelled with the La Tausca show. Lady with Red Scarf which won a California prize in 1941, And the Storm Passed, a National Arts Club prizewinner in 1945, are among the former; a double portrait Since He Went Away is his latest characterization-piece; and Dream of Autumn, an ambitious and well-modelled nude, is also recent. A sense of the city is very strong in the deft watercolors which include other themes as well. San Francisco’s Ferry Building, Winter, Columbus Circle and Queensboro Bridge are typically direct and freshly conceived. It is regrettable that the native, beautiful flair for fine brushwork, as exemplified in the quick, perceptive My Mother and again in several of the spontaneous washes, is so lost in the academic mannerisms adopted by far Eastern painters in their universal desire to be far Western also. (Until May 8.)
“Queensboro Bridge”, 1948
The 1950 census counted Wong (line 19) in New York at 100 West 57th
Street. He and his wife had separated. Wong was a portrait artist and
self-employed.
American Artist, May 1950
Art Digest, December 15, 1950
Calendar of Current Exhibitions
Friedman (20E49) Dec.: Professor Wong Suiling [sic].
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Presents the 75th Anniversary Exhibition of Painting & Sculpture by 75 Artists Associated with the Art Students League of New York (1951)
Active Members
Siuling Wong
Art Digest, June 1, 1952
Art League of Long Island Spring Show, Flushing
Siuling, Wong, w. c. Bainbridge Award & blue ribbon
The New York Times, April 19, 1953
International Artist Group Exhibition and Sale advertisement
Dining Out in America’s Cities: The Modern Travelers’ Guide to Good Eating in America’s Principal Cities (1954)
Murals by the Cantonese artist Wong Suiling [sic] grace the modern decor of this excellent restaurant known also as the Midtown Chinese Rathskeller, since it is a branch of one on Chinatown’s Mott Street. …
New York Post, March 7, 1954
... Tuesday Openings—A gallery named for Confucius is added to the list. Wing Siuling, who is addressed as Professor, us bringing in a show of oils and watercolors. Lin Yu-tang is announced as guest of honor. The preview will be on Wednesday and the show will continue through April 4.
Cue, [?] 1954
Siuling Wong—Oils and watercolors. Confucius Gallery, 237 W 52. Thru Apr 2.
American Artist, [?] 1955
Siuling, Wong
Long Island Star-Journal (Long Island City, New York), May 7, 1956
Art Winners—Mrs. Fred Altvater of Beechhurst (left), president of
the Long Island Art League, presents checks to exhibit winners Wong
Siuling of Manhattan and Mrs. Charles Krebs of Great Neck.
Long Island Star-Journal, May 20, 1957
$100 Art Prize Goes to a Bayside Granny
27th annual spring exhibition of the Long Island Art League in Douglaston.
... Merchandise winners included ... Wong Siuling of Manhattan, ... for oil painting. ...
The Critic, February-March 1959
Art and Artists
A few minutes early for an appointment at the 57th Street, New York studio of Chinese artist Wong Suiling [sic], we came upon this busy man writing a poem. Our immediate request for a translation was deflected by his modest statement that he felt he could not express in English what he had thought in Chinese. However, the sheet of yellow paper containing the large black Chinese characters remained a tantalizing provocation to go back to the subject of the poem during the ensuing discussion of Mr. Wong’s paintings.
Several of these we had already seen at a watercolor demonstration given by Mr. Wong under the sponsorship of the Art Alliance of Women, at the O’Meara studios in Flushing, New York, where he also conducts a watercolor class. At that time, too, he had seemed reluctant to express his thoughts on the subject he was painting, a recently observed streetscene in Washington, D.C. But his single Chinese brush and a brilliant palette of golds reds, blue-greens, burnt umbers and blacks spoke for him in the vibrant language of changing autumn beauty. In the words of his friend, H. Liang Koo, art historian and lecturer on poetry at China Institute, who arrived at the studio while we were talking, “Wong’s first language is painting.”
At this our thoughts flew back to the poem we had seen Wong writing, and we unashamedly insisted on a translation. Mr. Koo transposed into moving and beautiful English the black Chinese symbols for rain and wind, a sad dream and a swaying jade willow, the poetic language of a self-styled inarticulate man.
Something of this poetic and mystical quality can be seen in Wong’s watercolor of the Grand Canyon, which he painted just as dawn was breaking, and of “Skyline from Brooklyn,” (in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), painted after sunset. In the first, soft rose, muted yellows and greens contribute the atmospheric mistiness, while in the second, cool grays, warm rose and dark outlines give the effect of twilight haze. Although his subject matter and technique are in the western manner, there are overtones of the oriental spirit pervading each painting. This is more apparent in his watercolors than in his oils which have a tendency to be more somber in palette and theme.
In 1938 young Wong Suiling was a scholarship winner sent by his government to study art in America, where he chose the California School of Fine Arts and Columbia University. By 1948 he had had one-man shows at the San Francisco Museum of Art, Stanford University, Santa Cruz Art Club, Teachers College, Columbia University, Associated American Artists, New York, and group shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Watercolor Society and the National Arts Club and had taught for one year as assistant professor of Art at Columbia and at the National Central University in Nanking, China. Today Mr. Wong is a busy portrait artist, working in a metier he considers commercial in form, but which provides the means for his creative work in landscapes and murals. He is the only Chinese artist to have been elected to a fellowship at the International Institute of Arts and Letters.
Recreation, October 1962
People in the News
Four outstanding artists are adding dimension to the staff of the Westchester Workshop, where fine arts and home arts and crafts are taught. The workshop is sponsored by the Westchester County, New York, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation. Siuling Wong, who is represented in the permanent collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, will teach Chinese brush painting and watercolor, Eastern and Western schools. …
Scarsdale Inquirer (New York), October 25, 1962
One-Man Show to Feature Art of Wong Suiling [sic]
White Plains—A one-man show of oils and watercolors by Wong Suiling will be exhibited until November 10 at the Little Gallery of the Westchester Workshop in the County Center. The display is sponsored by the County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.
Included in the exhibit are prize winning paintings from the National Arts Club of New York and the Long Island Art League.
The artist was educated in China and studied at the California School of Fine Arts and at Columbia University. He was recently elected a fellow in the International Institute of Arts and Letters.
Wong Suiling instructs a Chinese brush painting and a watercolor course at the Westchester Workshop.
New York World-Telegram and Sun, July 31, 1964
Your Daily World’s Fair Page
Schedule of Events
Tomorrow
Afternoon
2:00 Prof. Wong Suiling demonstrates technique of Chinese paintings, Republic of China Pavilion,
Wong became a naturalized citizen on November 9, 1964.
Citizen Register (Ossining, New York), February 24, 1965
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Noted artist Siuling Wong will demonstrate Chinese brush painting at a lecture at the County Center, White Plains, March 2.
Siuling Wong Will Lecture on Chinese Art at Center
A demonstration and lecture on Chinese brush painting will be given without charge by Siuling Wong on Tuesday, at the Westchester County Center in White Plains. A morning program is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 and another from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Wong, who was born in China but is now an American citizen, has been invited by the State Department to visit Japan, Formosa and Hong Kong next summer on the cultural exchange program. He will take with him an exhibit of some of the work o( his students from the Metropolitan area.
He teaches at the China Institute in New York, Riverside Church, was both a student and instructor at Columbia University and has taught at the Westchester Workshop in White Plains since 1962.
Mr. Wong held his first one-man show in Hong Kong when he was 25. This was followed by one-man shows in San Francisco and New York City. Both his oils and watercolors have won prizes in important shows.
A water color “Skyline from Brooklyn” was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
Following the demonstration visitors may enroll for his classes which are scheduled to start March 9 at the Westchester Workshop and continue for 12
sessions.
The Westchester Workshop is operated by the Westchester Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation at the County Center. Additional information may be had by calling WH 9-1300, ext. 410.
Herald Statesman (Yonkers, New York), February 24, 1965
Exploring An Ancient Art
Noted artist Siuling Wong will demonstrate Chinese brush painting at a lecture at the County Center, White Plains, March 2.
A demonstration and lecture on Chinese brush painting will be given without charge by Siuling Wong on Tuesday, at the Westchester County Center in White Plains. A morning program is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 and another from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Mr. Wong, who was born in China but is now an American citizen, has been invited by the State Department to visit Japan, Formosa and Hong Kong next summer on the cultural exchange program. He will take with him an exhibit of some of the work o( his students from the Metropolitan area.
He teaches at the China Institute in New York, Riverside Church, was both a student and instructor at Columbia University and has taught at the Westchester Workshop in White Plains since 1962.
Mr. Wong held his first one-man show in Hong Kong when he was 25. This was followed by one-man shows in San Francisco and New York City. Both his oils and watercolors have won prizes in important shows.
A water color “Skyline from Brooklyn” was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
Following the demonstration visitors may enroll for his classes which are scheduled to start March 9 at the Westchester Workshop and continue for 12
sessions.
The Westchester Workshop is operated by the Westchester Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation at the County Center. Additional information may be had by calling WH 9-1300, ext. 410.
An exhibition of Wong’s paintings was held at Columbia University.
According to Wong’s Social Security application, he filed a claim for
benefits on November 25, 1974.
Wong passed away on February 22, 1989.
In the book, two bridges were misidentified. The 1941 watercolor, on page 41, is not the Queensboro Bridge. The book erred when it said the painting was reproduced in
Art Digest. The 1948 “Queensboro Bridge” watercolor, on page 47, was identified as the Brooklyn Bridge. (Bernice Abbott’s 1937 photographs,
here and
here, have similar views of the Queensboro Bridge with the Chrysler Building on the left and smokestack on the right.)
(Edan
Hughes’ book,
Artists in California, 1786–1940,
identified the wrong person. Hughes said “Sui-Ling Wong” was born in
California on May 20, 1884 and died in Monterey, California on January
2, 1968. Ancestry.com has the same birth and death information. However,
the censuses recorded his occupations as Sacramento dry goods store
proprietor (1920), Sacramento self-employed merchant (1930), San
Francisco drugstore clerk (1940) and unemployed in San Francisco (1950).
His obituary in
The Californian, January 4, 1968, named
his survivors and funeral service date. There was no mention of an art
career.)
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