(b Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, 14 Feb 1907). Chinese painter, calligrapher, collector and connoisseur, active in the USA. Wang studied Chinese painting and connoisseurship first with Gu Linshi (1865–1933) in Suzhou and subsequently with Wu Hufan (1894–1968) in Shanghai, where he gained access to major painting collections, including that of the Palace Museum. In 1947 he toured the USA and two years later settled in New York. Thereafter he did much to promote the study of Chinese painting in the USA and was often invited to lecture at universities and to advise museums and collectors. Exhibitions of his work were held in prestigious institutions in both Asia and the USA. In keeping with his study of traditional Chinese paintings, in his early work Wang followed the orthodox masters (see ORTHODOX SCHOOL) and continued the elegant styles of the later literati tradition (see CHINA, §V, 4(ii)). Living in New York put him in contact with trends in modern Western art. Finding parallels between Western abstract art and traditional Chinese painting with its emphasis on spiritual expression, from 1962 he aimed at a synthesis of the two. He experimented with new techniques, creating interesting ‘accidental’ textural formations without the brush, which he incorporated in his elaborate and complex artistic conception, achieving images that are monumental and overwhelming. His landscape paintings are intended to evoke thought and emotion and were referred to by him as ‘mountains of the mind’ or ‘mind landscapes’. After 1980 he made more use of the brush, enriching his landscapes with interesting brush details and daring use of colour.