Wang Dongling

Biography

1945   Born in Rudong, Jiangsu Province, China

1961-66   Studied at the Department of Fine Arts, Nanjing Teachers’ College under Shen Zhishan and Wei Tianci

1968   Studied under Professor Lin Shanzhi

1979   Enrolled as a member of the graduate program of calligraphy, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts

1981   Taught and received a Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China

1986   The Art of Calligraphy published by the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts Press, revised 1988

1989   Visiting professor in Chinese Calligraphy at the Continuing Education and Extension of the East Asian Studies and Art Department, University of Minnesota, University of Illinois/ Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Larson Gallery, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, University of Kansas, Art School of Santa Cruz, California, York University, USA    

1990   Citizen of the State of Minnesota, endowed by the Governor of Minnesota

1992   During four years of lecturing in the United States, he gave lectures and held exhibitions in more than twenty universities

1993   Invited by the National Education Committee of China to return to Beijing and work in the Research Department of the Chinese Calligraphers Association

2007   Created the longest calligraphy work (length over 50m) in the history of Chinese calligraphy at National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2023   Published "Luan Shu: The Ever-Evolving Chinese Calligraphy", Zhejiang People's Fine Arts Publishing House, Hangzhou, China

Present   Director, Modern Calligraphy Study Centre, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China

Selected Solo Exhibitions  

2023

• Wang Dongling: Ink.Space.Time, The Heong Gallery, Downing College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

2021

• From Inception: Wang Dongling 60 Years of Calligraphy, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

2020

• THE WAY — A Solo Exhibition by Wang Dongling, iPreciation, Singapore

2019

• Wang Dongling: Ink in Motion, Asia Society, New York, USA
• In Between the Bamboo, Hyatt Regency Suzhou, Suzhou, China
• Wandering Beyond, Public calligraphy performance, Ink Masters program, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore

2018

• Wang Dongling: Poetry and Painting, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA

2017

• Poetic Rainbow: The Calligraphy of Wang Dongling, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
• Wang Dongling: The Bamboo Path, OCAT, Shenzhen, China

2016

• Echo of Civilization: Crossing Dunhuang, Tai Miao Art Museum, Culture Palace, Beijing, China
• Public performance of chaos-script (luanshu) calligraphy, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
• Public performance of chaos-script (luanshu) calligraphy, Library, and Archives Canada, Vancouver, Canada
• Between Heaven and Heart, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing, China
• Wang Dongling: Writing Chaos, INK studio, Beijing, China
• Public performance of calligraphy, Guiyang Confucius Academy, Guiyang, China
• Wang Dongling: Contemporary Calligraphy, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• Public performance of chaos-script (luanshu) calligraphy, British Museum, London, UK
• Public performance of chaos-script (luanshu) calligraphy, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
• Public performance of chaos-script (luanshu) calligraphy, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing, China

2015

• Wang Dongling: New Work, Chamber Fine Arts, New York, USA
• Wang Dongling: The Heart Sutra in Chaos Script Performance, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
• Public calligraphy performance, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• Drinking by the Lake: Clear Sky followed by Rain by Su Shi, public calligraphy performance, Apple Store West Lake, Hangzhou, China
• Writing Non-Writing: Calligraphic Works by Wang Dongling, Sanshang Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
• Wang Dongling·The Heart Sutra, Wenzhou Contemporary Art Museum, Wenzhou, China

2014               

• Public performance of monumental cursive-script calligraphy, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweden      
• Public performance of monumental cursive-script calligraphy, Metropolitan Museum of 
• Art, New York, USA
• Beside the Ancient Road, Jinwan Faculty of Humanities of Tianjin Water Park, Tianjin, China   
• The Moon over the River on a Spring Night, The Art of Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong   
• Small Calligraphic Works by Wuzhai, Jingcai Gallery, Hangzhou, China

2013              

• Wang Dongling: The Origins of Abstraction, Ink Studio, Beijing, China      
• Wang Dongling: Brushing the Ties, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
• Calligraphy performance “Dancing Writing”, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• The Moon over the River, Wang Dongling Public Performance of Calligraphy, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

2012               

• Decanter Ink: Hangzhou Cross-year Exhibition, Wang Dongling solo, Sanshang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
• Work by Wang Dongling, Qiu Zhenzhong and Xu Bing, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2011

• Wang Dongling: The Daoism of Calligraphy, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

2007               

• Share the Peripateticism: Calligraphy Exhibition by Wang Dongling, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2006                

• Calligraphy Performance: Linhe Xu, Lanting International Calligraphy Festival, Shaoxing, China

2005               

• INK, Goedhuis Contemporary, New York, USA

2003

• Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, Yilanzhai Art Museum, Nanjing, China
• Calligraphy by Wang Dongling, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2002

• Works of Wang Dongling, Goedhuis Gallery, New York, USA

2001

• It is Not Calligraphy, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts Gallery, New York, USA 
• Writing With Ease, Jincai Gallery, Hangzhou, China 
• Calligraphy of Wang Dongling, Lanting International Calligraphy Festival, Shaoxing, China

• Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

• Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
• D.P. Fang Gallery, San Jose, USA
• Kiel Academy of Art, Design and Architecture, Kiel, Germany

• Nagoya City Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

• National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

• Japan News Service, Tokyo, Japan

• Minnesota State Fairgrounds, Minneapolis, USA
• D.P. Fang Gallery, San Jose, USA

• University of California, Santa Cruz, United States
• North Dakota Museum of Art, Grant Forks, USA

• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA
• D.P. Fang Gallery, San Jose, USA
• University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

• Krannert Museum of Art, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, United States
• McAlester Gallery, Sao Paulo, USA
• University of Kansas, Kansas, United States
• University of Minnesota, St. Paul, United States
• Santa Cruz Art School, Santa Cruz, USA

• National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

• Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China
• National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025

• Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Foundation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA (Apr 6-Oct 19. 2025)
• Journey from the Wilderness: Contemporary Chinese Character Art Exhibition, Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

• Forty Years of Contemporary Ink in China 1985-2024 Travelling Exhibition, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing; Xinjiang Art Museum, Urumqi, China (until 20 Aug)

• Word Play: New York, Alisan Fine Arts, New York, USA

• Word Play, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

• Embark．Hang: Central Art Museum Opening Exhibition, Central Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

2023

• Chengdu Biennial: Time Gravity, Chengdu Art Museum, Chengdu, China

• New Calligraphy for the Times: 20th Anniversary of Modern Calligraphy Research, Yuan Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

• Global INK: INKstudio’s Ten Year Anniversary Exhibition, INKstudio, Beijing, China
• Centre of China Academy of Art, Yuan Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
• Thinking with the Senses: Inaugural, Dacheng Art Museum, Changzhou, China
• Kunming Art Biennale: Writing and Boundary, Yunnan Art Museum, Kunming, China
• Gaze of Time — OCAT 18th Anniversary Collections Exhibition in Guangming, Art Museum of Guangming Culture and Art Centre, Shenzhen, China
• BEYOND 2003-2023, Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2022-2023

• From Dawn to Dusk: Life in the Forbidden City, Gallery 2, Hong Kong Palace Museum, Hong Kong

2022

• Painting with Ink - Confront the Scenery: 7th Contemporary Ink Art Research Exhibition, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China
• 2nd Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Yearbook 2020, An Art Museum, Beijing, China
• The Mountain of the Endless: Chinese Ink Yearbook Exhibition, An Art Museum At New Everbright Center, Beijing, China
• Exhibition of Wang Dongling & Xu Lei, Sands Gallery, Macau

2021

• Invitation Exhibition of Creative Calligraphy in China, Eastern Creative Calligraphy Institute, Shenzhen, China

• Art and Writing: Gao Xingjian, Gu Gan, Walasse Ting, Wang Tiande, Wang Dongling, Southside Saturday, Alisan Fine Arts-Aberdeen, Hong Kong

• Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
• Ancient, Modern To and From, Jiangshu Museum of Modern Art, Nanjing, China
• Flying Ink, Hengshan Calligraphy Art Center, Taiwan

2020

• Landscape and Books, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• The Illustrated Word: Artwork Inspired by Calligraphy, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
• Ink Sky: Exhibition of Chinese Ink Art Yearbook 2020, An Art Museum, Beijing, China

2019

• The Latent Paradigm: Research on the Status and Ecology of Chinese Contemporary Art, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
• Writing Non-writing: Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Art Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
• In Ink: Current Trends of Ink Art, Nan Hai Art, San Francisco, USA
• Great Chinese Calligraphy and Painting: One Belt — One Road Exhibition, World Calligraphy Museum, Moscow, Russia

2018               

• Beyond Ink: 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival Program, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• New Ink Art in China 1978-2018, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
• Boundary of Freedom, Fifth Found—Chinese Contemporary Ink World Tour, Taihe Art Gallery, Beijing, China
• Mind Temple, MoCA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
• Ink Worlds: Contemporary Chinese Painting from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA
• The Voice of the Brush Part 1, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2017               

• Boundless: On Going Chinese Ink Art, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
• The Unusual West Lake: The First Art Scene of West Lake Photo Exhibition, CAA Art Museums, Hangzhou, China

2016                

• Boundless: On Going Chinese Ink Art, Art Museum of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China
• Open Books: International Artists Explore the Chinese Folding Book, Library and Archives Canada, Vancouver, Canada
• Between Heaven and Heart, Imperial Ancestral Temple Art Museum, Beijing, China
• Shan Shui  A Manifesta, Gong Wang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China       
• Shan Shui Within, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
• Light Writers 2016, Light Gallery, Hangzhou, China

2015                

• Writing Non-writing, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
• Tracing the Brush, Transformed Text, Ink Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
• 10th World Calligraphy Biennale of Jeollabuk-do, Jeonju, Korea
• Magic Mountains, Hong Kong     
• Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition and Writing Nor-writing Document Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art of CAA, Hangzhou, China
• China 8: Contemporary Art from China at Rhine & Ruhr, Kunstmuseum, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

2014

• Kochi-Muziris Biennial: Collateral Project Janela-Migrating Forms and Migrating Gods, Mill Hall Compound, Kochi, India

• Orchid Pavilion Calligraphy Biennial, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
• Guanshan Gathering: Works by Zheng Shengtian and Wang Dongling, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA
• Ink and the Body, Ink Studio, Beijing, China
• China's Changing Landscape: Contemporary Chinese Ink, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet (Nordic Watercolour Museum), Goteborg, Sweden

2013-2014               

• Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

• Beyond Black and White: Chinese Abstract Ink, Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai, China
• Guanshan Gathering: Works by Zheng Shengtian and Wang Dongling, Chambers Fine Art, Beijing, China

2012          

• Images and Words: Since Magritte Era, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
• Inner and Outer Transformation: A View on Chinese Contemporary Art, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
• Textual Logic: Works by Wang Dongling, Qiu Zhenzhong and Xu Bing, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China

2011

• International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Wiesbaden International Arts Festival, Badenand Hamburg, Germany
• Hollow Stroke Style: Dimension of Chinese Character, Chengdu Biennial Special Invitation Exhibition, Chengdu, China

2010                

• Wiesbaden International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Baden, Hamburg, Germany

• Hollow Stroke Style: Dimension of Chinese Character, Chengdu Biennial Special Invitation Exhibition, Chengdu, China

• Lanting Pavilion Review: China Calligraphy Exhibition, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
• Beauty of Chinese Character: China Calligraphy Exhibition, Paris, France
• Trace and Qualitative Leap: Beijing Film Academy’s 60th Anniversary Exhibition, Beijing Film Academy 4 ° Space Gallery, Beijing, China
• Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Art Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
• Breaking out, Zhejiang Contemporary Art Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
• Beauty of Chinese Characters: Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Paris, France

2009                

• Asian Ink Masters, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA

• Calligraphy and non-Calligraphy: 2010 Hangzhou International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Hangzhou, China

• In the Hand of Paper, Art Academy of Roma, Rome, Italy
• 1st Linzhou Ink Brush Biennale (International), Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
• The Orchid Pavilion: The Art of Writing in China, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
• Black and White Image: Wang Dongling & Joao Carlos Almeida, Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal

2008

• Seoul Calligraphy Art Biennial, Seoul, Korea
• Water & Wood Wonderland, BFA International New Media Art Triennial, Beijing, China
• 6th International Brush Painting Biennial: Ink · City Exhibition, Shenzhen, China
• Eighteen Teaching Plans - Experimental Art Teaching Plan Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
• Classic Calligraphy - Silent Night Calligraphy Activity, Hangzhou, China

2007

• In the Hand of Paper, Art Academy of Rome, Rome, Italy
• Reboot, 3rd Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu, China
• Opening Fun: International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan
• Made in China: Contemporary Art Exhibition, Louisiana Art Museum, Louisiana, USA

2006               

• Ink and Brush: The Chinese Art of Writing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
• Yellow Box, Qingpu China Space Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shanghai, China

2005

• 1st International Cao Shu Exhibition, West Lake Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
• The Act of Writing and of Non-writing: The Open Space for Chinese Calligraphy, China Fine Arts Academy, Hangzhou, China
• The Calligraphy Is Not Calligraphy: The Open Calligraphy Space — International Modern Calligraphy Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
• International Calligraphy Exhibition, World Exposition, Nagoya, Japan

2004

• Maze: The 2nd National Media Art Exhibition, Hangzhou, China
• The 8th National Calligraphy and Seal Exhibition, Xi'an, China

2003

• Calligraphy Exhibition, Sydney, Australia
• International Modern Ink Color Exhibition, Xi'an, China
• Hello, Chinese Calligraphy, Modern Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Finland
• The 1st Exhibition of the Works of Chinese Leading Calligraphers, Tokyo, Japan

2002

• Silent Music — Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, London, UK
• Brushes with Surprise: The Art of Calligraphy, British Museum, London, UK

2001

• Borderless China: Exhibition of Chinese Paintings, New York, USA
• Spirit of Ink & Brush, Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Seoul, Korea

1999

• Exhibition of The Works of 46 Contemporary Chinese Artists, Shanghai, China; Melbourne, Australia
• Grand Exhibition of Chinese Calligraphy in the 20th Century, Tokyo, Japan

1998

• Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Paris, France
• Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy & Paintings, Konsthall Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
• Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Columbia University, New York, USA
• Chinese Art & Civilization of Five Thousand Years, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

1997

• Calligraphy Exhibition of the 21st Century, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1994

• Modern Calligraphy Exploration Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

1993

• Chinese Seal Exhibition, Yale University, New Haven, USA

1992

• 2nd International Art Exposition, Miami, USA

1991

• Chinese Art and the West — Chinese Art Exhibition, San Diego, USA

1990

• Brush Dancing & Ink Singing, collected by the British Museum, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

1989

• Sino-Japanese Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition, Hong Kong  
• Paper Art from Hangzhou, Hamburg, Germany

1987

• Lanting Sino-Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition, Shaoxing, China
• Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Treasures from Mainland China, Taipei, Taiwan

Selected Public Collections