The Art Museum at W&L Presents ‘The Legacy of I-Hsiung Ju’ Opening Sept. 18, the exhibit celebrates the work and legacy of the late professor of art emeritus and master Chinese brush painter I-Hsiung Ju.

The Art Museum at Washington and Lee
September 7, 2026

The Art Museum at Washington and Lee University presents the feature exhibition “The Legacy of I-Hsiung Ju,” celebrating the work and legacy of the late professor of art emeritus I-Hsiung Ju, who is considered a pioneer for his blending of traditional and modern techniques in his landscape paintings.

The exhibition will be on view from Sept. 18 through Dec. 12 in the Reeves Museum of Ceramics. An alumni panel at 2 p.m. on Sept. 18 in the Watson Galleries will explore Ju’s journey before W&L, his contributions to the artistic canon, his distinctive teaching philosophy and the profound impact he left on generations of students at W&L and beyond. Panelists will include David Hilton ’75, Patrick Hinely ’73 and Michael Kopald ’73.

The exhibit and panel are free and open to the public, and pre-registration is required for the panel. The alumni panel is presented in partnership with the Office of Alumni Engagement’s Five-Star Festival and W&L’s Center for International Education.

Born in 1923 in Jiangyin, China, Ju was a traditional Chinese scholar-painter trained in both Eastern and Western traditions. He practiced literati painting, or “wenren hua”( 文人), a painting style that features abstracted landscapes and bird and flower subjects rendered through expressive brushwork that is often monochromatic. Historically, this style was linked to China’s elite scholar-artists, whose works were seen as direct expressions of the artist’s character and inner nature.

Ju came to the United States with his family in 1968 and was hired as an artist-in-residence at W&L, where he was a professor of art for 20 years. During his tenure at W&L, Ju was both a teacher and cultural ambassador, inspiring generations of students.

In addition to his art, Ju created opportunities to support a merging of cross-cultural interests and contemporary life, including the Art in Taiwan study abroad program at W&L; the Art Farm Gallery, an informal school of Chinese arts and culture created by Ju and his wife Chow-Soon Chuang Ju, in Lexington, Virginia; and four instructional books on painting the “Four Gentleman” (four plants in Chinese art that represent the four seasons), continuing a Chinese teaching tradition from “The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting,” which was first published in 1679.

Ju is recognized as a master Chinese brush painter and his works are held in many private and public collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon; the Westervelt Collection in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta.

W&L currently houses the largest repository of Ju’s work in the United States, which served as inspiration for W&L’s artist-in-residence Zhang Xiaoli as she created pieces for her exhibit, “Zhang Xiaoli/Block Party!” Zhang is a contemporary ink painter who transforms classical Chinese painting traditions to create playful yet contemplative landscapes that bridge past and future. “Zhang Xiaoli/Block Party!” is currently on view in the Watson Galleries through Dec. 12.

“The Legacy of I-Hsiang Ju” is organized by the Art Museum team, in consultation with Patricia Hobbs, senior curator of art emerita, and is made possible through the generous support of W&L’s Center for International Education and the Reeves Endowment.

The Reeves Museum and Watson Galleries are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. To learn more about the exhibition, visit the Art Museum’s website.