The painting is to be sold with a picture of the artist.

Having devoted many years to the study of Western art, in his fifties Wu Guanzhong began to create works in a more Chinese style. He strove to use the materials of traditional Chinese painting to express a modern ethos, and to explore the potential for a revolution in Chinese art. Wu's ink brush paintings are characterized by their original composition and outstanding presentation, with particular attention being paid to the effective arrangement of dots, lines and color patches. One persistent theme throughout Wu's work is the landscape of the Jiangnan region of China, with its many waterways and lakes. With their black-tiled, white-walled houses, little bridges and flowing water, these paintings exude a strong sense of poetic nostalgia.

In an essay entitled "On the Subject of Walls," Wu Guanzhong made the following comments: "Inside the wall a swing, outside the wall a path (a quotation from a poem by Su Dongpo). I do not envy the joy experienced by the beautiful girl on the swing inside the wall; I am quite happy to admire the beauty of the wall itself from the path outside it. Whether the wall be strait or curved, white or grey, hard and imposing or gentle and entrancing, there is always something interesting about a wall. When designing courtyard houses and gardens, the Chinese have always attached great importance to the way the floor plan divides the space up into compartments; even a relatively small site can be transformed into a magical place through the careful positioning of walls." The perceptive soul of an artist always notices the way seemly insignificant aspects of the world can hold their own surprises for us.

"Black Roof Wall" is one of the finest paintings that Wu Guanzhong ever produced with "walls" as its subject matter. A brick wall is shown in the foreground, with luxuriant branches growing up over the wall; the black roof in the distance gives the painting enhanced depth. This is a very "full" canvas, with precise, powerful lines and rich variation that ensures there is nothing stereotypical about it. The brushwork is slightly abandoned, without losing the sense of warmth and harmony.