An artist of the people

Xu made a painting titled Palm Tree in 1935 to show a "strange scene" he saw in southern China — women kowtowing to palm trees and burning incense sticks as offering — that is also on show at the Chongqing exhibition. Xu painted with loose brushstrokes a high palm tree, rendering it a solemn atmosphere like that of a totem or a monument while a woman kneeling down before the tree looks small and vulnerable. In the blankness of the painting Xu explained that women did it in token of an all-the-best wish for their husbands who tried to earn a living away from home and meanwhile, a hope that the spouses would not forget about them and marry a second wife.

"Xu's attention to detail is noticeable in his work. In the depictions of haulers on the river, he shows them wearing almost nothing, because they were poor and had few clothes, and they wore little at work to keep the clothes intact and clean, and to save them for other occasions," Wu says.