Zhu Wenyun was a disciple and the nephew of the Shanghai Chinese ink painting master Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕). Zhu served as the Head of Chinese Painting Department, both at the Shanghai Art College and Shanghai Xin Hua Art College during the 1920s and 1930s. He died of illness at the time of the Japanese invasion of China during the move to inland China with the Hangzhou National Art Academy. He is regarded as an important Shanghai school painter, accomplished in handling a variety of subjects and both "xieyi" (sketchy and expressive style) and "gongbi" style (meticulous style) ink painting.Instead of being a depiction of the bamboos planted in the traditional scholar’s garden, this work portrays a bamboo grove growing along the stream and surrounded by rocks. The pictorial image is well composed in a long horizontal scroll format and was executed with skilful and rhythmic brushstrokes. The work gives evidence to the painting standard of Zhu Wenyun who reached his artistic maturity in the later years of his life.
