With a career spanning more than five decades, Wu Xiansheng has established a sterling reputation via his ink-brush figure paintings. He has authored a unique style of meticulous depictions mixed with loose brush strokes in his vivid and colorful compositions.

Extract Shape from Soul, an exhibition running at the National Art Museum of China through April 24, features 165 of his pieces. The works depict themes of China's revolutionary course over the 20th century, and some portray people at the grassroots level to show their lives and thoughts during the dramatic changes of modern China.