White-walled houses rise behind a narrow waterway while branches and reflections loosen their geometry. The subject is the Jiangnan region that Wu repeatedly called home, yet the painting avoids picturesque detail. Black roofs, pale walls, and vertical trees are arranged as a compact system of contrasting shapes.
Morning light is less an atmospheric effect than a way of clarifying structure. Oil paint is thinned, dragged, and broken so that the board retains a dry vitality associated with brush and ink. Wu turns a remembered regional landscape into a modern problem of black, white, interval, and balance.
