His given name is Xianzeng, hometown is Shaoxing of Zhejiang province and was born in Beijing. In his childhood he studied in hometown and then graduated from Huiwen school. He studied landscape paintings with the elder brother Wu Jingting. In 1926, he entered into Chinese Painting Research Association. Under the help of Jincheng, he became Xu Yansun's student and specialized in figures,and then he was appointed assistant professor. In 1930s and 1940s, he worked as teacher of Peking stated Arts College and taught in Jinghua Arts School. After the liberation ,he served as director of Beijing Chinese Painting Research Association in 1951. In 1958,he became a painter of Beijing Chinese Painting Academy and the member of Chinese Artists Association. In the early 1960s, he taught in Hebei Fine Arts Academy, Lu Xun Fine Arts Academy and the National Academy.      Wu Guangyu was a representative painter of Beijing traditional prominent figures paintings. He was good at using posture of opera characters, stressing refining and slight exaggeration. Besides scrolls, he referred folk murals to make his works full of momentum and strength. On the basis of Wu Daozi, his Yiwen calligraphy absorbed Ma Xia(lived in the Southern Song Dynasty) and Zhe Faction (Ming Dynasty), so as to be vigorous and smoothy. He enhanced color contrast and the role of white powder, so as to be gorgeous and bright. His scene paintings changed to writing under the influence of his brother, so as to be chic and casual. He was good at painting color figures on raw paper, which formed his unrestrained, energetic and graceful personal style.