ZHONG CHENG

Zhong Cheng 2018 Autumn Auction「Morden And Contemporary Art」
- Download
199

CHU TEHCHUN (1920-2014 )

Explosion Celeste

1986

Oil on Canvas
100x80cm

Signed Chu Teh-Chun in Chinese and English, dated 1986 Signed on the reverse: signed Chu Teh-Chun in English and Chinese, dated 1986, titled in English

Estimate TWD 32,000,000-42,000,000
USD 1,028,900-1,350,500
HKD 8,101,000-10,633,000

Hammer Price TWD 44,160,000
USD 1,433,766
HKD 11,265,306

With a certificate of authenticity issued by family members of Chu Teh-Chun

Provenance：Private European Collection

Illustrated：

Exhibition：

Exposition：

“I’m motivated by a deep, intense passion to express my art and my ideals, and to pursue the ideal of an ‘eternal, undiminishing beauty.’ As a Chinese immigrant, I have a special mission, which is to create the two basic elements of yin and yang as introduced in the I Ching. Yang is light, it’s passion; Yin is nourishment, it’s gentleness. I’ve always sought to unite the traditional colors of Western painting with contemporary abstract painting in the way that yin is harmoniously united with yang, to create, in a sense, the infinite universe…On my canvases, colors and brushstrokes are never applied by chance. Together, they pursue a shared goal: to ignite light, to evoke forms and rhythms.” - Chu Teh-Chun

Chu Teh-Chun was the first Chinese inductee into Académie des Beaux-Arts, a paramount honor recognized internationally. His artistic lexicon is a fusion of the nuanced subtlety from the East and the daring palette of the West. The union creates a new form of abstract that is pioneering and yet traditional. Chu was classically trained in Chinese calligraphy and well-read in traditional literature. He took delight in reading the Tang and Song poetry. He also indulged in freeing himself through his calligraphy brush. Thus he was crowned “the Tang and Song dynasty painter of the 20th century”.

Chu graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, then headed by Lin Feng-Mian. Lin’s libertarian spirit led the integration of Eastern and Western philosophy in arts education, and profoundly influenced the artists to come. Among them are the “Three Musketeers” – Chu Teh-Chun, Wu Guanzong and Zhao Wou-Ki, who relocated to Paris after graduating from the academy. Chu did so in 1955. He was greatly inspired by lyrical abstraction. After two to three decades of tireless exploration, his marvel toward Western art grew calm. Distilled from which is the very essence of Chinese culture. From his passionate and intense brushstrokes, a sense of solemnity emanates, a poetic stream flows, evolving, flourishing, into the rich and yet delicate sentiment of the East.

Chu’s journey to Geneva brought him though the snowy Alps in 1985. He was stunned by the majestic scene of snowbound peaks. The flurries twizzle, the clouds intertwine, stirring his emotions. Chu recalled this enlightening journey, “On a cloudy day, the white from the sea of clouds and the white of the snow were clearly discernible and changing constantly. This phenomenon filled my mind with images of clouds continuously floating on a bed of white. My spirit felt as though it was floating up and down in concert with the changes in the shade and density of that scene and in a flash, many of the familiar images portrayed in the Tang poems rushed into my head.” The magnificent choreography of snow in the vastness of heaven and earth was the spark that inspired Chu’s winter series. The little spark ignited an eternal flame. Once Chu returned to Paris, he started his winter series. The snowy scenes are reiterations of the depth and breadth of his cultural and philosophical contemplation. The series was developed between 1985 and 1989. Unparalleled, it is a synthesis of the East and West, which is distinct and rare. These paintings mark the peak of Chu’s career, and are always highly sought after on the auction scene.

Dance of Flurry, which was completed in 1986, has a delicate palette that radiates an unwavering sense of boldness and grandeur. The indigo lines traverse and punctuate, as though dancing with a rush, while paying homage to the spirited strokes in Chinese calligraphy. His strokes are hasty at times, steady at times. With fluctuating accents and pauses, they flow fluidly like water running through the river, pulsating with strong rhythm and tempo. His good friend and artist Wu Guanzhong once said, “The main element in Chu Teh-Chun’s paintings is ‘movement’. Paintings are like a chorus of movement, and Chu Teh-Chun has harmoniously united the rhythmic beauty of his movement with colors. People are able to witness this wild dance but without a pin drop of noise, as if through a layer of crystal. The power and coarseness of the energy is enveloped in the beauty of tranquility.” The lines in Dance of Flurry soar and plunge like the gushing waterfall with dark accents dotting in between. Chu allows the oil paint to melt into one another, creating astonishing momentum and mass while exuding beauty from the vast grandeur. However, deep beneath the shadow, the glow shines through, like a resplendent gemstone.

The scintillating light on the base of the painting contrasts the intense patches of colors. The echo between the lightness and the density brings a sense of mystique, depth and complexity. Chu’s paintings have always been known for the delicate exchange between light and shadow. His keen observation over such movement is attributed to his 1969 trip to Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for the exhibition commemorating the 300th Anniversary of Rembrandt’s death. Since then, the use of fluid lines and vibrant colors became his signature move. The French art critic Raoul-Jean Moulin once described Chu Teh-Chun’s paintings, “In his hands, the brush had to find the rhythm of Chinese calligraphy and give the colors rhythm. The silent, dim and dark color gradations give off glittering sparks through the adjustment of transparent light.”

In Dance of Flurry, Chu splashed the white freely. The pristine snow serenades through the canvas, light as falling petals, bright as shining stars, dancing with intense passion. The snow is as delightful as the Tang poet Li Shangyin depicted in his poem, “like a curtain of pearls whirling over the wall, softer than willow, heftier than frost”, and as spirited as in Bai Juyi’s Pipa Song, “Bold as the gusty rain, fine as the whispered words, chattering and pattering, as pearls large and small, on a jade plate they fall.” Chu’s masterful use of colors and lines encapsulates the mesmerizing elegance of the dancing flurry, as well as the many splendors between heaven and earth.

Chu’s abstract lexicon is a magnificent epic. He extracted the very essence of the philosophy toward traditional Chinese paintings – “xieyi”, the traditional freehand style, and “capturing the flow of nuanced energy”. With nature as the master, he understood that forms are the means to spirit, and eventually must be let go. He chose the saturated oil paint as the envoy of his vast knowledge in Western art, which culminates in the spontaneity and verve of the winter snow. His undulating emotions and poetic sentiments are manifested on canvas, resulting in the spectacular and yet delicate poetry that is Dance of Flurry.

View More Works