ZHONG CHENG

  • Zhong Cheng 2020 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」
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    196

    CHU TEHCHUN (1920-2014 )

    Untitled

    1972

    Oil on Paper, laid down on Masonite
    65 x 50 cm

    Signed Chu-Teh-Chun in Chinese and English, dated 1972

    Estimate TWD 3,900,000-4,800,000
    USD 131,900-162,400
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 4,800,000
    USD 165,232
    HKD 1,290,323

With a certificate of authenticity from the relatives of Chu The chun

Provenance：Christie’s Paris, Post-War & Contemporary Auction, 2019, Lot 154

Illustrated：

Exhibition：

Exposition：

True art should be the release of true human sentiments and emotions, regardless of the format, sincerity is a must.
- Chu Teh-chun

Chu Teh-chun was born in 1920 in Jiangsu Province, China. He graduated from Hangzhou National College of Art (now known as China Academy of Art) in 1941, and eventually moved to Taiwan, teaching in National Taiwan Normal University. His early pieces were influenced by Impressionism and Fauvism, but influence of traditional Chinese art can also be detected. In 1955, he headed to Paris to further his study. The diverse environment and artistic styles offered by Paris inspired him to build upon the abstract elements in Chinese paintings, and he did so with bold spirited strokes in pursuit of the essence of painting. With the rich profundity of Chinese ink painting and calligraphy, he orchestrated a poetic realm of nature. He reinvigorated Western paintings with the milieu of Zen, creating form beyond the physical form, which blossomed into the so-called “abstract landscape”. He devoted over half a century to painting. In February 1999, Chu was elected as member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the prestigious French society of art. He was the first Chinese artist to receive this honor in over two centuries of the academy’s history. His art was praised as “featuring the successful integration of the delicateness of Eastern art with more intense Western forms.”

Esoteric exploration with sincerity and transcending glow

In 1970, a retrospective in Amsterdam that commemorated the 300th Anniversary of Rembrandt’s death brought Chu to an epiphany. It sparked a dramatic change in his approach to painting. He had a profound recognition that true art “lies only within sincerity.” Painters must be sincere in order to create resonance. His breakthrough brought him outward, while his inspiration turned him inward. He said “Rembrandt's use of light gives his paintings more depth, vigor and strength.…I am not the same, I do not have any religious beliefs, I paint the light of my mind and it is the light of my soul. Movements in the image may be created through rhythmic line combination, spatial composition and color variation. However, what I seek is movement without the lack of harmony; ruggedness without the lack of refinement to keep the overall composure.” He learned from Rembrandt’s inventive and exquisite use of light to portray human expressions and postures. He relearned the significance of the light and shadow. Like the soul within a painting, the light must unfurl naturally from within to keep the “resonance” from fading with time. Rather, it will expand infinitely like the nebula in the cosmos. 

Chu embarked on his new journey from light, a key element of the classical paintings from the West. He combined it with Chinese cosmological elements, the Ying and Yang; light and darkness. Using meditative colors, he often featured the dissimilation and assimilation of light and darkness. He delved deeper into the interwoven tempo of light and developed creative lexicons that are even more exquisite. Meanwhile, frequent exhibitions in France, Luxemburg, Italy and Germany accumulated the creative momentum that would thrust him to the peak of his career to come in the 80s.

Lasting tenderness across the capricious sky

Untitled was created in 1972. In the midst of the shadowy tone, red and orange glow like burning metal. Blurring in the seemingly absolute darkness that swallows the periphery are hints of dim light, and the most spectacular junction of colors rose to the spotlight. Such arrangement echoes the 16th century Italian art historian G. Vasari’s ideal form of painting, “with light in the center, darkness in the fringe and the depth, and demitints between the two.” Willed freely by the artist, the traversing lines strike like lightning, moving swiftly at times, measured at times. Blocks of splendid colors are like textured rocks, and bursting from them is the energy of life, like volcanic lava, like the cosmological Big Bang. This indescribable energy is transposed into another time and space, filling the air with a sense of mystique and solemnity. Pierre Cabanne, the French art critic remarked, “Chu Teh-chun's worlds are really some kind of natural release and a poetic dedication which is dithering and ardent, not restricted by those theories, rules and limitations of visions.” Step by step, Chu overcame the challenges in from and style. He moved toward spiritual expression, and took abstract expression to a new height. 

Chu’s paintings are like choruses of movements flowing gracefully with lyrical notes. They are daring but without discord, tenacious but gentle. The rhythmic exquisiteness comes from melodious colors. “Bold as the gusty rain, fine as the whispered words,” The eclipsing points and lines are accentuated by the light and shadow, moving like orchestral crescendo and diminuendo. Untitled is like the lyrics, “an unnamed traveler, singing an unfamiliar song”. Like an untitled song chanting melancholy with reverberating waves of emotions on a dark night, the resounding notes trigger moments of reminiscence. Chu once said, “To paint is to think! To think is to reminisce. When one reminisces, one shall comprehend.” Abstract painting appears to be without logic. On the contrary, it encapsulates the soul flawlessly. Free from the figurative outer form, it runs wildly with imagination like the melodic notes, fully embodying the boundless freedom and lasting tenderness in the artist’s mindscape.

Freedom of expression built upon Eastern tradition

Chu Teh-chun’s career began in Hangzhou and flourished in Paris. After 20 years exploring the figurative, he gradually turned toward the abstract. Chu Teh-chun, Zao Wou-ki and Wu Guan-zhong’s illustrious careers all began in Hangzhou National College of Art. They built a solid base of fundamental skills painting West Lake and making sketches. In 1955, Chu arrived in Paris with skills acquired from 6 rigorous years of academic training, ready for a new adventure. His style quickly transformed within the first 2 years with the use of lines, surfaces, blocks and colors to express the inner state. He entered Salon de Mai with his first abstract piece in 1956. The painting, which was done with a black background, won wide acclaims and marked a pivotal milestone in his career, setting the tone for the next two decades. 

Art critic Shui Tian-zhong once said, “Chu Teh-chun’s abstracts would stun those who are familiar with Chinese art with unfamiliar exhilaration and a sense of déjà vu.” The abstract elements in his paintings, the splashing points, shapes, ink traces and the overall ambience would naturally remind Chinese viewers of elements from traditional art, perhaps the misty waves or flying waterfalls over exotic rocks; perhaps passages from ancient classics about brightly lit night sky, outdoor theater in the rural area and festive decorations during traditional holidays. Behind each abstract stroke is a familiar component of Eastern culture. His ability to reconcile the two cultures is how this lyrical, profound and seclusive world takes shape, which sets Chu apart from his European counterparts. In Chinese art, paintings that capture the rhythmic vitality (qi yun shen dong) have always been deemed supreme. In Zhang Qing’s Tuhua Jingyi Shi (Understanding the Essence of Painting), “The paintbrush follows not the deliberate contemplation of the mind, not the thoughtful gazes through the eyes, but the spontaneous ingenuity from the heart.” Chu’s work is the very manifestation of “spontaneous ingenuity from the heart”. It is also a testament to the words of Kong Yingda, the Tang scholar on Chinese classics, “The formless shall dominate all forms.” Chu is skillful at juxtaposing the colors graced by nature, decomposing them and distilling from them the essence, the bare simplicity without superfluities. Only then can his deepest, most sincere thoughts be expressed. “Painting feels like a grand tour! My senses explode when I face the canvas, and I charter into the unknown with my paintbrush!” Chu devoted his life to art. On this path, he didn’t get distracted as the old transitioned to the new. With sincerity, he had orchestrated a clear poetic sky in the murky universe.  

 

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