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Lot Essay
When Chu Teh-Chun wanted to depict an inner world, he dipped his paintbrush in green, and the work presented here, le 16. Déc. 1978 (Lot 77), speaks of the inner world of his heart. Chu customarily leaned toward cool tones-blue, green, and purple-in pursuit of his own kind of tranquility. Around 1960, he began to review his progress, and reacquainted himself with the Chinese landscape painting which had been so familiar to him as he was growing up. He gradually left behind the influence of Nicholas de Staël, an artist whose work had once affected him powerfully, and through the vocabulary of Western abstract painting, he communicated the poetic world of the traditional literati painters that he found in classical landscapes.
Throughout their history, the Chinese have had special feelings for jade. From the time of the ancient Liangzhu culture and the slightly later Hongshan culture, up to the more recent Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, jade gradually evolved from simply shaped ritual vessels into exquisitely carved jade pieces for the imperial court. The color of jade was woven into the histories of the famous families of China, and its green color - reflecting the green of waters and mountains - both symbolizes China and evokes nature.
An echo of those mountains and waters seems to emerge from Chu Teh-Chun's le 16. Dec. 1978. A 19th century American artist who lived and worked in France, James McNeil Whistler, in his Symphony in Grey and Green: The Ocean, evoked the tranquility and vastness of the oceans with alternating swaths of blue and green (Fig. 1). Chu Teh-Chun, wielding his green-tipped brush and sweeping it back and forth across the canvas, produces his own symphony - one that expresses his nostalgic feelings for and memory of China. Only this particular green could be natural enough to convey a feeling for its mountains and rivers.
Jade contains veins that seem to move and float; in le 16. Dec. 1978, gleaming points of light flutter like veins and resonate with the deeper greens surrounding them. Chu was strongly influenced by the chiaroscuro technique of the 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt (Fig. 2), and his use of jade green to surround those intense points of light creates its strong contrasts-from which this work derives its soul from, the sense of an abundant life energy pouring through it. Ultimately, it seems, Chu could not hold back his feelings, and later painted another similar inner landscape, expressing his own visual vocabulary in a powerful and natural style (Fig. 3).
Through his brush, Chu evokes the colors of jade, the energy of its whorls and veins, and much more. le 16. Dec. 1978 represents Chu's mode of abstraction, his lyrical outpouring of feeling, and his painting of the intangible. It connects deeply with the landscapes of China - the mountains and rivers that informed his spirit, his senses, and the visual essence of his art.
Throughout their history, the Chinese have had special feelings for jade. From the time of the ancient Liangzhu culture and the slightly later Hongshan culture, up to the more recent Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, jade gradually evolved from simply shaped ritual vessels into exquisitely carved jade pieces for the imperial court. The color of jade was woven into the histories of the famous families of China, and its green color - reflecting the green of waters and mountains - both symbolizes China and evokes nature.
An echo of those mountains and waters seems to emerge from Chu Teh-Chun's le 16. Dec. 1978. A 19th century American artist who lived and worked in France, James McNeil Whistler, in his Symphony in Grey and Green: The Ocean, evoked the tranquility and vastness of the oceans with alternating swaths of blue and green (Fig. 1). Chu Teh-Chun, wielding his green-tipped brush and sweeping it back and forth across the canvas, produces his own symphony - one that expresses his nostalgic feelings for and memory of China. Only this particular green could be natural enough to convey a feeling for its mountains and rivers.
Jade contains veins that seem to move and float; in le 16. Dec. 1978, gleaming points of light flutter like veins and resonate with the deeper greens surrounding them. Chu was strongly influenced by the chiaroscuro technique of the 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt (Fig. 2), and his use of jade green to surround those intense points of light creates its strong contrasts-from which this work derives its soul from, the sense of an abundant life energy pouring through it. Ultimately, it seems, Chu could not hold back his feelings, and later painted another similar inner landscape, expressing his own visual vocabulary in a powerful and natural style (Fig. 3).
Through his brush, Chu evokes the colors of jade, the energy of its whorls and veins, and much more. le 16. Dec. 1978 represents Chu's mode of abstraction, his lyrical outpouring of feeling, and his painting of the intangible. It connects deeply with the landscapes of China - the mountains and rivers that informed his spirit, his senses, and the visual essence of his art.