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Lot Essay
TEMPERATURE AND ENERGY
03.11.1976 (Lot 395) embodied the character of Chu Teh-Chun's art. It shows the influence of light in his art from the 70s, performing strong theatrical effect. The work is composed by bright red, yellowish orange and orange colour, against the dark brown background, delivering a sense of power. Chu once recalled after visiting the retrospective exhibition of Nicolas de Staël, "isn't this kind of natural and pungent style of painting which I have always longed for?" 03.11.1976 expresses the freedom, passion and energy pursed by Chu.
Chu was deeply inspired by Western traditions with oil painting during his travels in Europe. The most notable influence was the usage of light, which became a key element in his abstraction theory. Between 1965 and 1975, Chu made a number of trips to Brazil and various destinations in Europe. On one, in 1965, he glimpsed the highest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc, and in 1969, he visited the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, to see the retrospective exhibition on the 300th anniversary of Rembrandt's death. In addition, visits to various museums in Munich, Germany in 1972 would prove to have a great influence on his work.
Chu enhances the lighting effect by bright and contrasting colour, together with his fast and decisive brushstrokes. Such kind of theatrical lighting effect is similar to the emotion in classical painting titled Saint Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy by Caravaggio. Chu once said, 'The colour and lines in my images are never random results, but are put together harmoniously for one common purpose: to activate light sources and call forth images and rhythms.' It becomes clear that colour, lines, and light were important tools that allowed Chu to achieve the harmonious rhythms of his paintings. A study of the contrasts of light and shadow occupied Chu since the '70s, and in fact, they have been a subject of study throughout the history of art, from the chiaroscuro of the Renaissance to the Impressionist focus on depicting the play of light and shadow. Minimalist Dan Flavin initiated a series of intriguing light sculptures in the early 1960s using tube lighting, showing that lighting - though abstract - indeed plays an important role in changing the overall atmosphere of an image.
Different from figurative painting, the sense of drama in Chu's paintings is basically derived from colour. This depiction of light by colour is like the dusk painted by Ma Yuan in Water Studies through layering of thin colour pigment, while Chu expresses the temperature and energy of light by the texture of intermingled oil paint.
Chu displays his ambition in exploring the possibilities of Chinese calligraphy using Western oil paints. The powerful, thick strokes and intense thin lines bring out the deep oriental spirit in Chinese calligraphy. The curves and turns echo the elegant usage of line in Liang Kai's Willow Tree and Two Croves.
1960s : FLOWING MOVEMENT IN WEIGHTY ROCK STRUCTURE
The format of Chinese landscape painting became the starting point of Chu Teh-Chun's abstract works in the 60s during the period when he explores the direction to escape the bonds of "form" in painting and shift freely between figuration and abstraction in order to achieve "formlessness." Such question is prompted to Chu after his view on Nicolas de Staël painting in 1956. However, Chu's pursuit of forms does not only come from Western art theories, it was also inherited from the Tang and Song dynasty landscapes familiar to him in his youth. Chu also draws from his Chinese painting teacher from the Hangzhou National College of Art, Pan Tianshou, whose simplification of the details of great mountains and large rock formations results in a steep keystone shape that reflects an Eastern artistic approach to the escape from the concept of form. The five works from 1961-1966 offered in this auction exemplify Chu's progressing result on form. Composition 55 (Lot 397) from 1961 demonstrates a structural relationship of masses similar to that of mountains in Chinese landscape painting. Examining the 12th century Emperor Ming-huang's Flight to Szechwan, we see mountains formed by contour lines and masses.
In Composition 134 (1962, Lot 398), Composition 161 (1963, Lot 396), Composition 238 (1965, Lot 392) and Untitled (1966, Lot 394), speedy and directional brushstrokes form an integral and coherent movement, surging with an unending aura. It is in fact such fast and decisive brushstroke distinguishes Chu from Western abstract artist.
In Composition 134 (1962, Lot 398), regardless of weighty colour blocks, the liveliness within the painting reminds us of the 12th century Windy Pines Among a Myriad Valleys by Li Tang. Li's signature ‘ax-cut texture stroke' (fupi cun) transmits the same force of impact. Cun is a special technique in Chinese landscape painting to create surface textures in a symbolic way, resulting in a unique aesthetic style.
The thick dark rock-like structure and strong lines on turquoise green background are balanced by the semi-transparent dripping effect on the bottom part. Chu distils the elements of the landscape and turns them into formless, using colour, shape, and line to produce a silent architectural cadence.
03.11.1976 (Lot 395) embodied the character of Chu Teh-Chun's art. It shows the influence of light in his art from the 70s, performing strong theatrical effect. The work is composed by bright red, yellowish orange and orange colour, against the dark brown background, delivering a sense of power. Chu once recalled after visiting the retrospective exhibition of Nicolas de Staël, "isn't this kind of natural and pungent style of painting which I have always longed for?" 03.11.1976 expresses the freedom, passion and energy pursed by Chu.
Chu was deeply inspired by Western traditions with oil painting during his travels in Europe. The most notable influence was the usage of light, which became a key element in his abstraction theory. Between 1965 and 1975, Chu made a number of trips to Brazil and various destinations in Europe. On one, in 1965, he glimpsed the highest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc, and in 1969, he visited the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, to see the retrospective exhibition on the 300th anniversary of Rembrandt's death. In addition, visits to various museums in Munich, Germany in 1972 would prove to have a great influence on his work.
Chu enhances the lighting effect by bright and contrasting colour, together with his fast and decisive brushstrokes. Such kind of theatrical lighting effect is similar to the emotion in classical painting titled Saint Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy by Caravaggio. Chu once said, 'The colour and lines in my images are never random results, but are put together harmoniously for one common purpose: to activate light sources and call forth images and rhythms.' It becomes clear that colour, lines, and light were important tools that allowed Chu to achieve the harmonious rhythms of his paintings. A study of the contrasts of light and shadow occupied Chu since the '70s, and in fact, they have been a subject of study throughout the history of art, from the chiaroscuro of the Renaissance to the Impressionist focus on depicting the play of light and shadow. Minimalist Dan Flavin initiated a series of intriguing light sculptures in the early 1960s using tube lighting, showing that lighting - though abstract - indeed plays an important role in changing the overall atmosphere of an image.
Different from figurative painting, the sense of drama in Chu's paintings is basically derived from colour. This depiction of light by colour is like the dusk painted by Ma Yuan in Water Studies through layering of thin colour pigment, while Chu expresses the temperature and energy of light by the texture of intermingled oil paint.
Chu displays his ambition in exploring the possibilities of Chinese calligraphy using Western oil paints. The powerful, thick strokes and intense thin lines bring out the deep oriental spirit in Chinese calligraphy. The curves and turns echo the elegant usage of line in Liang Kai's Willow Tree and Two Croves.
1960s : FLOWING MOVEMENT IN WEIGHTY ROCK STRUCTURE
The format of Chinese landscape painting became the starting point of Chu Teh-Chun's abstract works in the 60s during the period when he explores the direction to escape the bonds of "form" in painting and shift freely between figuration and abstraction in order to achieve "formlessness." Such question is prompted to Chu after his view on Nicolas de Staël painting in 1956. However, Chu's pursuit of forms does not only come from Western art theories, it was also inherited from the Tang and Song dynasty landscapes familiar to him in his youth. Chu also draws from his Chinese painting teacher from the Hangzhou National College of Art, Pan Tianshou, whose simplification of the details of great mountains and large rock formations results in a steep keystone shape that reflects an Eastern artistic approach to the escape from the concept of form. The five works from 1961-1966 offered in this auction exemplify Chu's progressing result on form. Composition 55 (Lot 397) from 1961 demonstrates a structural relationship of masses similar to that of mountains in Chinese landscape painting. Examining the 12th century Emperor Ming-huang's Flight to Szechwan, we see mountains formed by contour lines and masses.
In Composition 134 (1962, Lot 398), Composition 161 (1963, Lot 396), Composition 238 (1965, Lot 392) and Untitled (1966, Lot 394), speedy and directional brushstrokes form an integral and coherent movement, surging with an unending aura. It is in fact such fast and decisive brushstroke distinguishes Chu from Western abstract artist.
In Composition 134 (1962, Lot 398), regardless of weighty colour blocks, the liveliness within the painting reminds us of the 12th century Windy Pines Among a Myriad Valleys by Li Tang. Li's signature ‘ax-cut texture stroke' (fupi cun) transmits the same force of impact. Cun is a special technique in Chinese landscape painting to create surface textures in a symbolic way, resulting in a unique aesthetic style.
The thick dark rock-like structure and strong lines on turquoise green background are balanced by the semi-transparent dripping effect on the bottom part. Chu distils the elements of the landscape and turns them into formless, using colour, shape, and line to produce a silent architectural cadence.