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Lot Essay
“I draw the light within my heart, which is also the light within my soul.” – Chu Teh-Chun
Mastery over lighting is central to Chu Teh-Chun’s works. Examining his abstract works, the viewer enters a strange world of cascading light. Lumières de l’âme, in particular, represents the zenith of Chu’s passion for light. Expansive swaths and of colour underpin vibrant dots of light, leading the eye in a dance amongst the hues, and revealing Chu’s distillation of the essence and visual interest of traditional Chinese watercolours.
Lumières de l’âme is rich and vibrant. Compared with Chu’s works in the 70s this piece features lighting that is more multifaceted and abundant: no trace of black or cool tones can be found on the canvas, instead the artist uses gradients of orange and red to create a shimmering sky that seems almost on fire; combined with the green of the grass and delicately placed strokes of violet from the roses, a breathtaking break of the dawn is created, showering the world with beams of light. In the centre, incandesent light seems to pierce though the sky, and guide viewers to a sweeping expanse of scorching heat, imbuing the work with a life force.
Chu said frankly that Rembrandt was his inspiration for light. In 1969, Chu visited Rembrandt’s 300th Anniversary exhibition in Amsterdam, and the Dutch master left a deep impression on Chu. He reflected that he “has never been so moved by an art exhibition.” Just as Rembrandt was an expert at introducing dramatic lighting to his works, not just to create a structural connection among the subjects but also to give the picture an air of mystique and nobility (fig.2), Chu’s creations from the 70s describing light show a clear influence from the old master – featuring sombre and heavy hues around the canvas, and a shining beacon of light exploding in the centre. In Lumières de l’âme, one gets a glimpse of that dramatic lighting, but here the bright light is magnified and expanded exponentially, turning the influence into Chu’s own fully developed style.
Chu’s mastery of Western Classical aesthetics can also be seen in his carefully judged composition. His careful planning, for example, can be seen in many trigonal and quadrilateral shapes that form a geometric connection with each other, suggesting a geometric logic behind his designs. Of this, he noted that, “on my canvas, colours and lines are never accidental. They cooperate harmoniously towards the same goal: to activate light, create impressions, and order.” In Chu’s works, the intersection of points, lines, planes, and colour result in a synergistic relationship that leads to a deep and undulating psychological response, much like Turner’s The Slave Ship (fig.1): The cascading waves and the peaceful skies create a juxtaposition between clarity and obscurity, creating in the viewer’s minds a rhythm varying between suppression and emancipation.
Although deeply influenced by the traditions of Western painting, Chu never abandoned the principle of harmony in Chinese calligraphy and paintings. The white space in the centre of the frame, for instance, is indicative of his study of composition and centred blank spaces in Chinese ink wash paintings, which can also be seen in Northern Song master Yen Wengui’s Strange Peaks and Myraid Trees, craftily casting the white space in the middle as the mist and clouds amidst the landscape, contributing to the artist’s impression of the scenery’s sense of grandeur and majesty. In Lumières de l’âme, the soothing greenery of the land contrasts and harmonises with the translucent and emerald skies, with the centre white space and orange triangles to the sides creating volume as well as visual depth. The artist ingeniously uses Chinese watercolour’s close, medium, and distant composition framework to achieve rich layers and depth, and to communicate the perfect balance between yin and yang, arid and humid, noisy and quiet, while the rhythm of the light guides the eye to journey between the ground and the heavens.
The light in Chu’s heart was given form not solely through compositional calculations derived from Western philosophy, but also through his pursuit of his innate power as an Eastern artist. Be it its colour, composition, spirit, or meaning, Chu’s light originates from his heart and extends from the centre to fill the canvas. Fan Kuan’s idea of “’tis better to learn from things than to learn from men, and ‘its better to learn from the heart than to learn from things”, and Zhang Zao’s emphasis on “learning from nature, and finding inspiration from the heart”, are both about the tight-knit relationship between the spirit and nature. Through his abstract artistic language, Chu creates a fusion of his heart’s passion with the stimulation he finds in nature. In his abstract works, the viewer experiences the majesty of nature as well as the artist’s earnest attitude towards life. The lights of nature are thus elevated under Chu’s brush, and become light of the soul.
Mastery over lighting is central to Chu Teh-Chun’s works. Examining his abstract works, the viewer enters a strange world of cascading light. Lumières de l’âme, in particular, represents the zenith of Chu’s passion for light. Expansive swaths and of colour underpin vibrant dots of light, leading the eye in a dance amongst the hues, and revealing Chu’s distillation of the essence and visual interest of traditional Chinese watercolours.
Lumières de l’âme is rich and vibrant. Compared with Chu’s works in the 70s this piece features lighting that is more multifaceted and abundant: no trace of black or cool tones can be found on the canvas, instead the artist uses gradients of orange and red to create a shimmering sky that seems almost on fire; combined with the green of the grass and delicately placed strokes of violet from the roses, a breathtaking break of the dawn is created, showering the world with beams of light. In the centre, incandesent light seems to pierce though the sky, and guide viewers to a sweeping expanse of scorching heat, imbuing the work with a life force.
Chu said frankly that Rembrandt was his inspiration for light. In 1969, Chu visited Rembrandt’s 300th Anniversary exhibition in Amsterdam, and the Dutch master left a deep impression on Chu. He reflected that he “has never been so moved by an art exhibition.” Just as Rembrandt was an expert at introducing dramatic lighting to his works, not just to create a structural connection among the subjects but also to give the picture an air of mystique and nobility (fig.2), Chu’s creations from the 70s describing light show a clear influence from the old master – featuring sombre and heavy hues around the canvas, and a shining beacon of light exploding in the centre. In Lumières de l’âme, one gets a glimpse of that dramatic lighting, but here the bright light is magnified and expanded exponentially, turning the influence into Chu’s own fully developed style.
Chu’s mastery of Western Classical aesthetics can also be seen in his carefully judged composition. His careful planning, for example, can be seen in many trigonal and quadrilateral shapes that form a geometric connection with each other, suggesting a geometric logic behind his designs. Of this, he noted that, “on my canvas, colours and lines are never accidental. They cooperate harmoniously towards the same goal: to activate light, create impressions, and order.” In Chu’s works, the intersection of points, lines, planes, and colour result in a synergistic relationship that leads to a deep and undulating psychological response, much like Turner’s The Slave Ship (fig.1): The cascading waves and the peaceful skies create a juxtaposition between clarity and obscurity, creating in the viewer’s minds a rhythm varying between suppression and emancipation.
Although deeply influenced by the traditions of Western painting, Chu never abandoned the principle of harmony in Chinese calligraphy and paintings. The white space in the centre of the frame, for instance, is indicative of his study of composition and centred blank spaces in Chinese ink wash paintings, which can also be seen in Northern Song master Yen Wengui’s Strange Peaks and Myraid Trees, craftily casting the white space in the middle as the mist and clouds amidst the landscape, contributing to the artist’s impression of the scenery’s sense of grandeur and majesty. In Lumières de l’âme, the soothing greenery of the land contrasts and harmonises with the translucent and emerald skies, with the centre white space and orange triangles to the sides creating volume as well as visual depth. The artist ingeniously uses Chinese watercolour’s close, medium, and distant composition framework to achieve rich layers and depth, and to communicate the perfect balance between yin and yang, arid and humid, noisy and quiet, while the rhythm of the light guides the eye to journey between the ground and the heavens.
The light in Chu’s heart was given form not solely through compositional calculations derived from Western philosophy, but also through his pursuit of his innate power as an Eastern artist. Be it its colour, composition, spirit, or meaning, Chu’s light originates from his heart and extends from the centre to fill the canvas. Fan Kuan’s idea of “’tis better to learn from things than to learn from men, and ‘its better to learn from the heart than to learn from things”, and Zhang Zao’s emphasis on “learning from nature, and finding inspiration from the heart”, are both about the tight-knit relationship between the spirit and nature. Through his abstract artistic language, Chu creates a fusion of his heart’s passion with the stimulation he finds in nature. In his abstract works, the viewer experiences the majesty of nature as well as the artist’s earnest attitude towards life. The lights of nature are thus elevated under Chu’s brush, and become light of the soul.