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Lot Essay
Chu Teh-Chun was the first Chinese artist to receive a prestigious membership at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and his abstract art is very much based on his experience with Chinese traditional painting as well as a Western art that combines visuality and aurality. Wherever one looks among his impressive repertoire, one always manages to sense his expression of Chinese culture's magnanimous spirit, as well as a pleasing musicality from his rhythm and dynamism.
No. 134 beautifully represents Chu's preference for monochromatism during the 1960s, and the bold and flowing strokes of emerald and jade dance on the canvas, calling to mind the rapid cascade of the Iguazu Falls, or the undulating mountain ranges in traditional Chinese ink wash paintings. When composing this landscape, Chu made use of a lively and opulent turquoise that hints at the magnificent landscape paintings by Fan Kuan and Li Tang, while his composition and technique suggest sentiments that extend beyond the canvas, making him a spiritual successor of the ancient artists who turned poetry into pictures with lyrical imagery. It is no secret that Chu was a lover of Chinese poetry, and he carried on Song dynasty master Su Shi's notion of "oneness between calligraphy and painting" to write poetry through painting, using abstract vocabularies to present the essence of poetry, in effect succeeding the zeitgeist of ancient scholars through his own pioneering style.
In terms of its composition, Triptych n°4 is a rare fusion of Chu's Eastern and Western styles: for one, the artist was influenced by traditional Chinese scroll paintings during the 1990s, so that not only the brushstrokes echo Chinese calligraphy, the triptych format also harken back to the ancient form. At the same time, thanks to his expert composition, this work creates a dynamic sense of space that single panels simply cannot provide – the crystalline clarity of the light and darkness interact with the bluish tones to put on a spectacular lightshow, and the triptych format draws one into a meditative trance that evokes the sacred aura of altarpieces from the Middle Ages, or perhaps the intense presence of Francis Bacon's triptychs.
Chu once said that "Kandinsky's creation of abstract art drew inspiration from Cézanne theories on painting, which in turn came from musical expression." The musicality of his art is on full display in Variété : The multicolour spectrum of the 90s replaced the monochromatic isolation from his earlier periods, the melodic dance of light and shadows on the canvas come to life through the vibrant notes of yellow, orange, and teal, commingling to show off their vigour as well as contented joy, elevating father of abstract art Kandinsky's admiration of music to a whole new level. Much like in the artist's large scale abstract oil painting Symphonie festive, created for the Shanghai Opera House, Chu's flowing and rich brushstrokes are married with dynamic cadence in Variété, reflecting his search for the utopian ideal of abstract art.
No. 134 beautifully represents Chu's preference for monochromatism during the 1960s, and the bold and flowing strokes of emerald and jade dance on the canvas, calling to mind the rapid cascade of the Iguazu Falls, or the undulating mountain ranges in traditional Chinese ink wash paintings. When composing this landscape, Chu made use of a lively and opulent turquoise that hints at the magnificent landscape paintings by Fan Kuan and Li Tang, while his composition and technique suggest sentiments that extend beyond the canvas, making him a spiritual successor of the ancient artists who turned poetry into pictures with lyrical imagery. It is no secret that Chu was a lover of Chinese poetry, and he carried on Song dynasty master Su Shi's notion of "oneness between calligraphy and painting" to write poetry through painting, using abstract vocabularies to present the essence of poetry, in effect succeeding the zeitgeist of ancient scholars through his own pioneering style.
In terms of its composition, Triptych n°4 is a rare fusion of Chu's Eastern and Western styles: for one, the artist was influenced by traditional Chinese scroll paintings during the 1990s, so that not only the brushstrokes echo Chinese calligraphy, the triptych format also harken back to the ancient form. At the same time, thanks to his expert composition, this work creates a dynamic sense of space that single panels simply cannot provide – the crystalline clarity of the light and darkness interact with the bluish tones to put on a spectacular lightshow, and the triptych format draws one into a meditative trance that evokes the sacred aura of altarpieces from the Middle Ages, or perhaps the intense presence of Francis Bacon's triptychs.
Chu once said that "Kandinsky's creation of abstract art drew inspiration from Cézanne theories on painting, which in turn came from musical expression." The musicality of his art is on full display in Variété : The multicolour spectrum of the 90s replaced the monochromatic isolation from his earlier periods, the melodic dance of light and shadows on the canvas come to life through the vibrant notes of yellow, orange, and teal, commingling to show off their vigour as well as contented joy, elevating father of abstract art Kandinsky's admiration of music to a whole new level. Much like in the artist's large scale abstract oil painting Symphonie festive, created for the Shanghai Opera House, Chu's flowing and rich brushstrokes are married with dynamic cadence in Variété, reflecting his search for the utopian ideal of abstract art.