Chu Teh-Chun Chinese - French, 1920-2014

Chu Teh-Chun’s gouache works from the 1960s complement his paintings, whilst remaining distinct in their own right. During this period, a cluster of lines—whose strokes draw on the calligraphy he continued to practise in his studio throughout his life—recurs at the heart of his compositions. But also the free, energetic and dynamic forms of Hans Hartung, or the large, flat, floating forms of Nicolas de Staël, whose brushwork the artist had admired on his arrival in Paris in 1956 during the first retrospective following the artist’s death. Within these masses of contrasting or complementary colours, as multiple sources of light diffuse, the calligraphic line asserts itself as the binding element of the composition.

It was the profound impact of Nicolas de Staël’s painting at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris that prompted Chu Teh- Chun to reflect on non-figurative art, embracing the label of abstract painter. This encounter remains a major milestone in his artistic career. Nevertheless, in his nebulous, almost cosmic compositions, the artist retains the memory of the landscapes found in Chinese ink painting: an atmospheric depth and the freedom of the brushstroke. The broad, powerful strokes of a large brush coexist with the suppleness of a finer, more dynamic tip. Chu Teh-Chun remains one of the leading champions of a synthesis between Western painting and the millennia-old Chinese tradition. The mid-1960s also marked the beginning of his artistic recognition in Europe. He was represented by the Galerie Legendre in Paris, which organised several solo exhibitions of his work, including one dedicated to his gouaches in 1962. The artist went on to hold a series of international exhibitions in Milan, Lucerne and Germany, and took part in group exhibitions at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Cité universitaire in Paris.