Lot 36
A Scene in Manila
CHUA Hu (Tsai Yun-cheng) (Chinese-Philipino, 1929 - 2009)
1971
Oil on masonite
60 x 92 cm
Estimate
TWD 580,000-700,000
HKD 136,900-165,200
USD 17,600-21,200
Sold Price
TWD 708,000
HKD 170,891
USD 21,943
Signature
ILLUSTRATED:
International Painter - Album of Chua Hu, Association of Chinese Cultures, color illustrated, p. 26
This painting is to be sold with a photograph of the artist with this lot.
+ OVERVIEW
Born in 1929, Chua Hu is a Chinese artist who lived in Philippine for over half a century; he is the rising star in the art scene, whose works are also considered treasures on the art market. In fact, Chua Hu has quite an eminent work experience and qualifications, Who's Who in International Art Edition, published in Switzerland, which carefully and strictly selects and introduces famous and important international contemporary artists, has listed Chua Hu in the 1994 and 1996 edition, his ranking were higher than Zao Wou-ki during that time. His curriculum vitae were already published in the 1991 and 1992 edition; other selected Chinese artist at the same time also includes CHU Teh-chun who lives in France. The reason why the art scene isn't familiar with Chua Hu afterwards i s because he does not into social ; sometimes he shut him down completely and suddenly becomes the "missing person" in the art scene.
"A Scene in Manila" is his "comeback" piece of work after he disappeared from the art scene since 1960 for ten years; it is also his rare "street scene" painting from his "blue iron bridge" period, it participated the "Joint Art Exhibition of Ten Artists" in Taipei National Cultural Art Center held by the Philippine-Chinese Artist Alliance, it was also published in the International Artist: Chua Hu collection by Chinese Culture Association.
The publisher of The Artist magazine, Ho Cheng-Kuang once mentioned in the article The way I look Chua Hu's paintings: "When it comes to create the form, Chua Hu no longer pay attentions to the physical shapes, he tried to present the essences of them by using various symbols such as +, -, ×, ÷, △, □, ○ or use some texts to create a natural object. This kind of approach can be expanded."
Although it was 36 years ago, as we look into the painting now, we can still sense Chua Hu's avant-garde and progression during that time.
The 20th & 21st Century Chinese Art, Korean Contemporary Art
Ravenel Autumn Auction 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007, 12:00am