A CENTURY OF GLORY:
ABSTRACT MASTER CHU TEH-CHUN

2020 marks the 100th birth anniversary of the Chinese-French abstract masters, Chu Teh-chun and Zao Wou-ki. Zao was born in February, 1920, Chu in the October of the same year. In the 1930s, they were both students at Hangzhou National College of Art and were trained by the same teachers. Both went to Paris to pursue a career in art. Both became the lifelong members of the French Academy of Fine Arts. The art and the academic communities in both France and the Chinese world hold them in high regard. Dealers and collectors of their works are all over the world. The prices of their works have repeatedly set new records in international auctions.

"Abstract paintings do not have to deny the natural image of things." De Staël's free spirit reminded him of the abstract mountains of the Three Gorges, and the enchanting patterns, both concrete and abstract, on the weathered walls of Parisian architecture. Laozi wrote in Tao Te Ching, "The Way is vague and intangible. Yet, in the vague and void, there is image, there is substance." This also applies to abstract painting. The Chinese aesthetic of "freehand brush work" and the Taoist philosophy erase the distinction between the abstract and the concrete in the Western tradition. Although Chu's abstract paintings were inspired by a Western artist, their origins can be found in the ancient Chinese wisdom, such as "Great Way is formless," and "The Way is vague and intangible. Yet, in the vague and void, there is image, there is substance." The overview of Chu Teh-Chun's artwork is akin to appreciating a lyrical epic. The methods of textural painting often give the viewers a feeling of spiritual energy. The most appropriate phrase for describing his artworks is "vivid artistic conception." Chu adopted colors of malachite green and flower blue found in the classical Chinese gold blue-green landscape paintings (jinbi shanhui). Every line of the painting disperses in the light and the cultural richness of colors and expressiveness reach an unprecedented realm of Western painting.

"5 Mai 1978" the painting shows the jumping rhythm with power. The dots and blocks seemed like symphony performance, integrated with the fluency of Chinese cursive writing and the Western rhythm of visual aesthetic. The universe in which infinite dimension is interwoven with space and time after the passing of light equals to exploring the spiritual sublimation of the universe. The abstract expressionist composition, the calligraphy skills of the "dragons and snakes following the writing brush" (bi zou longshe) technique, and the endless shimmer, elegant, relaxed, and free style of painting is the manifestation of the flow of nature. Depicted is the forgotten universe taking the viewer on a spiritual journey through his brushwork, color, and structure.