Estimate
TWD 4,400,000-5,400,000
USD 137,500-168,800
Sold Price
TWD 5,362,000
USD 160,155
Signature
CHU TEH-CHUN in English and dated 98
Titled on the back "ECRITURE A 'AUBE" in French, signed CHU TEH-CHUN in English and Chinese, and dated 1998
EXHIBITED:
Chu Teh-chun: Peintures recentes, Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, Apr. 16 - May 9, 1998
ILLUSTRATED:
Chu Teh-chun, Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, 1998, color illustrated, no. 4, p. 9
Chu Teh-chun, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, 2000, color illustrated, p. 279
+ OVERVIEW
Art critics have employed the term "dream landscapes" to describe Chu Teh-chun's style of painting. Chu's pictures teem with a poetic flavor and a use of color that is at once compact and expressively unrestrained: the soaring lines are like the swift strokes of unrestrained grass-hand calligraphy, displaying both the subtlety and elegance of traditional Eastern art and the dramatic force of thickly applied, dense colors typical for much of Western painting. The overall impression is very reminiscent of the refined pleasures one may derive from Chinese landscape painting and calligraphy. Particularly his most recent work is characterized by an untrammeled boldness of color and form, interspersed with the lively movement of calligraphic lines of varying thickness and "texture". There is an unspeakable sense of dynamic energy in those lines, invested as they are with fluctuating amounts of exertion in every raising of the wrist, every hook and curve and pause and dot, all executed with a forceful vigor that yet does not come at the cost of a smooth, effortless grace. French contemporary art critic Talbot wrote, "Chu Teh-chun's paintings are natural outflows of the artist's creative urge, trembling with passion and enthusiasm, they are acts of emotional revelation, whispering in quiet undertones of the profound mystery that is life."
In this painting, "Ecriture a l'aube", Chu Teh-chun makes liberal use of his favorite color, blue, employing poetic and mysterious shades and gracile, multi-layered brushwork to fashion a unique imagery. Upon closer inspection, one discovers the contours of peaks and mountain ranges rising one upon another, and the momentum of cascading waterfalls and flowing streams, while white and yellow tones evoke the gentle undulations of light and air. It is entirely through the expert application of color that Chu manages to create a sense of space and depth, capturing the intoxicating moment immediately before the shapes and creatures of nature take a concrete form, depicting the fleeting instant before the break of dawn-thus rendering it eternal through his art, and expressing his deep-felt love of life.
The 20th & 21st Century Chinese Art
Ravenel Autumn Auction 2005
Sunday, December 4, 2005, 12:00am