Lot  42 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2006

Ravenel Autumn Auction 2006

Invasion du Sombre (Invasion of the Dark)

CHU Teh-chun (Chinese-French, 1920 - 2014)

1999

Oil on canvas

131 x 195.5 cm

Estimate

TWD 12,500,000-20,000,000

HKD 2,977,000-4,762,000

USD 382,300-611,700

Sold Price

TWD 11,970,000

HKD 2,896,201

USD 370,359


Signature

Signed lower right CHU TEH-CHUN in Chinese and English, dated 99
Titled on the reverse Invasion du
Sombre in French and Chinese, CHU TEH-CHUN in English and Chinese, dated 1999-2000

EXHIBITED:


Chu Teh-chun 1987-2000, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, September 28 - November 26, 2000

ILLUSTRATED:


Chu Teh-chun 1987-2000, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2000, color illustrated, pp. 96-97

+ OVERVIEW

Today, Chu Teh-chun is one of the most internationally revered artists of Chinese origin. This is reflected in the fact that he was awarded the highest honor that Paris, the Capital of the Arts, can bestow when he was made the first Chineses Academician of the French National Art and Science Academy. He once studied in Hangzhou National College of Art. In 1955, he went to Paris to study painting.

Inspired by the 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, Chu Teh-chun made light, and particularly the play of light from ever-changing sources and angles, an important element in the composition of his paintings. This focus on the source and quality of light became the single most characteristic feature of his later work. "My paintings are brimming with light, as in fact they are a reflection of the light that is in my heart, the light of my very soul. As for a sense of movement, this may be evoked through the arrangement of lines, the structuring of space and variegating hues of color, which together create the specific rhythm of a painting. Yet even in a work with much force and impetus, I always strive to maintain an overall harmony, and even in my rougher and more unrestrained pictures I don't want to sacrifice intricacy and attention to details," so Chu Teh-chun himself. (cf. Xing Xiaozhou "Under the influence of both Eastern and Western culture have I found my own distinctive style of painting-Questions to Chu Teh-chun", Chu Teh-chun Exhibitions 1987-2000, Shanghai Museum, Sep 2000, p. 28)

In this painting, "Invasion du Sombre", 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 tones evoke the gentle undulations of light and air.

Related Info

The 20th & 21st Century Chinese Art

Ravenel Autumn Auction 2006

Sunday, December 3, 2006, 12:00am