Lot 42
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
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.
The 20th & 21st Century Chinese Art
Ravenel Autumn Auction 2006
Sunday, December 3, 2006, 12:00am