[2023 Autumn Auctions] China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auctions presents 4 representative masterpieces by Chu Teh-Chun.

8 Sep 2023, 12:31

His paintings are a statement of everything.

——French art critic Pierre Cabanne
 

Chu Teh-Chun was awarded the honorary title of "Academician of the French Academy of Fine Arts" in 1997. He was the first Chinese artist in history to receive this honor, France's highest academic hall, marking the pinnacle of his artistic achievements.

Poems are intangible paintings, paintings are tangible poems” Guo Xi, a master of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote this saying that has been passed down through the ages in "Linquan Gaozhi", which highly summarizes the traditional Chinese artistic spirit of pursuing the integration of poetry and painting. For a generation of Chinese abstract mastersZhu DequnFor his part, a thousand years of oriental history and half a century of experience in France gave him a deeper understanding of the high degree of integration of oriental poetry, calligraphy and painting in the collision of shapes and colors across the East and West. He adopted the essence of both China and the West to create his own abstract painting realm, taking the magnificence of nature and expanding the aesthetic spectrum of form, ultimately opening up a brilliant aesthetic in terms of light source, image and rhythm.

In the theme "Shape and Yun Glory" of China Guardian (Hong Kong) Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art Auction, we will present Chu Teh-ChunFour wonderful works in different media from 1961 to 1986, showing poetry in painting.. Among them, withThe masterpiece “Broadness”, an oil painting completed in 1986 when the art career was at its peak, leads the show., and displays three splendid works on paper from the 1960s to 1970s. In the imagination of nature, poetry, and music, one can perceive the poetic grandeur of wandering around the world in the paintings.


Vast world, great potential
 

Lot 40
Zhu Dequn
broad
Oil on canvas | Painted in 1986 | 130 × 195 cm.
Chu Teh-Chun
Amplitude
Oil on canvas| Painted in 1986

publishing
1989, "Collection of Chu Teh-Chun's Paintings", Jinling Art Center, Taipei, pp. 130-131
2005, "Impression Classic IX Chu Teh-Chun", Impression Gallery, Taipei, page 37

exhibition
1988-1989, "Chu Teh-Chun Touring Exhibition", Taichung County Cultural Center, Changhua County Cultural Center, Yunlin County Cultural Center, Taoyuan County Cultural Center, Hsinchu Municipal Cultural Center, Kaohsiung County Cultural Center, Yilan County National Cultural Center, Taipei County Cultural Center, Tainan County Cultural Center, Miaoli County Cultural Center, Taitung County Cultural Center, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, Nantou County Cultural Center, Keelung Municipal Cultural Center and Taiwan Provincial Museum of Fine Arts
June 2005, "The Painting World of Chu Teh-Chun", Impression Gallery, Taipei

source
Taipei Impression Gallery
Currently purchased directly from the above sources by important private collectors in Asia
Attached: Certificate of work signed by the artist issued by Taipei Impression Gallery

Valuation ESTIMATE:
HKD 7,000,000 – 12,000,000


Nature has been integrated and refined by the painter's thoughts, and the artist's imagination, cultivation and personality are revealed in the picture. The ideas of Chinese painting and abstract painting coincide with each other.

——Zhu Dequn
 

In 1982, Chu Teh-Chun and his wife took photos at the preview day of the Malhou Museum in Le Havre, France. This solo exhibition was Chu Teh-Chun's first museum-level exhibition after moving to France, and has since been held in Luxembourg, Geneva, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Art institutions in , Belgium and other places held large-scale exhibitions, marking the starting point of its artistic expansion to all parts of the world in the 1980s.

"Broadness", completed in 1986, was born in the 1980s when Chu Teh-Chun's creativity, spiritual outlook and artistic career were at their peak.Witness the confident moment when his reputation is at its peak and he is crowned the master of abstraction.At that time, after Chu Teh-Chun held his first museum-level solo exhibition at the Malhou Museum in France, he received invitations from many art institutions around the world. He often traveled between Europe and Asia, and held the largest exhibition in his life in Taiwan from 1988 to 1989. , a large-scale solo exhibition that toured fifteen art galleries and art institutions."Broadness", which is currently offered for auction, is the highlight of the exhibition's magnificent scale.

The work has been collected by private collectors in Asia for more than thirty years, and its provenance is in order. This is the first time it has been released and is available at auction. It is extremely precious and represents a moment when Chu Teh-chun was satisfied with his ambition, expressing his passion for creation with vigorous creative enthusiasm. The artistic height of great ambition.


Green mountains and rivers, thriving mountains and rivers are recreated
 

Floating clouds appear in Xiyue, and greenery accumulates in Taiqing. The sky is dark and dark, hundreds of miles away are green.

——"Huayue" by Wang Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty
 

Echoing the name of "broadness", the work adopts a majestic horizontal vision, and uses an exquisite layout of one east and one west, one dense and one sparse, and one piece and one piece to relax, to refine a first-class abstract landscape pattern, creating a world that stretches across the four seas and swallows up all the wilderness. Countless mountains and rivers.

Top: Chu Teh-Chun's "Broadness"
Bottom: Yue kiln secret color celadon washer, height 10.3cm and diameter 30.7cm, Five Dynasties, collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. This azure color was used by Chu Teh-Chun as the main color in "Broad"

Inheriting the elegance of "green landscapes" in Chinese ink painting, Chu Teh-Chun used the painting "The wind and dew of Kyushu Island blooms over the kiln and captures the green color of thousands of peaks."The secret color of Yue kiln spreads across the world. In the center of the left side of the painting, the light source is like opening a treasure box between heaven and earth, and the jade light pours out, spreading the hope of spring and the power of dawn to the world like sweet rain. Among them are green spots of moss, ochre-like earth, and rich color spots such as bright orange, crimson, yellow, rose purple and so on. The light and flowing white brush imitates the cool water, moving wind and misty clouds in nature, giving off a rich visual perception.

Top: Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Broad"
Bottom: "Qiu Shan Wan Li Scroll" (detail) by Zhao Boju, color ink on silk, 34.6×297.3 cm, Song Dynasty, collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Inheriting the spirit of green landscapes in traditional paintings, "Broadness" spreads the boundless world with the secret colors of Yue kiln that embody the elegance of literati. The flashes of stone green and stone blue also express the idea that "the sky is dark and the sky is green. The poetry of "Ming"


The immeasurable pattern that spans the sky and the earth and flows through the rainbow

Underneath the brilliance, the bold and powerful brush strokes vertically and horizontally with the charm of cursive script, using three-dimensional blocks and overlapping brushes to construct thousands of rocks and ravines, giving the work a unique and majestic temperament of Northern Song Dynasty landscape paintings. On the right side, a vigorous and thick ink stroke starts from the right end and suddenly penetrates with wild momentum, stirring up the tension of the rainbow.

Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Broadness"

The gossamer-like flying white is like a flying spring washing jade, flying dragons and dancing phoenixes in the sky and earth, capturing both majesty and freshness. The audience is like following the brushstrokes in the painting, climbing high here to see the vast world where the river flows eastward and the rapids echo.

Chu Teh-Chun took a photo in Huangshan, Anhui in 1983


Prosperity and peace: the best wishes for the motherland’s prosperity in the 1980s

What is special among them is that the calligraphy lines in the lower right area of ​​the work are slowly showing "Safety"The two words echo the artist's spiritual feelings during his many grand trips to China at that time, and embody his feelings for the motherland."Peace and prosperity” happy expectations.

Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Broadness"

The green mountains remain unchanged, the green water flows forever, the sky is wide and the earth is vast, there is great potential!” This is Chu Teh-Chun’s artistic conception in “Broadness”, and it is also his mind expressed through mental images. In his admiration and admiration for the peace and prosperity of the prosperous age, we have also witnessed the declaration of all phenomena of the heaven and earth in this painting in the mountains and rivers!


Thousands of mountains are covered with snow at dusk, vertical and horizontal
 

Lot 37
Zhu Dequn
No.92
Gouache on paper | 1961 | 35.7 × 54.3 cm.
Chu Teh-Chun
No.92
Gouache on paper | Painted in 1961

source
March 30, 2019, China Guardian Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot No. 710
Currently purchased directly from the above sources by important private collectors in Asia

Valuation ESTIMATE:
HKD 300,000 – 400,000


After experiencing the transformation from figuration to abstraction after the retrospective exhibition of Nicolas de Stael in 1956, Chu Teh-Chun's abstract painting style became increasingly mature in the 1960s, whether it was the exploration of oil paints or the ink and pastels on paper. The combination of east and west is a wonderful combination of innovation and innovation. The gouache work "No.92", which is full of the charm of oriental ink and natural landscape, is a wonderful example.

The work uses pastel as the medium, giving full play to the smudge effect of water-based pigments on paper. With conciseness and purity of similar tones, it creates an Eastern association of clouds, mist, and undulating mountains, showing the poetry of the Yuan Dynasty.Thousands of miles of clouds, thousands of mountains covered with dusk snow” image. As for the use of brushes, Chu Teh-Chun profoundly strengthened the "calligraphy" characteristics of abstract expression during this period. The wild cursive black lines carried the spirit of calligraphy that penetrated the back of the paper, and used the lyrical style of freehand brushwork to build strong and continuous cliffs and valleys.

Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Untitled"

In the background, the elegant gray and blue colors create a natural imagination of the north wind and the falling snow. The blank space of the casual flying pen reveals a cold and refreshing breathing space. Chu Teh-Chun uses the essence of oriental gray-tone freehand brushwork to show the tension of the image that stands in the heaven and earth and is superior to all things, and shows the high integration of Eastern heritage and Western abstraction.


Yin and Yang are all things, shining brightly in the world
 

Lot 38
Zhu Dequn
untitled
Oil on paper mounted on canvas | Painted in 1970 | 50 × 65 cm.
Chu Teh-Chun
Sans Titre
Oil on paper mounted on canvas | Painted in 1970

publishing
2017, "Chu Teh-Chun", Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London, Plate No. 6

source
Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London
March 30, 2019, China Guardian Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot No. 709
Currently purchased directly from the above sources by important private collectors in Asia

Note:The painting is labeled on the back by Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London.

Attached:Certificate of works established by the Chu Teh-Chun Foundation and signed by Ms. Zhu Dongjingzhao, the artist’s wife and co-editor who is preparing to compile the artist’s complete collection.

Valuation ESTIMATE:
HKD 1,300,000 – 1,800,000


French poet and art critic Jean-Clarence Lambert once described Chu Teh-Chun as a "fiery artist",belong"The atmosphere and fire, the indescribable mysterious factors, and the charm of his personality make him unique among the Paris School of Painting.” And this evaluation of Chu Teh-Chun is just like the world shown in “Untitled”.

In this work, the two colors of red and black are contrasting with extreme tension, showing the ancient yin and yang diagram, showing the "Yin and Yang cut off the dawn” Such a show of creation! Light yellow, inscribed yellow, orange, rose red, ocher, pouring out from the brightest light source point in the center, and the trembling ink dots followed by a cursive-like rhythm, emerging with endless energy, from the abstract realm, for Viewers are presented with a glorious scene that is like a volcano erupting, karsts are shining, and the sun is rising in the east and spring is returning to the earth!

Left: Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Untitled"
Right: Rothko's "Black, Ocher and Red on Red", oil on canvas, 252.7×207 cm, collected by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Rothko has repeatedly used red and black color blocks to present spiritual depictions. The red and black in Chu Teh-Chun's paintings not only show the ancient yin and yang diagram, the painting concept of twilight and morning dawn, but also are the characteristics of ink and wash. The dance, the richness of oil paint, the leisurely Eastern brushstrokes and the excitement of Western colors hide the symbiosis and harmony between chaos and awakening of all things in the universe.

In Chu Teh-Chun's brushwork, black is mysterious, the dance of ink, and red is flame, the richness of oil paint, symbolizing the leisureliness of Eastern brushstrokes and the excitement of Western colors. They complement each other and evenly spread the harmony of heaven and earth, containing the symbiosis between chaos and awakening of all things in the universe. Although it is based on duality, it seems to be all-encompassing and infinitely varied, showing a spiritual resonance with abstract expression.

Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Untitled"


Things are natural and unrestrained, autumn fragrant maple red
 

Lot 39
Zhu Dequn
untitled
Oil on paper mounted on canvas | Painted in 1970 | 50 × 65 cm.
Chu Teh-Chun
Sans Titre
Oil on paper mounted on canvas | Painted in 1970

publishing
2017, "Chu Teh-Chun", Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London, Plate No. 6

exhibition
September 19 to November 11, 2017, "Chu Teh-Chun: Nature and Me", Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London

source
Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London
Important Asian Private Collections

Note:The painting is labeled on the back by Waddington Cousteau Gallery, London.

Attached:Certificate of works established by the Chu Teh-Chun Foundation and signed by Ms. Zhu Dongjingzhao, the artist’s wife and co-editor who is preparing to compile the artist’s complete collection.

Valuation ESTIMATE:
HKD 1,000,000 – 2,000,000


The other piece "Untitled" echoes the classic vertical composition of the vertical scroll of calligraphy and painting, using the elegant brown color covering the sky and earth to slowly show the audience a "Jiang Feng fishing fire"The landscape painting scroll: Thousands of rocks competing for beauty, thousands of valleys contending for water flow, autumn entering the clouds and mountains, and the natural and unrestrained nature. That flying stroke without any hesitation, vertical and horizontal at a rapid pace from top to bottom, with this as the center, side-forward and side-forward melodious strokes, during the push and pull, constitute a series of mountains that "look like ridges when viewed horizontally and peaks when viewed sideways" , such as seeing the majestic mountains in Wang Hui's "Imitation of Fan Kuan Landscape".

Left: Wang Hui's "Imitation of Song and Yuan Landscapes: Imitation of Fan Kuan's Landscapes", ink on paper, 29.3×26.1 cm, 1678, collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. For Chu Teh-chun, who admired Fan Kuan very much, Eastern landscapes cultivated his control over atmosphere, pattern and brushwork, and presented his imagination of natural scenes from abstraction.
Right: Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Untitled"

Under the central light, the brick red of the maple forest and the inscribed yellow of the lights complement each other. The dark black and mud brown lingering on the earth are rippling with the sentiment of fallen leaves returning to their roots. 「The light frost intoxicates the maple leaves, and the pale moon hides the reed flowers”, there are no small figures of traditional literati in the painting, but the figures riding on the boat, watching the wind and clouds, and sitting on the mountain pavilion are exactly us wandering in the world in the painting at this moment.

Part of Chu Teh-Chun's "Untitled"

In Chu Teh-Chun's poetic abstraction, all colors and inks, light and dark, dense and sparse, are filled with the brilliance of life and transformed into the yearning of the mind. And that light and poetry are in it, everywhere.


China Guardian Hong Kong 2023 Autumn Auction

Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art
Auction: October 8 | 10am
Preview: October 3 - 6 | 10am - 8pm
October 7 | 10am - 6pm
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center | Exhibition Hall 5BC
 


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