EXHIBITED:

Solo Exhibition of Chu Teh-Chun, The Ueno Royal Museum, June 23-July 10, 2007

ILLUSTRATED:

Solo Exhibition of Chu Teh-Chun, The Ueno Royal Museum (catalogue), Tokyo; Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, 2007, color illustrated, p. 214

The "Snow Scenes Series" of Chu Teh-chun were regarded as a stroke of genius. His early white-tone abstract paintings were never as astonishing and marvelous as the "Snow Scenes Series" composed from 1985 to 1989. The series was a milestone in Chu Teh-chun's career. That opportunity started from a throb on the natural beauty and resulted in poetic and memorial achievement.

In 1985 on his way to Geneva by air, Chu Teh-chun was suddenly attracted by the fantastic Alpine scenery outside the window, mountain peaks and lands covered in white snow and surrounded by fog, and the changeable and clearly structured white colors of cloud and fog, of snow and frost. All of a sudden an image from Chinese poems in the Tang Dynasty appeared in his mind. On his return journey by train, he was once again surprisingly inebriated by the totally different magnificent snowstorms of the Alps. These journeys of discovery inspired him to create the beautiful and meaningful Snow "Scenes Series".

Pierre Cabanne, the famous French art critic once wrote: "A real painting results from memory." The lyric paintings of Chu Teh-chun are also pictures from his memory. His paintings reflect the spirit of traditional Chinese mountain–water paintings. They guide us to a brand-new world. From his brushwork, use of color and structure, viewers can enjoy a spiritual journey. Pierre Cabanne and Chu Teh-chun knew each other for many years. This author of the 1967 "Entretiens avec Marcel Duchamp" (Interviews with Marcel Duchamp) pointed out the inspiration of natural mountains and waters to Chu Teh-chun's paintings: "Chu Teh-chun's painting is also a journey,a great hike through an imaginary country so his work is reflection. With a starting point in China he has conquered the entire world, yet he doesn't paint places, but phenomena which are suggested to him. Niagara falls, for example, or what he feels when he sees the horizon at sea, mountains, a view of the alps in a snowstorm from a flight, or winter in the Bois de Vincennes, which inspires the cold blues, grays and white powdery presence of winter, or the duality of frozen fluid. But he did not need reality to test his desire for nature, and all is resolved in his inner self in a progressive development like a succession of revelations; his realm is called painting, 'The brush is used to remove chaos.'" according to a quotation from Shitao (Pierre Cabanne, "Chu Teh-chun: A Painter of Effusion and Celebration" Chu Teh-chun Exhibition Catalogue, Shanghai Museum, 2000, p. 17)

[Original Text in French]

(Le peinture de Chu Teh-chun est aussi un voyage, mieux une randonée à travers le pays imaginaire dont son oeuvre est le reflet. Partie de Chine elle a conquis la planète entière; pourtant il ne peint pas de lieux, mais ce que les phénomènes lui suggèrent, les chutes du Niagara par exemple, ou qu'il ressent devant l'horizon marin, des montagnes, le survol des Alpes en avion dans une tempête de neige, ou l'hiver sur le bois de Vincennes qui lui inspire les bleus froids, les gris et les blancs poudreux de Présence hivernale, ou le diptyque de Fluides cristaux. Mais il n'a pas besoin de la réalité pour éprouver son désir de nature, tout se résout chez lui en un épanouissement progressif come une succession d'éclosions; son pays se nomme peinture. «Le pinceau sert à faire sortir les formes du chaos» écrivait Shitao.) (Pierre Cabanne, "Chu Teh-chun: Une peintiure d'effusion et de celebration", Chu Teh-chun exhibition catalogue, Shanghai Museum, 2000, p. 17)

Chu Ko once said that "Chu is a master who has used oil painting to express the spirit of Chinese ink-wash painting". Li Lin-tsan, former associate director of the Taipei's Palace Museum also said: "Chu Teh-chun and Zao Wou-ki both use oil paint to create ink-wash paintings." Their Eastern cultural features are unique in Western artistic circles. Both artists studied Chinese and Western art and both are keen on poetry and art. Their early backgrounds were of great help to their paintings. They both graduated from Hangzhou National College of Art, and both were influenced by the great master Lin Fengmian. They absorbed an extensive array of new knowledge not only Western realistic and factual sketching skills, but also calligraphy and ink-wash painting. Chu Teh-chun's paintings were especially influenced by Chinese poetry. A literary refinement was gradually and naturally infused into his paintings. Chu Teh-chun said: "The combination of Oriental and Western culture should not be a simple mixture, but the integration of minds and ideas. I received my education in China, so my oil paintings are abstract paintings with a Chinese poetic spirit. I'm inclined to the artistic atmosphere of the Tang and Song Dynasty."

This painting "Evocation hivernale C" (Reminiscence of Winter) painted in 1988 depicts a vast and misty land with snow blustering about. The painting reminds viewers of a "vertical scroll" in Chinese painting. A "vertical scroll" conveys a far-reaching feeling of mountains and water. In Chu Teh-chun's "Snow Scenes Series", the portrait orientation of "Evocation hivernale C" was rarely seen. It shows the magnificence and grandness of mountains. When he was composing this picture, he certainly added Chinese artistic elements unconsciously. This was perhaps related to the fact that he had returned to Taiwan for an artistic seminar in 1986, and saw the original Song-Dynasty paintings which he had longed for. While in Taiwan, he asked his student Song Longfei to make an arrangement for him to see the paintings with the special approval of Chin Hsiao-yi, the Director of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Accompanied by Li Lin-tsan, Chu feasted on the view of "Travelers Among Mountains and Stream" by Fan Kuan, "Early Spring" by Kuo Hsi and "Wind in Pines Among a Myriad of Valleys" by Li Tang. The three paintings are treasures of the museum and masterpieces of their times.

This opportunity to view three great original paintings from the Song Dynasty gave Chu Teh-chun the opportunity to understand the subtle skills of ink and brush drawing. This experience was significant for Chu's later paintings. Before he returned to Paris, Li Lin-tsan gave his collection of duplicate "Travelers Among Mountains and Streams" collection to Chu, which is a much told story. The painting "Evocation hivernale C" is a wonderful symphony of a winter season, with a large structure without any letup, with free and powerful brushwork, with cool color tone, sincere and passionate feelings. The "Snow Scenes Series" reflects the artist's steadfast pursuit of the roots of Chinese culture after his setbacks and hard times. Chu Teh-chun endeavored to improve his art creation in his seventies and reached a new artistic peak.