PROVENANCE:

Galerie Legendre, Paris

Private collection, France (acquired from the above, 1965)

EXHIBITED:

Exposition Internationale des Peintures et Sculptures Contemporains, Museum of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1964

Photo certificate from the Atelier Chu Teh Chun dated 9 Juin 2011

The "elementary abstractive period" while in Paris was when Chu Teh-chun's painting style transformed from realistic to abstract. The 1950s was the heyday of Western Abstract Expressionism. After arriving in Paris, Chu started seeking liberation of artistic creation through his exploration in an early stage post-impressionism. Chu Teh-chun's mind was deeply touched by the exhibition of posthumous works of Nicolas de Staël, held in Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris National Museum of Modern Art) in 1956. The artist - Nicolas de Staël - was a man of Russian royal descent who took his own life in 1955. His drawings are passionate, brave and free, from visible to invisible, from representational to nonrepresentational, and his thoughts traveled without boundaries. "Freedom and braveness are priceless", an idea from Staël which perfectly matched Chu Teh-chun's pursuit of art. In his mind, Staël was the best modern artist he had ever seen after arriving Paris!

From this period onwards, Chu started his exploration in abstract paintings. The abstractive style offered him a sense of freedom, and his work during this period mainly focused on architecture and urban landscapes. In these paintings, shapes were simplified and expressed with lines and surfaces of colors in a confident, free, and smooth way. His abstract paintings were first seen in a gallery in Paris, Le Monde, and a major newspaper in France gave him positive criticism about the lines and composition in his work. As the 1950s was the golden age of abstract painting, Chu Teh-chun's work created a unique environment of poetry.

In the same year, a well-known Gallery in Paris, Galerie Legendre, which is famous for its abstract art, held an exhibition of "La Peinture de l'Ecole de Paris" in the Charlottenburg Museum in Copenhagen in Denmark. Chu was the only East Asian artist who had his work exhibited at the event. Two years later, Chu's name appeared in the exhibition list again in the "1960 La Peinture de l'Ecole de Paris" held by the authoritative Galerie Charpentier, which re-emphasized Chu's representative position as a member of the "Nouvelle École de Paris."

Maurice Panier, whom was the director of Galerie Legendre, had deeps insight on various forms of art; he held a solo exhibition for Kandisky in France in 1944 that inspired Kandisky's later years. Panier spotted out Chu's extraordinary talent and started to collect his work. Eventually, he signed a six-year agency agreement with Chu, which was a significant acknowledgement of Chu's accomplishment in abstract art. Chu's livelihood in Paris was taken care of so that he could dedicate 100 percent of himself to artistic creation. The collaboration lasted until 1963. Panier praised Chu Teh-chun as a "coloriste," and "rigoureusement composes."

Chu Teh-chun's work, "Composition No.149,"  was finished in 1963 . This piece was originally put in the Galerie Legendre. Later, the piece was sent to Pittsburgh, US for the "Exposition Internationale des Peintures et sculptures Contemporains," at Museum of Carnegie Institute in 1964. Years later the piece was collected by an European collector. Most recently, this masterpiece re surfaced to new hands, yet again.

"Composition no.149" is a piece created during the so-called "condensed color period," a time period described by Taiwan art critic Li Ji-ming. Li's insight on the "condensed color period" is : "Chu Teh-chun's outstanding skill in the use of colour is generally acknowledged. Even the brightest red, the deepest sapphire or the freshest green are never allowed to dominate the entire composition, but are skillfully placed in a larger context. Even strongly contrasting or discordant hues will magically appear united in harmony under Chu's delicate brushstrokes. Chu heaps layer upon layer of colour, as if filling up an ocean of possibilities with concrete shapes and motifs, rising like a hill in the painting 's centre of gravity, and sending out rays of fluid rhythm in all directions, effervescent and natural for all their elaborate sophistication." (cf. Li Jiming,' Chu Teh-chun's Road as a Painter' in Fine Art Studies 15: The China-Paris Connection. Studies on the First Generation of Chinese Painters in France, Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 1989, p. 121)

Take "Composition No.149" as an example: the deep China red is the background of the painting, with majestic brush movements that glide up and down the centre. The hill piled up with thick strokes of paint bring a gravity to the centre of the painting. It feels like the great mountains and rivers of China in memory. Behind the homesickness, there are the intense emotions deep inside the heart of the artist. For painters in Paris in 1960s, it was an age of blossom and revolution, where new forces such as Pop art and Minimal art emerged with strong impacts. Paris, being the capital of the art in the world since the 18th century, began to change when a sudden tension filled the city, where agency galleries were considering a major transformation. Chu, at this time, facing the shock of the increase in Pop art and its associated pressures, stuck with his ideas and continued to create abstract art pieces. This kind of struggle was expressed in his composure and strength during the "condensed color period".

Chu Teh-chun applied both the Yin-Yang philosophy and the Xu-Shi (virtual-real) concept of Chinese landscape painting in his work. He used natural landscape as an element of the universe, simple yet pure, and established his brave and striking drawing style in the 1960s. French poet and art critic Jean Clarence Lambert used the two elements of the four fundamental elements in western world - fire and air - to describe the charm and mystery in Chu's painting, making him stand out among other artists and art genres in Paris. The vivid and burning emotions of the artist is perfectly expressed in "Composition No.149," where cursive-like bold lines of black are wielded on top of the background of intense red. Color blocks of sapphire blue glowing stars lights light up the whole picture, conveying the concept of a indescribably beautiful view of thick clouds floating amidst striking, tall mountains.

Chu Teh-chun considers his own paintings as "passionate abstractionism," he once shared his concepts of artistic creation with Chinese writer Qian Lin-sen: "My painting as questions to the Universe, is a collision between the pondering and passion of life. I use colors and lights to compose my paintings, to express my understandings of the world and our lives, to communicate my doubts, my thoughts and my feelings. I have this motivation of emotions drives me while painting; some say that they can sense a natural revelation of feelings in my works, so I think the sincere enthusiasm can be felt and attracts resonance."

In "Composition No.149", an early piece of work by the artist, he expressed an inner strength and strong emotions, drawing in the viewers. After the "condensed color period", Chu's painting styles transformed to being bright and open, full of vibrant colors, which is the "Chu Teh-chun style," a now-commonly recognized style. However, the unique and intense drawing style of the artist during the "condensed color period" was a reflection of his struggles in life, and "Composition No.149" is a representative master piece of that period; it is one of the boldest and bravest paintings from the artist during that period, even more rare than pieces during his early artistic career.