EXHIBITED:
Chu Teh-chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Taipei, September 19-November 23, 2008

ILLUSTRATED:
Chu Teh-chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Taipei; Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, 2008, color illustrated, p. 99 (hard back edition)
Chu Teh-chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Taipei; Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, 2008, color illustrated, p. 50 (brochure)

The title Mille vies se cachent dans le bois (A thousand lives hidden in the forest), which Chu Teh-chun assigned to his abstract Composition No. 51, is itself imbued with a rich poetic space. The passage comes from one of the ten poems in the collection Fountain of Wine by Northern Song dynasty poet Pan Lang. Also entitled Memories of Hangzhou, the poem recalls the beautiful landscape of that ancient city.

The original text of the poem is: In the memory, Qiantang is not of this earth but of divine provenance. A thousand lives hidden in the forest, the murmuring of streams at every turn. Different flowers are placed in windows according to the season, clearly seen through the paper screens. The weeping willows have seen many autumns since I departed. When will the day come that I can wander beneath them again? Qiantang is the old name for the city of Hangzhou, which was the national capital for the then divided nation. A native of Jiangsu Province, Chu Teh-chun studied at the Hangzhou National College of Art in his youth. One could say that Hangzhou is his artistic hometown.

How beautiful is Hangzhou! They say that up above, there is heaven, down on earth, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou. Lush green forests cover the hills, with interlocking rows of houses, forming a majestic and alluring landscape. The lake reflects the colors of the mountains, and all the windows are decorated with the riotous purples and reds of various seasonal flowers. Burbling streams weave between stands of luxuriant green bamboo, and the movements of people in the houses cast visible shadows on the window screens. Under the shade of willow trees, a gentle breeze ripples through the weeping branches. Every corner of this town provides unforgettable memories. After leaving for so long, when can he finally return to wander this city? Is this poem not describing the very thoughts of the artist?

The Song dynasty was an era of great development for Chinese painting, when masters of art and literature shone like stars, making great achievements in poetry and painting. In 1960, famous Parisian art critic Jean-François Chabrun called Chu a 20th century Song dynasty painter (Peintre Song du XXe siècle), praising him for approaching, with his modern painting, the spiritual realm of the ancient masters, encompassing East and West while transcending both. Such an appellation is impossible to fully understand without knowing the history of Chinese painting and having experienced the modern art movements of the 20th century.

In 1935, Chu Teh-chun entered into the Hangzhou National College of Art, which was founded by Chinese modern artist Lin Fengmian. It was a time of great development for the school, and six years of study laid down a solid foundation for the artist, with Pan Tianshou, a professor of Chinese painting, and Wu Dayu, a professor of Western painting, having the greatest influence over Chu's artistic development. Pan Tianshou continued in the literati painting tradition, richly steeped in classical literature and the poetry of the Tang and Song dynasties. Wu Dayu, who had studied abroad in France, was an immensely talented and creative painter. Under the tutelage of these famous masters at the Hangzhou College, Chu picked up the habit of reading Tang and Song poetry and grew to admire Cézanne, the father of modern art. His grasp of Cézanne's art became the key to unlocking modern art. Chu's abstract painting was a composite of poetry and visual art; it would soon break through to reach new artistic heights for the artist.

The artist moved to Taiwan to teach painting in 1948, and his experience of painting the forested mountains and roiling seas of the island helped further root the artist in Chinese painting. When he later travelled to France to research abstract painting, he was naturally able to infuse it with the unique imagery of Chinese landscapes. The wave of abstract expressionism in 1950s Paris ignited a passion in the artist that led him down the path of abstract painting. At a visit to a retrospective on Nicolas de Staël at the Paris Museum of Modern Art in 1956, he was swept up by the passionate imagery and released from the fetters of figurative art. Soon after, he began his own experiments with abstract creation.

In 1960, Chu Teh-chun was invited to participate in the Ecole de Paris Exhibition with an oil painting marked by Chinese conceptual imagery, cementing his reputation in the Paris art scene. The painting, with its strong, calligraphic line structure and rich sense of movement, was well received by Western art critics. French poet Hubert Juin was Chu's first ardent critical supporter. He writes: A Native of Jiangsu Province steeped in the arts of Hangzhou, this member of the phenomenon that is the Ecole de Paris has eschewed the figurative arts, rediscovering (perhaps inventing) an emergent style based on the written form. We know that he was heavily influenced by Fauvism at first, but he quickly found his own syntax and personal style, presenting us with a powerful and vibrant imagery. (Natif de la province de Kiang-Sou, étudiant aux beaux arts de Hang-Tchéou, membre de plein droit de ce fantasme qu'est l'Ecole de Paris, vite dédaigneux de la voie figurative, Chu Teh-chun redécouvre (inventant ce qui est) les qualitiés d'écriture qui sont nécessaires au surgissement. Le fauvism le requite un moment. L'envie qu'il avait (le souci) d'explorer l'espace lui permit sans trop attendre de se créer un vocabulaire et une syntaxe personnelle.)

Galerie Henriette Legendre in Paris was the first gallery to sign with the artist. Their collaboration began in 1958 and lasted for six years. Carefully nurtured at this gallery, Chu was able to solidify his position in the Ecole de Paris and make a name for himself in the international art scene. The year 1960 marked an important phase in his abstract transition, and he developed a style marked by his rich calligraphic lines. He would use calligraphic brushing techniques over a monochrome background to create an alluring atmosphere. Between these complex lines, numerous geometric shapes of various hues emerged like crystallizing gems while shafts of light were refracted and transformed within, as if bursting out from behind the clouds.

Chu created Composition No. 51, Mille vies se cachent dans le bois (A thousand lives hidden in the forest) and Composition No. 53, Red Raindrops on the Village, White Clouds over the Hut in 1960. Both paintings, which paid homage to his hometown along the Yangtze River, were important representative works in his abstract transition. Both were originally collected by the Galerie Henriette Legendre, and are rare specimens of the artist's early work. The striking nature of these works is embodied in the analysis provided by Maurice Panier, then art director of the gallery: Chu Teh-chun's work is difficult to classify according to the art trends prevalent today. Its starting point is often nostalgia for the landscapes of his memory, catalyzed by a line of classic poetry. He then translates this through his brush into a creative and imaginative language of painting. (L'oeuvres de Chu est difficilement classable dans les divers termes génériques servant à définer les multiples tendances de la peinture actuelle. Son point de départ est le plus souvent des paysage ou les strophes d'un poème qu'il traduit en language plastique.)

In the eyes of Eastern art theorists, Chu Teh-chun is a master in the use of oil to convey the spirit of Chinese ink wash painting. With sweeping brushstrokes, he expresses the power of the towering mountains; with smaller touches, he evokes a graceful, refined rhythm. Composition No. 51, A Thousand Lives Hidden in the Forest, is a prime example of his mastery, where the artist has deftly transformed the smoky landscape of Hangzhou into a beautiful abstract composition. Here we see the perfect embodiment of the unity between poetry and the visual arts.