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 Tehchun 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 comme 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 National 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 Tehchun 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."

Snow Scenes Series completed between 1985 and 1989 and the scarcity is what made it fervently pursued by Chu Teh-chun's fans. Chu Teh-chun recalls the snow scenes he had encountered during his travels that had inspired him to paint this exquisite series. He said: "I have done many paintings with various shades of white, inspired
by the snow-capped mountains I saw in the Alps while traveling in
Geneva. On a cloudy day, the white from the sea of clouds and the
white of the snow were clearly discernible and changing constantly.
This phenomenon filled my mind with images of clouds continuously
floating on a bed of white. My spirit felt as though it was floating up
and down in concert with the changes in the shade and density of
that scene and in a flash, many of the familiar images portrayed in
the Tang poems rushed into my head. I simply could not wait to go
home and put these images on canvas.. I wanted to capture in paint
my feelings in that moment.." This Lot was created in 1985 right after Chu's trip to the Alps. It is a very important work of the "Snow Scenes Series", and it is emotionally meaningful to the artist himself as well.