Exhibited:

Illustrated:

Chu Teh-chun is an artist who is never satisfied with his work, constantly challenging himself to improve and looking for more creative forms of expression. This characteristic is evident in his later paintings that were distinctly broader in scope and bigger in size than in his earlier works. His unique style of depicting the traditional Chinese landscapes in abstract form without losing the romantic appeal is well known and even in his advanced age, he continues to surprise his admirers with every painting. The highly valued "Snow scenes"series completed between 1985 and 1989 comprises no more than 20 pieces 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.¹ .."

In "Temps d'hiver of the "Snow scenes" one cannot help but wonder if the artist was thinking of the magnificent winter scene described by Tang Poet Li Po's 'in the bitter cold, the snow keeps falling like a giant hand smothering the snow-covered grounds'or the flurry of activity in Tu Fu's "under the low lying clouds, the snow flakes dance merrily in the wind" Imagine a scene of snow flakes floating gently from the sky and dancing in the cold wind, a breathtaking sight indeed. Blue has always been Chu Teh-chun"s color of choice. It represents imagination and reminds one of the mysterious and expansive oceans. In this painting, the artist used a combination of blue and white to depict a scene of "bitter cold"

Pierre Cabanne, a well-known art critic in France who has been acquainted with Chu Teh-chun fo many years, is also a fervent admirer of Chu Teh-chun's work. In his book Entretiens avec Marcel Duchamp published in 1967, Cabanne described the artist's source of inspiration for the snow scenes series: Le peinture de Chu Teh-chun est aussi un voyage, mieux une randonée?à travers le pays imaginaire dontt son oeuvre est le reflet. Partie de Chine elle a conquis la planéte entiére; pourtant il ne peint pas de lieux, mais ce que les phénoménes lui suggérent, 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 chaos²) écrivait Shitao.

In addition to the high praise from the western art world for Chu Teh-chun's "Snow Scenes"series, Mr. Li Lin-tsan, the demised former curator of the Forbidden Palace Museum and a classmate of Chu Teh-chun's at the Hangzhou National College of Art, was also full of praise for the artist. In 1958, Mr. Li built a worldwide reputation when he embarked on a study of Fan Kuan's "Travelers Among Streams and Mountains" Chu Teh-chun's appreciation of Fan's work is evident in his earlier works on landscapes, expounding the poetic beauty of traditional Chinese paintings. It is no wonder that Li had included in his memoirs his admiration of the way Chu had managed to use "stiff oil paints to depict the desolate and bitter cold of winter"in his paintings³!

1. Liao Chiung-fang, Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series II: Chu Teh-chun, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, January 1999, p. 56
2. Pierre Cabanne,"Chu Teh-chun: Une peinture d'effusion et de celebration" Chu Teh-chun (exhibition catalogue), Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2000, p. 17
3. Li Lin-tsan, "New Interpretation to Abstraction Titles" Recollection for Teachers and Friends in the Art World: West Lake, Snow Mountain and Old Friends, Hsiung Shih Art Books, Taipei, 1991, p. 53