PROVENANCE:
Private collection, FranceILLUSTRATEDThis painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogueraisonné in preparation by T’ang Haywen Archives and Mr.
Philippe Koutouzis under No. LDC-KY-30.This painting is to be sold with the certificate of authenticityissued by Philippe Koutouzis.

The romantic styles of traditional ink and wash paintings and western abstract art center on capturing the subject’s spirit and expression between figurativeness and abstraction, eventually forming French Chinese artist T’ang Haywen’s style, which mixes the forms and techniques of both eastern and western art.

“Travel is the most important fuel for artists.” Born in Xiamen, Fujian, before moving to Vietnam with his family in his childhood, T’ang Haywen had lived in many countries in his lifetime. Since arriving in Paris in 1948, his restricted literati spirit bound by etiquette and built upon years of learning calligraphy from his grandfather found a new outlet, like a river suddenly rushing into the sea. Touched by Paris where the art had been blooming during that period, the city’s unrestricted and liberating culture, T’ang Haywen turned his back on his medical studies, deciding instead to live in Paris, and teach himself art by traveling the world and visiting museums, establishing his dream of becoming a painter.

A look at the abstract works of T’ang Haywen show that these mostly 70 cm by 100 cm diptychs display vastly different charms in different eras. The 1970s was an important period for his transitions from realism to abstract, this collection of unlimited, uninhibited images that fall between figurativeness and abstraction, unhindered by labels, integrating concepts of color and geometric shapes under the influence of the Taoist “split one into two”, “two join as one” philosophy, in search of a way to create a third space, both inheriting tradition and taking the modernization of Chinese ink and wash paintings one step further.

After the 1980s, the artist’s recreation of “nature” based on his keen perspectives became clear, the dark and light ink that travel and dye his images present a beautiful, light flow, or thick, black lines of ink thundering like a stampede of horses. These spontaneous diptychs recorded the fleeting sceneries encountered in his travels, not only filling blank pages with ethereal abundance, but also displaying the beauty of following nature. If we were to explore any detail—the faraway mountains by the horizon, the rolling clouds, the warm sunlight, the breeze caressing our cheeks—the grand scenery that the artist saw at the time would brought to life right before our eyes.