EXHIBITED:

ILLUSTRATED:

This painting is to be sold with certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Chu-tsing Li, the famous University of Kansas Professor Emeritus in the art scene once claimed that, Chu Teh-chun is one of the best contemporary artists in China, he also is the only artist who was closely connected to China, Taiwan and other countries throughout the world, and it was very distinct during that time. He mentioned: "...After the anti-Japanese war, and before 1949, several generations of artists reached artistic maturity on the Mainland. At the time, it is rare for an artist to go from the Mainland to Taiwan and then to Europe and America. Among the native artists of Taiwan, but most of them did not grow up until 1949. As a result, their relationships with artists from the Mainland were not very extensive. Although very few Chinese artists went overseas during the 1950's, the number of artists going abroad during the 1960's and the 1970's increased steadily. Chu Teh-chun is the only one artist who has been able to maintain a connection with diverse artistic experiences and with the artists of different generations. Therefore, when we talk about the history f modern Chinese art, we can not overlook this key person." (Chu-tsing Li, 'The Abstract World of Chu Teh-chun', Chu Teh-chun exbition catalogue, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, 1997, p. 23)

Chu was born in Jiangsu Xuzhou in 1920, his grandfather and father are both doctors, they were interested in literatures, paintings as well as collecting them. He enrolled in Hangzhou National Academy of Art in 1935. During that time, art was in fashion, and political situation was also stable. He was the apprentice of great teachers like Lin Fengmian and Wu Dayu. His friend Li Lin-tsan once described him as "the most diligent student on the West Lake". When China was resisting against Japan, he moved with his school, after his graduation he stayed in school to serve as an assistant instructor for his brilliant performance during his study, his destitute life experiences during that period surely affected his later paintings and creations. In 1949, Chu came to Taiwan and first taught in the Architecture Department in National Taipei University of Technology, later he transferred to The Department of Fine Arts in National Taiwan Normal University as an associate professor, it was the best school to study art at that time. During the 1950's, he became the most important member in Taiwan's western painting scene, his students included Liu Kuo-sung, Chuang Che and Chen Ching-jung. After 1955, he moved to Paris, and gradually shows up prominently in the European art scene. In 1979, French art critic Hubert Juin wrote an autobiography for him, it was a very difficult task, after four to five decades of efforts, he received the highest honor of Membre de L'Académie des Beaux Arts de L'Institut de France in 1999, it was an initiative Chinese privilege for the past 200 years.

Like what his friends see in him, Chu was in love with paintings and artistic creations , and that passion never disappeared, he asked himself to retain that creative spirit during each stage of his life. In 1987, after he left Taiwan for over 30 years, he was invited by National Museum of History in Taipei to held an invitational exhibition for his first ever return to Taiwan for years, he exhibited over 40 pieces of his favorite works. Before the exhibition, he wrote to his friend Li Lin-tsan who was working in National Palace Museum at that time for his advice, Chu asked for Li's opinions on his Snow Scenery series, which tells even himself took his new paintings seriously. Indeed, developed during 1985 to 1989, his "Snow Scenery" series is highly praised by the public, due to its limited quantity, those paintings from that series is like off-the-hook among Chu Teh-chun fans. Chu Teh-chun recalled the snow scenes he had encountered during his travels that had he had encountered during his travels that had inspired him to paint this exquisites series. He told art critic Chu Ko during an interview: "I have done many paintings with various shades of white, inspired by the snowcapped 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..." (Liao Chiung-fang, Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series II: Chu Teh-chun, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, January 1999, p. 56)

The images of Tang poetry often came to Chu's mind, and he gradually painted those affections one after another. When Li Lin-tsan first saw Chu's snow scenes paintings, they reminded him of Tang dynasty poet Li Po's "Snow-covered ground with cold wind blowin', snow flakes are as big as hands" as well as Tu Fu's "Unrest clouds covered the sunset sky, swift snows are dancing in the wind", and those thick colors added onto that poetic white reminds Wu Guangzhong of Wang Ximeng "A Thousand Lis of Rivers and Mountains", it shines like the sun, and is as glorious as some of the western contemporary arts.

This piece "Présence hivernale II" was finished by Chu Teh-chun in 1987, it was original collected by his friend who also is a famous artist. This piece of work had be exhibited at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Liège in Belgium in 1988. "Présence hivernale" is a set of three paintings, all of them are magnificent 130x195cm large works, created during 1986-1987, and they pictured interesting heavy snow scenes in winter.

Deceased French poet and art critic Joseph Paul Schneider (1940-1998) published "Chu Teh-chun, listening to the Universe" on "Du Donnerstag" in 1987, he mentioned "...From the mineralogical structures of the deep earth awakened by the power of light in some of his works, some recent painting suggesting the 'Presence of Winter', then through tempest and chaos, or through works inspired by 'peaceful morning hours' or the colours of autumn, to the exploration of that fire smouldering amid his 'inhabited structures', from the level of the horizon to the ascending lines, the nourishing light is present everywhere, concentrated or diffuse. Born of melting matter, flashing from a single focus or subtly dispersed among the outlines, light ignores all boundaries. It is that fire which builds up the world and counteracts the power of darkness; it is the victorious weapon in a mysterious and pathetic dialogue...." (Joseph Paul Schneider, translated by Helene Joussein from Du Donnerstag, 2nd April 1987, Luxembourg)

As Schneider mentioned, "light" dominants Chu Teh-chun's paintings, his brush strokes and dynamics are also crucial elements that made the whole picture flows as fluent as music. Wu Guangzhong also thinks that each one of Chu's paintings are like kinetic harmonies, the beauty of rhythm is unified in harmonic colors, it's like "To watch others dance before a crystal, looks intense but also totally silent, as if unconstrained strengths were all melted in one placid beauty." Bold and dense calligraphic brush strokes can also be seen in "Présence hivernale II", thin lines composed the rhythm of the snow, Chu's composition and shades are delicately arranged, it is magnificent and exquisite, he artfully created his lyrical abstract world with a touch of oil painting techniques, that made the whole picture is huge and poetic, and makes viewers delightful and refreshed.