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Lot 1286
Chu Teh-Chun (Chinese/French, 1920-2014)Untitled
Amended
23 November 2014, 13:30 HKT
Hong Kong, Six Pacific PlaceHK$3,500,000 - HK$4,500,000
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Chu Teh-Chun (Chinese/French, 1920-2014)
Untitled
Oil on canvas, framed
Signed in Chinese and English
Signed in Chinese and English and dated 1963 on the reverse
60 x 73cm (23 5/8 x 28 3/4in).
Oil on canvas, framed
Signed in Chinese and English
Signed in Chinese and English and dated 1963 on the reverse
60 x 73cm (23 5/8 x 28 3/4in).
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private Collection, Paris (in this collection since more than 35 years)
This work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity issued by Chu Ching-Chao from the Atelier Chu Teh-Chun, Paris, and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné
朱德群 無題 油彩畫布 木框 一九六三年作
簽名：朱德群 CHU TEH CHUN
背面簽名：1963 朱德群 CHU TEH CHUN
來源：
巴黎私人收藏（在此收藏超過三十五年）
此作品附朱德群巴黎工作室Chu Ching-Chao前述保證書，作品將會收錄在隨後出版的《目錄全集》中
During the second half of the 1950's, Chu Teh-Chun shifted from the figurative to the abstract. A Nicolas de Stael retrospective held in Paris in 1956 had a deep influence on him, but by the early 1960's Chu was already freeing himself from the color blocks and geometric shapes inspired by de Stael and exploring new territories in abstraction. In this beautiful work from 1963, his artistic maturation is evident. As they evolved, the earlier opaque shapes and contours dissolved on the canvas into ethereal and translucent planes. More importantly they capture motion: reviving the essence of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, Chu Teh-Chun allows to us see the energy flowing from the hand holding the brush to the canvas, his brushstrokes express a tremendous powerful movement. On this canvas he uses both wide and long oblique strokes (made with a large brush) and short, thinner lines disrupting them. The strong movement of the large brushstrokes continues outside the bounds of the composition—the frame insufficient to harness their energy—with the painted surface just a glimpse of a greater phenomenon.
As often in Chu Teh-Chun's work, this splendid example is a unique junction of European and Chinese painting techniques and traditions. While exploring the possibilities of oil painting—complex textures on the canvas and vivid opacity—the artist at the same time demonstrates his mastery of the brush, with a visible large brushstroke of impressive controlled strength, as seen in the best Chinese calligraphies. The composition also has the metaphysical dimension of a Chinese landscape painting. In classical Chinese painting, even the simple depiction of a solitary rock with a spray of bamboo at his side embodies a whole landscape, and thus embodies the whole universe. However modest the Chinese landscape painting is, it is a microcosm: offering to the observer the possibility to see beyond the landscape but also, to come inside and wander, even when a visible path is absent. Like his traditional counterparts creating with ink on paper, Chu Teh-Chun also aspired to show something beyond the visible: this painting providing an impression of sweeping movement expanding the limits of the canvas. From a Chinese point of view, the painting has the qi (energy, breath) flowing inside it. As qi goes through all life and all things, it permeates the universe, giving it life and binding it together. As an aesthetic aspect, qi is present in the true masterpieces in the canon of Chinese painting. It is a vital dynamism pervading the whole work, a vibrant tension between the yin and the yang. The presence of qi is patent in this painting.
As this painting captures a moment in the development of Chu Teh-Chun's abstraction, it also evinces an important shift in his palette during that period. Relying primarily on black and brown in the early 1960's, Chu Teh-Chun shifts between 1962 and 1963 to more riotous colours. Blue, green, red, etc. take greater importance in his works. Here, he employs mainly cool colours, complementing them with warm tones to maintain a harmonious balance. Immediately apparent are the various shades of blue and green, reminiscent of a mountain's green slopes or the changing hues of waves on the sea. The artist supplements with a warm yellow-green at the top, a light blue-green (almost turquoise) at the bottom, and in the middle a deep cobalt blue, and with various tinges of dark greyish green. To balance these cool colours the artist added several warmer areas of sand colour, and two earthly ochre-red patches at the center. There are also some black streaks and, perhaps more importantly, white paint mingled with green in some of the large brushstrokes, that create eye-catching lines of light and brightens the whole painting. The subtle balance between the warmer earthly tones and the large blue-green areas is compelling and demonstrates the impressive maturity already achieved by Chu Teh-Chun at this stage. These colours are of a classic landscape but the shapes are shifting and unstable, as if in a midst of a transformation. The concrete forms seem to have eloped, leaving only behind vibrant suggestions of their flight, full of life and energy. In this work, Chu Teh-Chun creates a world of its own and takes us into its imaginary territory.
"Abstraction is not an end, or even a mean, it is a passage. Teh-Chun does not break away from nature, he does not dismiss its reality, he incorporates it to his language filled with his own knowledge and his heritage."
Pierre Cabanne, in Chu Teh-Chun, Les chemins de l'abstraction, Pinacothèque de Paris, 2013.
1956年在巴黎舉行的尼古拉斯．斯達爾（Nicholas de Stael）回顧展對朱德群的藝術風格有重大的影響，啟發了他抽象畫的發展。但到1960年初，朱德群已放下斯達爾的顏色和形狀，而這幅1963年的傑作體現了他對抽象風格的創新演釋。隨著演變，畫布上的形狀和輪廓逐漸融為一體，變得超凡飄渺並具有極大的動感，令人想起中國傳統書畫栩栩如生的筆墨。畫布上強而有力的筆觸夾雜了較細膩的筆劃，每一筆都流露著藝術家所發揮的龐大力量。畫中幾乎可觸及的動感似乎超出畫布的限制，作品彷彿只是一個更宏偉現象當中的一部份而已。
此作是朱德群令人驚嘆的抽象畫中一個精彩的例子，充分體現他交融東西方傳統和技術的風格。他一方面探索油彩獨有的質感、艷麗，同時透過富於情感的筆觸展現他熟練的水墨技術。中國傳統畫中，單是一顆石頭和一抹竹葉已代表一整個景觀，甚至整個宇宙，而此層次的抽象意念在朱德群的畫中顯而易見。作品令人著迷的風景吸引著觀眾，同時邀請他們聯想觀景以外，更宏偉的現象。這張作品所具有的力量超越可見的層面，洋溢動感的筆觸擴展到觀眾的空間。中國學者會形容這種氣勢為「氣」，一個全宇宙必不可少的力量。體現出「氣」是傳統中國畫能達到之最高尚的地位，而朱德群在這幅油畫中徹透地表達出這精彩的張力。
這幅畫是朱德群藝術發展的一個轉折點，不單是筆觸上的進步，顏色也逐漸改變。從六十年代初主要的黑色和棕色，到1962年開始比較鮮艷的色調，如紅、藍、綠等等。此作最奪目的就是不同濃淡深淺的藍綠色，從帶暖調的綠色到深鈷藍色，像山脈廣袤的山坡，或海洋變化無常的色調。雖然這幅畫主要是冷色調，但朱德群為了保持其和諧的平衡也灌輸一些溫暖色調，如中間的土紅色。而這些強烈的色彩中，白色和黑色捕捉並反射光線，令作品變得更生動。朱德群駕馭多種不同顏色，證明他的技術在這個階段已令人欽佩且成熟。
這些形狀和顏色像經典的風景畫，但動盪不定的輪廓彷彿正在演變中，就如它們溜走了，只剩下身後充滿活力的痕跡。透過此作，朱德群引領觀眾進入他所創建的虛境。
「抽象不是目的，也不是過程，是一個經歷。德群沒有脫離大自然或拒絕現實，他把它們融入自己的視覺語言，洋溢他的知識和傳統。」
Pierre Cabanne，《朱德群：走向抽象之路》，巴黎現代藝術圖片館，2013年
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Please kindly note that the text entry for lot 1285 and 1286 in the mini catalogue has been switched.
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