Oil on canvas

60×73 cm 23 5/8×28 3/4 in

Signed in Pinyin and Chinese and dated 86 on lower right

LITERATURE
2012, Chu Teh-Chun, Goethe Art Center, Taipei, p.26-27
PROVENANCE
Important private collection， Asia

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued from Atelier Chu Teh-Chun and Mrs. Chu Ching ChaoChu Teh-Chun graduated from the former National Hangzhou School of Art （now known as China Academy of Art） and was heavily influenced by the belief of open-mindedness upheld by the then Rector， by name of Lin Feng-mian， who advocated a “fusion of arts in the east and the west”. Inheriting the said Rector’s creed of “inspiring the ambitious in modern times through learning from the accomplished in ancient times”， Lin Feng-mian has been swimming freely in surging waves of “east-meets-west” which have swept over the whole China and also has pocketed his crystallized pearls of wisdom. Matter-of-factly， he has developed his own style which is rooted in the aesthetic doctrine of “Substance over Form”， upheld by practitioners of the traditional Chinese painting art for generations， and presented by means of abstract modern art in Europe. Accordingly， he has managed to erect his banner of Chinese traditional painting aesthetic in the western domain of artistic language which has been deemed as a significant milestone in the pursuit of artistic exchanges and evolution between the east and the west.
Apex of Creation - Inspired by Snow Scenes
Year 1965 saw Chu Teh-Chun take part in an Arts Festival held at a village in the Savoie region which lies in the eastern part of France， at the invitation of a physician by name of Paul Gay. During his visit， he was so impressed by the fantastic snow scenes across undulating mountains that he started to delve into the depiction of snow scenes and the application of white pigments. Despite of his persistent endeavors， he had rarely found any of his works much to his own satisfaction. Not until 1985 did he have another encounter with a snowstorm， which eventually ignited his passion for snow scenery that had been simmering in the depth of his bosom for more than 2 decades. Driven by a voracious appetite for artistic breakthroughs， he finally made it by his vivid use of white， which was no longer a secondary color to form a plane， but already transformed to dots and lines flowing spontaneously across his canvas. As a result， he found himself at the apex of his snow-themed art， at long last.
The Snow Scenery series， considered as one of the most captivating themes of Chu’s artworks， has thoroughly demonstrated his avid adherence to the creed of “east-meets-west” in art and his prodigious talents and techniques. Containing no more than 40 artworks， this series has been the most time-consuming of his career to date and has thus been treasured dearly. The Winter Waltz put up now for auction has been one of his earlier artworks under the eponymic series.
Melting Pot of Various Techniques： A Modern Innovation Inspired by Ancient Wisdom
In this painting， Chu Teh-Chun has applied a rich variety of traditional techniques， such as dripping， dipping， streaming and splashing， etc. which are all indigenous to Chinese time-honored genre of landscape-themed ink painting， and also demonstrated a deft hand in creative free-riding and pictographic stroking. With much precision， his brush scores high marks in capturing the ever-changing atmospheric mood in snow scenes and also screen-shooting the airy snowflakes which are dancing with grace. The bold， robust black lines running from the top down in the middle of the canvas just seem to be a mountainous breeze sweeping from somewhere and chasing tumbling flakes of snow， which effortlessly triggers a mental association with the rhythms and vitality of human life. Nestled on the two sides are inky lines and stripes in stretched strokes， which appear to be interwoven into colored patches of momentum， looking much like towering mountains enveloped in white pigments of gradually fading hues. The entirety is an eyeful of snowy bliss which has been incarnated by the artist by his playing a wicked game of pigmentation， resulting laudably in so ravishing a scenery of translucent charm characterized by airy snowiness against a foggy backdrop.
Unlike the bleached expanse of gloomy snowiness often depicted by his counterparts， Chu has spiced up his rendition with a novel miscellany of warmer colorings in cyan， red and yellow to the accompaniment of colored pigments dotted on and off， signaling the forthcoming spring when each and all will be brought to life， once again. The eye-catching speck of salmon pink appearing near the center refracts， subtly， the audience’s eyesight onto the nooks and crannies under the towering snow lying snug everywhere， adding some long-awaited texture into the entirety and showcasing the artist’s prodigious talent in capturing the budding liveliness of a looming spring which is slated for arrival in place of an intensively-treasured snowy winter.
Drawing Inspirations from Both Worlds： East Meets West
Across generations over centuries， Chinese intellectuals have been devout believers in the great prowess of “seeking inspiration and nourishment from the great nature”. Given this mentality， painting in the traditional Chinese way requires one to hold the great nature in sheer reverence and materialize his physical senses of， feelings about and inspirations drawn from the riveting nature in the form of meaningful renditions based on his intellectual nourishment enabled by the vast nature. As it happens， this doctrine echoes Chu’s conscious perception of the pivotal technique desired in the realm of Chinese-style landscape painting， which is to render what you witness with naked eyes into what you could convey with images， as emblematic as possible. In his artwork Winter Waltz， he employed the skills of dipping and splashing while metaphorizing his avid pursuit of spiritual freedom in the domain of artistic creation. In a nutshell， it is his solid training as a painter and prudent thinking as a thinker that enabled his masterful representation of the mesmerizing snow scenery conferred by the formidable nature in such an impulsive fashion， all of his own.
After setting foot in the Parisian art society， Chu found inspirations from the abstract art theories founded by Wassily Kandinsky and started shaking off his earlier confinement to representational painting and dived headfirst into waters of abstract painting on an experimental basis. Later in 1956， he was inspired by the amphibious style of the fusionist Nicolas de Staël who managed a balance between forms and abstract themes. It eventually dawned on Chu that the kernel of abstract expressionism derived from the west lies in a serendipitous comprehension which is： abstract is not a means or purpose， but a bridging device. Such serendipity empowered him with a greater freedom and an exponentially enhanced selection of forms and colors. In point of fact， he has never slighted the importance of forms， but swerved to extract his desired results of pigmentation from varying forms in an effort to exhibit a potent emancipation of his many inner perceptions derived from enticing landscapes without discarding what he has inherited in the Chinese painting domain.
Compactly structured， the painting Winter Waltz showcases Chu’s mature techniques in minutiae management and his impressive skills in enveloping profound meanings into delightfully simple images. Thanks to his remarkable feats in fusing the Chinese sapience with intensive enlightenment from his exposure to the western arts， he has been enabled to pull off a wizardly connotative magnum opus as dulcet as this snow-themed piece.

“The snow fully covers Alps Mountain while the cloud is saturating in the air. The white from the cloud and the white of the snow consists of various layers， thus full of diversity and changes. My heart was filled with the moving cloud on land and the out coming layers， and my soul was experiencing ups and downs along with the swirling scenes. Then they remind me of poetry of Tang dynasty， and I couldn’t help to start painting later on.”
—— Chu Teh-Chun

Price estimate:
HKD: 6,500,000 – 8,000,000
USD: 836,600 – 1,029,600

Auction Result:
HKD: 7,970,000