Oil on canvas

90 × 64.5 cm. 35 3/8 × 25 3/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and English, and dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Europe
4 Oct 2010, Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 224
Acquired directly by the present private important Asian collector from the above

Snow Reflection Poetics - White Waves Flowing in Nine Routes to Snowy Peaks

In the 1970s, Chu went deep into the vast expanse of nature and on his grand tours collected landscape paintings, his continually expanded artistic focus leading to yet another creative milestone. In 1965, the artist visited the Swiss Alps, in 1970 he attended a major Rembrandt exhibition in Holland that made him reflect on the composition of light and shade in painting and in 1976 he re-embraced calligraphic brushwork. These three elements enriched Chu's Snowy Landscape Series in the late 1970s and it is against this backdrop that he painted Composition (Lot 49) in 1978. In this piece the artist employs changes in the grey and white scale in his depiction of cloud and mist, snow and mountains, crafting a scene reminiscent of Li Bai's phrase “white waves flowing in nine routes to snowy peaks,” to produce a classic work that represents a transformation in his artistic style.

Flowing Imagery, From Snowy Mountains to Green Peaks

In Composition Chu employs clear colouring, including a considerable amount of semi-transparent white, blue and grey, which through the use of large brush strokes overlap. Added to that is the graceful ink work depicting a landscape of undulating, snowy, mountain peaks in the blank upper part of the painting. Fully integrating the momentum of powerful calligraphy strokes with light color points and areas along with the use of feibai hollow strokes, permeation and hanging methods, enables him to showcase a freehand style that combines a powerful sense of modulation with reality-virtuality. The painting is reminiscent of the vertical composition of Song Dynasty grand mountain and river paintings, but also ranges from distant mountains to close up depictions. In the same way, the flow of the ink lines gradually deepens, guiding the viewer's line of sight and as the clouds/mist dissipate there in the bottom right corner appears the original likeness of the rocky mountains, decorated with golden-yellow, acid blue and brick red. This creates a visual sense of volume and an additional few swipes of white ensures the painting resonates with layering and reality-virtuality. Moreover, the smooth grey-green and malachite green strokes shift the focus from the vibrant passion of the mountains to a placid lake.
Chu uses the appeal of brushwork to create myriad image poetry as he constructs a cultural ideal and euphemistic sentiment in which everything is forgotten. From representational to abstract, lines to light/shade and then shapes, these two paintings build on the past in preparation for the future and it is precisely therein that we find the expansion of artistic meaning. Moreover, this is also how Chu Teh-Chun creates his own unique and imposing style.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,300,000 – 1,800,000
USD: 167,600 – 232,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 2,360,000