Oil on canvas

195 × 130 cm. 76 3/4 × 51 1/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and English, and dated on bottom right; titled in English, signed in English and Chinese and dated on the reverse

LITERATURE
2007, Chu Teh-Chun, Malborough Gallery, Madrid, p. 7
2008, Chu Teh-Chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, p. 253
2009, A Complete Collection of World Famous Paintings - Chu Teh-Chun, Hebei Education Press, Shijiazhuang, p. 116
2015, The Boundaries of Order, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, p. 23
EXHIBITED
20 Nov 2007 – 5 Jan 2008, Chu Teh-Chun Pintura Reciente, Malborough Gallery, Madrid
19 Sep – 23 Nov 2008, Chu Teh-Chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Malborough Gallery, Madrid
Important Private Collection, Asia
7 Oct 2014, China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 961
Acquired directly by present private important Asian collector from the above

Note: A label of Madrid Malborough Gallery is affixed on the reverse

Awakening of Gravity and Steering of the World
The Debut of Chu Teh-Chun's Masterpiece Aspiration

“What I painted is my feelings towards nature and what nature makes me feel. In short, it is the crystallization of nature and my spirituality.”
—— Chu Teh-Chun

Chu Teh-Chun entered Hangzhou National College of Art in 1935. Under the influence of Wu Dayu's idea of “the integration of painter and nature to the forgetfulness of both”, Chu started from impressionism and gradually established his own style during his 6 years of teaching at Taiwan Normal University. From the critical acclaim since his arrival in Paris in the early 1950s to the participation in exhibitions held by important European art museums in the 1960s, he fully integrated the spirit of poetry, calligraphy and painting in the 1970s and moved towards the pursuit of harmony and unity of light, image and rhythm in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he was widely recognized internationally. In 1997, he was awarded the l'Academie des Beaux-Arts de France, becoming the first Chinese artist who has received the distinguished honor. In 2001, the artist was awarded Chevalier de L'Order des Palmes Académiques by the French Education Ministry and Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the President for his highest artistic achievement.

Since 2000, Chu Teh-Chun has reached the peak of artistic career. In 2003, he completed the colossal piece of the 7.3 meter Revival of the Melody at Shanghai Grand Theater. In 2008, Taiwan National Museum of History held the sensational Chu Teh-Chun's 88 Retrospective, which presented his representative works in different periods of his life. Aspiration (2007) is a magnificent piece in this important exhibition.

Turning and Swirling: A Grand Spatial Configuration
Standing on the accumulated artistic achievement, Chu Teh-Chun became mellow after 2000. His past experience has become a natural source of inspiration. He continued to create large-scale paintings to express himself and uses unusual composition and light and shadow configuration to demonstrate his unique artistic charm.

On a grand scale, Chu uses a powerful and surging spatial configuration in Aspiration to create a magnificent landscape which culminates the achievement of his many years of exploration. From his thoughts on the visual nature of light and shadow in the 1970s and the 1980s, to the experience of traveling through Europe and America and seeing the paintings of the great masters in the 1990s, he was nurtured by these encounters and formed a free yet intense artistic style and greatly expanded his vision. On the one hand, he pursued the extreme contrast of the light structure by Venetian painters such as Rembrandt and Titian; on the other hand, he gained profound enlightenment from the vertical landscape paintings of Fan Kuan and Guo Xi in the Northern Song Dynasty and formed the immeasurable power and spirit in his own paintings.

This work is similar to Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee in the classic upper and lower enveloping composition that deals with the relationship between light and dark, in which a beam of light descends from the sky and penetrates the picture, creating a visual focus. The separation of the lighter and the darker areas creates a strong visual contrast. The four corners of the work are in Prussian blue, advancing with storm-like brushstrokes, gradually introducing the light source, until the fragmented colors burst in the center of the picture. The change of shades, the intersection of colors, and the momentum of the brushstrokes create a rich visual attraction simultaneously. The rotating configuration of the work reminds us of Claude Monet's La Promenade, in that the brushworks also concentrate on the focal point. Relying on precise control and guidance of light, Chu subtly manipulates the visual dimension of the canvas, painting with coarse brushstrokes in the periphery to create a strong sense of space and distance, while using fine strokes to accentuate and intensify change in the center. The viewers' eyesight is involuntarily attracted to the light source in the center, which demonstrates Chu Teh-Chun's power of steering light and enlightening vision with his mastery of skills.

The Pen of Freedom and the Splendid Colorblocks
In addition to the unusual composition, Aspiration also sees Chu Teh-Chun's extraordinary expressiveness of natural and wonderful forms through lines. He combines the art form of calligraphy and painting, integrating the dimensions of light, color, shape and line to present the flexible, joyful and sensuous excitement and reverberation.

Benefiting from his childhood accumulative effort and his persevering calligraphy practice since the 1970s, Chu Teh-Chun's superb control over lines has reached climax as he grew older. Professor Wang Zhexiong once said: “In Chu Teh-Chun's works in the 2000s, he uses the lines only when absolutely necessary. Lines are used like a finishing touch, like a tiger with wings, as valuable as gold. The rhythm is embedded in the mystery of image and glittering color blocks.” Borrowing from calligraphy strokes, Chu Teh-Chun holds a large brush in his hand, paints with ease and confidence, as if deep water runs through the mountain. His Hangzhou National College of Art mentor Wu Dayu once stated that “painting is not only the painter's feeling of nature, but also the reality of the universe in a moment”, which gives birth to Chu Teh-Chun's insight of “the crystallization of nature and my spirituality”. In Dance of Flowers, Wu Dayu's masterpiece in the 1970s, the undulating lines create a dazzling shadow, which is echoed by Chu Teh-Chun's works. In addition to abstraction, Chu Teh-Chun connects the tangible and the intangible with imagination. Through undulating brushstrokes and color blocks, Zhu displays the effect of Chinese landscape painting, the beauty of poetry and the vigorous brushwork of calligraphy.

In Aspiration, Chu Teh-Chun uses his beloved blue tone. Blue symbolizes the endless sky and the vast ocean, which are the inexhaustible source of life and the passion of Chu Teh-Chun's abstract poetry. In the work, the Prussian blue forms a flow of light from deep to shallow. With the movement of the flying white brush, Zhu presents rich color variation of navy, royal blue, and lake blue. The vermilion spot in the center is like the moment when the sun rises and the clouds clear up, summoning the glory of earth. The bright colored dots dance like morning glow, rosy pink, orange red, bright yellow. These intermingled bright color blocks beam with power of life and energy.

Wassily Kandinsky, the forerunner of abstract art, once said: “Color directly speaks to the soul.” Chu Teh-Chun's art is not just the inspiration of souls and the seduction of colors. He turned the image of freedom into a canvas space, integrating the brushstrokes and colors, producing endless rhythmic reverberations. With unparalleled artistic creativity, Chu Teh-Chun demonstrates his artistic pursuit of blending oriental aesthetics with western abstraction.

Price estimate:
HKD: 9,800,000 – 15,000,000
USD: 1,263,700 – 1,934,200

Auction Result:
HKD: --