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CHU TEH-CHUN

BIOGRAPHY

1920 Chu Teh-Chun was born on October 24, 1920 in Baitou Zhen in the province of Jiangsu, China. He was the youngest of three boys from a prosperous family. His grandfather and father were both doctors as well as collectors of traditional Chinese paintings. These paintings played a large role in influencing the young artist, Teh-Chun.
Growing up, Teh-Chun was schooled at home with his brothers. At the age of 10, he entered primary school in the Xiaoxian department, after which he pursued his studies at the Xuzhou High School where he would graduate. In 1935 he entered the National Academy of Fine Arts of Hangzhou under the direction of Lin Fengmian, one of the most renowned artists of the time.
1936 From April through June 1936, Chu Teh-Chun performed his military service. He later returned to school where in addition to his normal studies he began painting using watercolors. He painted around West Lake, Lake Xi Hu, one of the most impressive countrysides in China. This lake is situated in an amphitheatre filled with trees and surrounded by mountains. In the middle of the lake stands Gu Shan, a solitary hill. His initial use of watercolors showed influence from both Western and traditional Chinese styles. However at this point the Chinese style had yet to become an established genre in Teh-Chun’s school, causing him to pursue a more Western approach. At this early stage Teh-Chun was especially influenced by the director of the school and one of his professors, both of whom had studied in Paris where they collected art reviews and reproductions of works by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, and especially Cézanne.
1937-1945 On July 7, 1937 the beginning of the Sino-Japan war drove the school to move to the interior of the country. A two-year exodus began where courses were held while in transit, permitting the students to discover a variety of countrysides and participate in local activities. This 4,000-kilometer journey took them through five provinces and ended in Chong Qing, the replicated Chinese capital in Sichuan. At this time Chu Teh-Chun produced posters and painted murals that were used for propaganda against Japanese aggression. In Kun Ming, the life and customs of the Miao minorities and the horses of Sichuan inspired a number of drawings that he unfortunately did not keep. To this day Teh-Chun speaks of his amazing memories of this voyage and the countryside with strong emotion. He graduated in 1941 with outstanding marks and was immediately appointed assistant professor at Hangzhou Academy. In 1944 he was named professor in the Department of Architecture at the Central University of Nankin. This school had also moved to Chong Qing during the war. Here in 1944 he participated in an exhibition of modern painters and the following year he had an independent show.
1947 Upon returning to his native city of the Central University of Nankin, Teh-Chun was deeply moved by the gorge and the Yangtze Jiang River that flowed through it. This deep reflection led to his interest in exploring the rapport between painting and nature following the examples of the masters Tang and Song.
1948 In 1948 Chu Teh-Chun returned to his native country where he was reunited with his mother, a widow since 1940. He married Liu Hanfu and the following year they had a daughter, Kate. They all left Nankin by way of Shanghai and arrived in Taipei in December 1949. Before leaving Nankin, Teh-Chun left his paintings with a friend but would never get them back.
1950 In 1950 he was appointed professor in the Department of Architecture at the Taipei School of Industry. He became a professor the following year at the Fine Arts department at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taiwan. He would also participate in the Independent Exhibition in Ahongshan Tang, Taipei. Tung Ching-Chao, a student of Teh-Chun with a strong passion for art, eventually became his wife.
1953 The National History Museum of Taiwan commissioned a series of compositions on the theme History of China from the Revolution of Sun Yat Sen in 1911. These works are still part of the museum. The following year he went on a long retreat in the mountains at Ali Shan where he painted different countrysides that were then exhibited at Zhongshan Tang in Taipei; this is the first exhibition of this kind for Chu Teh-Chun.
1955 On March 29, 1955 Chu Teh-Chun leaves for Europe with Ching-Chao. After spending one month traveling through Hong Kong, Saigon, Ceylon, and Port-Said, they arrived in Cairo where Teh-Chun discovered his passion for Egyptian art.
On May 5 they left for Marseille. When they arrived at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, they were very disappointed by the grey skies and the morning fog, as they had imagined Paris being spring-like, gay and bright. Teh-Chun stayed in a hotel on the Rue L’homond next to the Pantheon. Upon his arrival he went directly to the Louvre where he spent hours on end. He enrolled at the Alliance Française to study French. He drew at the Grand Chaumière and painted in his room, placing the canvases on his bed.
1956 In the spring of 1956, Chu Teh-Chun embarked on a trip to Spain. There, he discovered the Prado and Goya in Madrid and El Greco in Toledo. The impact of the painting by Nicolas de Stäel caused him to reflect on non-figuration when he returned to Paris. A classic portrait of Ching-Chao earned him a silver medal at the Salon of French Artists. At the Salon Comparaisons he presented a painting of a countryside that is almost abstract. He also participated in the exhibition Painters of Today in the garden at the Palais Royal, Paris.
Thanks to Father Li, Teh-Chun makes the acquaintance of Madeleine Jousselin who becomes his French tutor. Ms. Jousselin in her turn introduces him to the sculptor Albert Féraud who became his best friend in the young Parisian art scene. They exhibited together on many occasions. At this time, Chu Teh-Chun distanced himself from the academic realm to rediscover the spiritual source in Chinese painting, the breadth of space, the landscape springing from the mind rather than direct observation.
1958 Father Regamey, an admirer of contemporary art, presented Teh-Chun to Father Vallée, director of the Galerie du Haut-Pavé. Here Teh-Chun had his first solo exhibition in Paris. He sold several of his works, providing invaluable encouragement. He also exhibited at the Galerie de Beaune and Galerie Legendre. Henriette Legendre and her artistic director, Maurice Panier, admired his work so much so that they signed him to an exclusive six-year contract. A spacious place on the rue de Menilmontant greatly enhanced his work.
1960-1963 In 1960, at a solo exhibition at the Galerie Legendre, Teh-Chun met several painters from the gallery, such as Arnal, Francis Bott, Corneille, Sugai, Revel etc… A second exhibition in 1962 presented his work in gouache. He participated in L’Ecole de Paris 1960, Galerie Charpentier, and was invited to the highly selective Salon de Mai.
His first son, Yi-hwa, was born in 1961.
Chu Teh-Chun exhibited in 1962 at the Galerie Baier in Mayence and in Paris at the Galerie Creuze (Donner á voir). The following year he participated in a group exhibition at the Galerie Legendre and at the Galleria San Fedele in Milan, where a collective exhibition was shown entitled Chinese Contemporary Artists.
In 1963 and 1964 he participated in several group shows promoting Chinese culture; at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Bineth Gallery in Jerusalem, Merlin Gallery in Athens, and at La Maison Internationale de la Cité Universitaire of Paris. Since then, Chu Teh-Chun has shown in a number of collective shows in Europe and the United States as well as in Paris’ major Salons.
1963-1969 In 1963, a first study of his work was undertaken by Georges Boudaille and later published in the review Cimaise. Subsequent studies were done by Gerald Gassiot-Talabot in Art International and by Jean-Jacques Leveque in Galerie des Arts. In Les Lettres francaises, Chu Teh-Chun illustrated an essay by Hubert Juin on Marcel Thiry.
In 1965 and 1968, Chu Teh-Chun had solo exhibitions at La Galerie de L’Universite of Paris, the Latzer Gallery in Kreuzlingen and in 1967 at La Galerie Raber in Lucerne, where he was invited by Dr. Paul Gay, promoter for L’Art au Village in Saint-Jeoire-en-Faucigny, Haute Savoie. Teh-Chun then went to Chamonix where his take on the views of L’Aiguille du Midi were at the origin of several canvases.
His second son, Yvon, was born in 1968.
The following year Chu Teh-Chun had a solo exhibition at La Galerie Le Grall in Paris and at La Galerie Henri Gregoire in Marseilles. He was invited to the Tenth Biennial in São Paulo, Brazil where he was given a hall to exhibit his work that was presented by Hubert Juin. During a trip to Holland, he was exposed to a work of Rembrandt’s that revealed the profound echoes that can be seen in his paintings.
1970-1977 In 1970 he exhibited at the Galerie Royal Luxembourg in Nice and then in 1972 at the Mikeldi Gallery in Bilbao. Teh-Chun and his family left Thiasi (Val-de-Marne) where he lived for two years before moving to Bagnolet (Seine-Saint-Denis) on the periphery of Paris. They moved into an apartment with a two-story art studio where he and his family lived until 1990.
In 1972 Teh-Chun exhibited at the Die Dritte Welt Gallery in Munich where he discovered German expressionist painting. Solo exhibitions followed at the Antiope Gallery in Sorrento in 1977 and at the Paul Bruck Gallery in Luxembourg. An important retrospective was also given to him at the Maison de la Culture of Saint-Etienne.
1979-1981 The first monograph on his works, written by Hubert Juin, appeared in Paris in 1979 in the Le Museé de Poche book series. Chu Teh-Chun was reunited with his professor from Hangzhou, Ling Fengmian, who at the time was exhibiting at the Cernuschi Museum, in addition to meeting a friend from the past, Liu Kaiqui, who came to Paris with a delegation of Chinese artists.
Teh-Chun became a French citizen in 1981.
1982-1985

In 1982 Chu Teh-Chun showed an important collection of his paintings and drawings spanning 1955 to 1982 at the Museé des Beaux Arts André Malraux in Le Havre, France. Teh-Chun’s works were also shown at L’Orangerie de Bagatelle alongside those of Thibaud and Féraud.
The following year Teh-Chun was invited by the Fine Arts Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to be a visiting professor and member of the jury for the final exams. He was also invited by the Artist Union of China to travel across the country, at which time he was accompanied by the painter Kijno. They traveled from Peking to Shanxi in the north. They visited the impressive Buddhist grottos in Yun Gang, the funeral sites of Xian and the famous Steles Forest know for its temples and carvings. This voyage through China was marked by its effect on Teh-Chun’s evolution as an artist. It is here that he finds his inspiration.
Upon returning to Europe, Teh-Chun had an important exhibition in Luxembourg at the Théâtre municipal d’Esch-sur-Alzette and participated in the VII Festival de poésie murale at the Château d’Aubigny-sur-Nére. Chu Teh-Chun is an ardent admirer of Chinese poetry, especially the work of Li Bo and Tu Fu from the VIII century, Li T’sing-Tchan, the most celebrated poet from the XI century and Lou Yeou, the poet known for his songs from the south dating back to the XII century.
He exhibited in Geneva at the Galerie Pierre-Hubert where he presented Cinq Abstraits en 1985. His take on the view of the snow-covered Alps inspired a new series of paintings. He showed several large diptyques at the Maison des Arts de Sochaux and at the Galerie Suzanne Pons in Cannes with the sculptor Jean-Claude Jug. He exhibited with Féraud at the Cultural Center of Gentilly. Teh-Chun also participated in the traveling exhibition, Les Années 50 en France.
1986-1987 In 1986, invited for the second time by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he showed at the Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture and in 1987 he presented a retrospective of his work at the National Museum of History in Taipei. This would mark the first time all of his work was shown collectively since leaving his country thirty-two years earlier.
1988 His large works followed, and in 1988 he exhibited them at the Museum of Modern Art in Liége. That same year he exhibited at the Taiwan Museum of Art in Taichung and fourteen cultural centers throughout Taiwan. Chu Teh-Chun participated along with sixty contemporary artists in the exhibition La Passion de Dunkerque working with the theme of the Passion of the Christ at l’Hotel de Ville of Paris. In August he traveled to London and Oxford. Coloquio Artes, a Portuguese review, dedicated a study on him prepared by the art critic Jean-Clarence Lambert.
1989 In 1989 he had many exhibitions, showing at the Taiwan Museum alongside ten other international artists, among them Cruz Diez, Le Parc, Bertini, Rancilla, Canogar, and Tabuchi. He exhibited in Paris at Chez Arlette Gimaray, and in Toulouse, Strasbourg and Honfleur.
1990 In 1990 he moved to Vitry-sur-Seine into an enormous illuminated loft. His large paintings were shown at the Pyramide Pernod in Creteil which inspired a study by Pierre Cabanne that appeared in the March issue of Cimaise.
1991 In the spring of 1991, Chu Teh-Chun traveled to Venice with the painter Longobardi where he saw the works of Tintoreto, Titian, Giogione, Carpaccio, Veronese, etc… The Gulf War inspired him to produce a dramatic painting, Lumiére au-delá des Fléaux, or Light Above the Calamity, which was represented at the first Apocalypses Biennial, held in the village of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His works were exhibited at the Galerie Patrice Trigano in Paris as well as the Galerie du Luxembourg. Alongside Féraud, his large paintings were shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Dunkerque.
1992 In April and May of 1992, Chu Teh-Chun and his wife traveled to the United States. They visited the cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and traveled throughout Florida. They went to numerous museums and foundations, of which he found Dr. Barnes’ to be the most impressive. He exhibited a series of paintings from the sixties at the Galerie Arlett Gimaray, the Gallery of the Château of Menier in Geneva and at the Pierre Gallery in Taichung, Taiwan. Teh-Chun also produced a spectacular lithograph for the hundredth anniversary of the Olympic Games. Pierre Cabanne wrote an important monograph on Chu Teh-Chun that was published by Cercle d’Art Editions in 1993. In Touquet, France he exhibited at the Galerie Regis Dorval as well as at the Galerie Protée in Toulouse. In December his works were shown in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. At this juncture he took time to visit the east coast of Taiwan.
1994 In March of 1994, represented by Raoul-Jean Moulin, Chu Teh-Chun exhibited his large paintings at the Municipal Gallery of Vitry. In April, Teh-Chun left for China with his family and his friend, Féraud. While back in his mother country Teh-Chun spent time with friends from the past and visited his parent’s grave. In Peking, the Association of Chinese artists also held a reception in his honor.
Subsequently Kijno gave him the opportunity to take yet another trip, he would travel throughout Canada for two years. An exhibition entitled Signes Premiers was held at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec, and it presented Teh-Chun’s work alongside that of Canadian master Jean-Paul Riopelle. This exhibition traveled to the Stratford Gallery in Stratford, Canada.
After this journey, he exhibited in Singapore, Taipei, Taichung and later, at the Dimensions Art Center in Kaohsiung. In autumn, he exhibited at the Musée Ludwig in Sarrelouis. At the request of the poet Salah Stelie, Chu Teh-Chun produced the illustrations for Stelie’s poems that are consequently published in the review, Remanences. Christian Szabatura produced a film on Chu Teh-Chun’s paintings.
1996 In 1996, Chu Teh-Chun visited Düsseldorf and Cologne. In Magdebourg he produced a series of lithographs and afterwards traveled to Potsdam, Dresden and Weimar. In September, at the studio of Frank Bordas, he created a series of washes and two lithographs for the Bouquinerie de l’Institute, Paris, where the washes were shown the following year.
1997 In 1997, the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ L’Association Française d’Action Artistique, organized a traveling solo exhibition for Teh-Chun that took him to Far Eastern locations such as Peking, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In May, at the Alisan Fine Art Gallery in Hong Kong, Teh-Chun exhibited his paintings. On December 17 he was elected to l’Academie des Beaux-Arts de l’Institute of France.
1998 In April and May of 1998, Teh-Chun had simultaneous exhibitions on both the right and left banks in Paris. On the rive gauche, he showed at the Galerie Patrice Trigano accompanied by a catalogue prefaced by Patrick-Gilles Persin. On the rive droite, he showed at the Galerie Enrico Navarra with his first catalogue in French and English with the foreword by Pierre Cabanne.
In May, Chu Teh-Chun traveled to Shanghai to meet with the director of the museum and then to assist in the unveiling of his exhibition at the Fine Arts Municipal Museum in Taipei. For this occasion, French and Chinese catalogues were published. During his stay in Taipei he painted a series of large ceramics while working in a studio in Ying-Ge, a village near to Taipei.
In August he went to Sache (Indre-et-Loire) to visit the studio of Alexander Calder, whose work he admired. Next he went to Bilbao, Spain where he was moved by the architecture of the Guggenheim Museum. He returned to Madrid to see the Goya and the Prado. In October, he produced three lithographs at the studio IDL in Paris. During the summer he exhibited at the Château Haut-Gleon. Here, he was elected chairman of the committee for the Château Haut-Gleon award for young painters.
1999 On February 3, 1999, Teh-Chun was inducted into L’Academie des Beaux-Arts, the highest honor ever received by any Chinese artist in the international art world. The ceremony is both formal and welcoming. During the summer, he exhibited at the Villa Tamaris in the Seyne-sur-Mer. He traveled to Peking for the 80th birthday of his friend, Wu Guangzhong, who unveiled his recent works that Teh-Chun respected dearly. With the crisp autumn air arriving, he traveled to Korea to visit the museums in Seoul. Here his appreciation grew for the originality of this culture situated between China and Japan. In November, Teh-Chun exhibited at the Galerie Milstain in Brussels to mark the incoming millennium. This exhibit was open through January 23, 2000.
2000 Several events marked the success of the new millennium in 2000.
The Art House of Sochaux brought in the XXI century with an exhibition of Chu Teh-Chun’s works from January 15 through February 13. In September, he exhibited at the Shanghai Museum and then at the Fine Arts Museum of Canton. During this time two monographs are produced. The first was written by Pierre Cabanne and published by Flammarion editions with bilingual text in French and English. This was soon after published in Chinese by SDK Joint Publishing Company of Peking. The second was also available with bilingual text, written by Pierre Restany (English edition) and Enrico Navarra (Paris edition). On October 21, French President Jacques Chirac invited Teh-Chun along with other artists on a trip to Peking. Teh-Chun concentrated his work on lithographs, producing six at the IDL studio in Paris which were edited by Hoke Art of Taipei.
2001 Throughout 2001 the notoriety of Chu Teh-Chun’s work could be seen expanding in both the East and the West. In January, a biography was written on Teh-Chun in Chinese by Zu Wei that was published by Wen Hui Editions in Shanghai. In Pusan, Korea at the Pusan Metropolitan Museum, Teh-Chun ended his second traveling solo exhibition in the Far East in April and May. In France, Teh-Chun was honored with two medals; in June, he received the honor of Chevalier de l’Order des Palmes Academiques and on July 14, he was named Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the President of the Republic. In September, he exhibited at the Galerie Enrico Navarra and signed the recent monograph published on his work. Six more lithographs were produced at the IDL studio in Paris that were again edited by Hoke Art of Taipei.
2002 In 2002 Teh-Chun embarked on a painting project of monumental proportions for the Shanghai Opera. In June, Teh-Chun was invited to view the recent architectural work of Jean-Marie Charpentier. He was invited in order to see how his work on canvas could be incorporated into the architecture of Charpentier. Teh-Chun created nine acrylic paintings in order to demonstrate his ideas. Without respite, he worked to create his masterpiece for this massive installation. Previously he exhibited in April and May at the Darga Gallery in Bali, Indonesia and then he painted ceramic plates at the Tuilerie studio in Treigny in the region of Yonne. In July, he prepared for an exhibition of lithographs at the Angel Art Museum in Taipei. This exhibition was accompanied by the publication of a catalogue.
2003 On March 6, 2003, Teh-Chun’s ceramics were the subject of an exhibition at the gallery of the Bouquinerie de l’Institute in Paris. A catalogue of this work was also created for this occasion.
Teh-Chun completed a grand monumental painting entitled Symphonie Festive, which was exhibited for the first time at the Palais Garnier, Paris from June 20 through July 15. On August 27 the official unveiling of Symphonie Festive took place at the Shanghai Opera in the presence of several notable figures.
During this time, his exhibitions continued at a consistent pace. In August his work was shown at Chatillon-en-Diois and then at the Art Center of the University of Jing-Yi in Taiwan at an exhibition entitled Listen to the Universe, and finally from October 1 through October 31 at the Modern Art Gallery in Taichung.
Within the framework of the Year of China in France, the Chinese Cultural Center of Paris staged an exhibition reuniting the paintings of Chu Teh-Chun and the metal sculptures of his friend, Albert Féraud, entitled The Meeting of Two Grand Artists, Chu Teh-Chun and Albert Féraud, from October 8th through November 8th.
From November 4 through December 7, 2003, the Modern Art Gallery of Taichung in Taiwan organized the first stage of a traveling exhibition of Teh-Chun’s collection at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center entitled Impression France – Renoir, Guino, Chu Teh-Chun. The second stage of this exhibition took place at the Ghangzhou Museum of Art, Canton from January 16 through February 4, 2004. The third and final stage of this exhibition was held at the Macao Museum of Art, Macao from February 20 through May 11.
2004 While the aforementioned Year of China was in full swing in France, the city of Cannes paid tribute to Chu Teh-Chun with a triple exhibition from January 16 through September 26. The first took place at Malmaison and featured his oil paintings and ceramics. The second was held at L’Espace Miramar where his ink washes were exhibited, and the final show featured his new inks and ceramics at the distinguished venue, Villa Domengue. This exhibition then traveled to the Galerie Patrice Trigano from February 4 through March 6. From May 15 through June 15, the Fine Arts Museum of the University of Hong Kong exhibited Teh-Chun’s work under the auspices of the cultural event entitled French May. At the Moulin de Lambouray in Jouy, next to Chartres, Teh-Chun’s work was exhibited from June 5 through September 5. His paintings and washes were presented from June 10 through September 10 at the Atrium Gallery in Geneva.
2005 2005 was dominated by the preparation for a major exhibition that was exhibited at the Fine Arts Museum of Shanghai; however, Teh-Chun continued to contribute to the local arts culture. He exhibited from April 2 through May 15 at the Elsa Triolet Aragon House in Saint-Arnoulten. Invited by their son, Chu Teh-Chun and Ching-Chao left for Venice on May 5 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Teh-Chun’s arrival in Europe. This was Teh-Chun’s second visit to Venice where he took the time to visit his family, museums and monuments that he so adores.
In the month of June, Teh-Chun’s paintings were exhibited in conjunction with the publication of a beautiful book on his works by the Impressions Art Gallery of Taipei. From July 2 through August 31, an exhibition of the diverse works of Teh-Chun entitled La Nature transfigurée was shown at Le Musée de Guethary in France. From September 15 through October 30, his washes, La Légèreté de l’Espace, were shown at J. Bastien Art in Brussels.
From October 11 through November 11, an important exhibition entitled L’Image Interieure Atteint sa Plenitude dans l’Abstraction was also shown at the Fine Arts Museum of Shanghai. This exhibition was comprised of new works by Chu Teh-Chun from 2004-2005. The year ended with an exhibition at the L’Arsenal de Metz in France from November 26, 2005 through January 22, 2006.
2006 In April, an important monograph on Chu’s work with text by Pierre-Jean Rémy in both French and English was published by Éditions de la Différence in Paris.
  The artist currently lives and works in Paris, France.