Coming from a family of collectors, Chu Teh-Chun had the fortune of becoming familiar with Chinese calligraphy and painting from a young age. It was only natural that his vocation as an artist emerged. After receiving an education at the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, where Lin Fengmian was president, he was appointed, in 1944, as a professor at the Central University of Nanjing. During this time of the Sino-Japanese War, Chu Teh-Chun was forced to travel through various cities and villages in China; these journeys sparked his initial artistic exploration, inspired by natural landscapes.

In 1955, he traveled to Europe and settled in Paris. Eager for knowledge, he filled his days with long visits to the Louvre, interspersed with regular sketching sessions at La Grande Chaumière or classes at the Alliance Française. The following year, he discovered the treasures of Spain: Goya and Velázquez at the Prado, and El Greco in Toledo.

Back in Paris, the Chinese artist was deeply moved by the retrospective of Nicolas de Staël (Musée d'Art Moderne, 1956). He stated, “slowly, I turned back to the thoughts that inspire traditional Chinese painting. I discovered the poetry that inhabits it and this way of observing nature that is close to Western neo-impressionist painting and even more to abstract art” (interview with Gérard Xuriguera, in Les Années 50, Arted, 1984).

Chu Teh-Chun had found his identity and would tirelessly explore abstract art. His work is born from the intersection of traditional Chinese painting and modern Western art. Furthermore, he vividly expresses an attachment to space and nature. Maurice Panier, former artistic director of the Le Gendre gallery, describes the painter’s unique touch as “multidimensional space,” skillfully blending space and structure.

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