CHU TEH-CHUN (ZHU DEQUN, 1920-2014)

“When I paint, I feel urges that are powerful beyond words, as long as there’s canvas before me, my senses will swell and spill over.”
Chu Teh-Chun

While natural imagery such as streams, starry nights, and forests do appear occasionally in his later works, Chu’s focus at this point in his life was on the harmony of colours, and the delicate strokes in Accord parfait (Perfect Harmony) depict a rhythmic and energetic dance of colours, with the wafers of yellow, orange, and teal commingling to show off their vigour as well as contented joy. By this period, colourful spectrums had replaced the sense of isolation that characterised Chu’s early-mid period, and the elegance on display here reminds one of the sprightly colours of Fauvists and Impressionists like Cézanne (1839-1906) and Renoir (1841-1919), celebrating the artist’s individuality and liberty.

Chu noted that “Kandinsky’s creation of abstract art drew inspiration from Cézanne theories on painting, which in turn came from musical expression.” The musicality of Chu’s work is on full display in Accord parfait (Perfect Harmony) : the sonata of light, shadows, and rhythm on the canvas takes abstract art pioneer Kandinsky’s (1866-1944) reverence for music and takes it to the next level. Much like in the artist’s large scale abstract oil painting Symphonie festive , created for the Shanghai Opera House, Chu’s flowing and rich brushstrokes are married with dynamic cadence in Accord parfait (Perfect Harmony), reflecting his search for the utopian ideal of abstract art.