artist/ CHU

CHINE / FRANCE

Trained from the age of fifteen at the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Chu Teh-Chun was introduced both to the traditions of Chinese painting and to modern Western art. After several years teaching in China and Taiwan, he left Asia in 1955 and settled in Paris. His arrival in France marked a decisive turning point in his career: influenced by the vibrant Parisian art scene, he gradually moved away from figurative painting and developed a highly personal form of abstraction. His work brings together the freedom of Western abstraction with calligraphy, poetry and a profound relationship with nature inherited from Chinese culture. His career gained significant international recognition. In 1997, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, becoming its first French member of Chinese origin. Major retrospectives of his work have since been organised throughout Europe and Asia, including at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in 2010.