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Auction Results

Now
Modern Art Evening Sale

08 July 2020 | 7:00 PM HKT | Hong Kong

SALE TOTAL

826,213,000HKD
Browse Lots
  • 1024
    SANYU
    Quatre nus
    LOT SOLD.258,341,000HKD
  • 1017
    Zao Wou-Ki
    20.03.60
    LOT SOLD.114,827,000HKD
  • 1014
    Chu Teh-Chun
    Les éléments confédérés
    LOT SOLD.113,688,000HKD
  • 1018
    Zao Wou-Ki
    19.11.59
    LOT SOLD.110,840,500HKD
  • 1016
    Zao Wou-Ki
    29.02.88
    LOT SOLD.49,904,000HKD
  • 1034
    Wu Guanzhong
    Hometown of Lu Xun 
    LOT SOLD.24,175,000HKD
  • 1019
    Zao Wou-Ki
    01.11.86
    LOT SOLD.13,375,000HKD
  • 1022
    SANYU
    Femme nue étendue
    LOT SOLD.12,175,000HKD
  • 1020
    Zao Wou-Ki
    Ville suspendue
    LOT SOLD.12,175,000HKD
  • 1040
    Lin Fengmian
    Lotus Lantern
    LOT SOLD.9,775,000HKD
Browse Lots
Sale Number: HK0928 Lots : 35

SALE TOTAL

826,213,000HKD DOWNLOAD RESULTS
  • Sale Tracked
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Overview

Chu Teh-Chun’s Beethoven-Inspired Symphony of Abstraction

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The Modern Art Evening Sale presents an exquisite selection of masterpieces, led by works of Sanyu and Chu Teh-Chun. Created during Sanyu’s new expressive peak in the 1950s, Quatre nus demonstrates the artist’s awe of the female nude in all its vitality. Veneration of the female form provided the impetus for an extraordinary body of work, and Quatre nus is arguably the most alluring nude masterpiece. Sanyu did not often depict female nudes in groups, and for such a work to appear on the market is in itself a rare event, not to mention such a painting on a grand scale. The present lot is also the only masterpiece throughout Sanyu’s career for which he went through painstaking effort of creating three oil paintings of similar composition to perfect. Quatre nus certainly represented a work of great significance to the artist himself.

Les éléments confédérés is the largest Chu Teh-Chun oil painting in private hands and the only pentaptych by the artist. Executed between 1983 and 1984, the work was painted upon Chu’s return to Asia and marked the beginning of a new chapter in his career:  in 1987, the National Museum of History in Taipei held a large retrospective exhibition for Chu, marking his formal return to Chinese society after residing in France for 32 years. In 1990 and 1991, this work was the focal point of Chu’s “Grand Formats” exhibitions at the Pyramid Pernod in Créteil, and Musée d’Art Contemporain in Dunkerque, France. Chosen as the catalogue cover for Chu’s retrospective exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in 2010, Les éléments confédérés was the most important work to feature in the show, a testament to the painting’s significance in the eyes of the artist. According to Madame Chu Ching-Chao, the wife of Chu, the choice of a pentaptych echoes the Chinese philosophy of the Five Elements; and the rich layers of green pay tribute to nature and Beethoven’s symphony N°9, an expression of the artist’s passion for his motherland.

Chu Teh-Chun’s Beethoven-Inspired Symphony of Abstraction

conditions of sale Saleroom Notice

Contact Information

Felix Kwok
Director
Head of Sale
Modern Asian Art
+852 2822 5517
Felix.Kwok@sothebys.com
Joyce Chan
Director
Senior Specialist & Business Development Director
Modern Asian Art
+852 2822 5537
JOYCE.CHAN@SOTHEBYS.COM
Jestina Tang
Cataloguer
Modern Asian Art
+852 2822 8197
Jestina.Tang@sothebys.com
Ziwei Yi
Cataloguer
Modern Asian Art
+852 2822 5542
ziwei.yi@sothebys.com
   
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