TENG-HIOK CHIU (CHOU TING-HSU CHINESE 1903-1972)

Along the shoreline

Signed (lower right)

oil on board

35.5 x 45.5 cm (14 x 18 in)

Born in Xiamen, Fujian Province, China in 1903, Teng-Hiok Chiu had an opportunity to study aboard in 1920 due to his prestigious family background. He became an active member in the art circles of Europe and the US, becoming the first foreign artist to be granted the membership of Royal Society of British Artists.
‘Since I used to play amidst the beautiful temples and pine trees or on the sandy beach, I have wanted to appreciate the best in nature and to be able to help everyone else to do so. As I go forward I realise increasingly that it is not a matter of East or West, someday there will be Art from a New World Civilisation, the creation of which, as a painter, I wish to contribute to. Art is a universal language that speaks to every human heart’.

The dialogues between Asian and Western art have long been recognised, shared characteristics and techniques that Teng Hiok Chiu developed on, with an appreciation for economy, elegance, and a sense of infinite space. He skilfully contrasts between blank and activated areas of the scene. The present work Along the Shoreline painted solidly with broad bands of yellow, green and blues, the sky and faraway rocks all tinged with faint purple.

Extract from Teng Chiu, A Chinese Painter’s Exhibition in Europe, Monitor, (August 1928), Museum School Library, Boston

Teng Hiok Chiu’s Artistic Journey: West to East by Debra J. Byrne