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Chuang Che

(1934)

Chuang Che (莊喆), a great pioneer of Chinese abstraction, combined bright colours, a turbulence of forms, a sense of transparency, and various paint effects in his abstract landscapes. From this improbable chaos arose a perfect harmony, filled with joy and melancholy, from which emanates a sense of boundless freedom.

Born in 1934 in Peking, Chuang Che comes from a family of scholars. His father was a well-known calligrapher and curator of the Palace Museum in Peking. In 1948, he played an active role in the transfer of the Palace Museum’s works to Taipei. Chuang Che was fourteen when this important event took place. Traditional Chinese painting has remained an inexhaustible source of inspiration throughout his career.

In 1954, Chuang Che entered the Department of Fine Arts at the Taiwan Provincial Normal University, where he met Chu Teh-Chun, who was a teacher there. In 1958, he joined the Wuyue Group (Fifth Moon Group), in which he played a major role. In 1966, he received an endowment from the Rockefeller Foundation that enabled him to make his first trip to the United States.

In 1973, he moved to the United States. In 1992, the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts held a major retrospective of his work.

Chuang Che invented the Third Way, a unique artistic concept that sought to merge Asian and Western aesthetics.

Personal exhibitions

2020 – « As Lofty as a Mountain » Rétrospective 1960-2019, Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taïwan

2019 – Suspending the Ephemeral, Vazieux Art Gallery, Paris, France

2015 -Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan, Retrospective Exhibition

2012 – Asian Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

2007 – National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

2006 – Asian Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan

2005 – Museum of Fine Arts, National University of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

– National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan 2002 Guangdong Art Museum, China

– He Xian Ning Museum, China

1992 – Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

1982 – Art Center, Kowloon, Hong Kong

1980 – National Historical Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1977 – Kalamazoo Institute of Art, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA

– Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, Michigan, USA

1974 – Oberlin College Asian Society, Oberlin College, Ohio, USA

1972 – Newark Museum of Art, Newark, Newark, New Jersey, USA

– Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

1970 – Museum of Fine Arts, Flint, Michigan, USA

1968 – Museum of Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan

1965 – National Art Center of Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan

Public exhibitions

– Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
– Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio,
– United States Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
– Institute of Art Detroit, Michigan, United States
– Museum of Art Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
– National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
– Saginaw Museum of Art, Michigan, United States
– Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
– University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Selected works
Interview of Chuang Che