CHU Teh-Chun and WU Guanzhong – When friendship transforms destinies

Before becoming one of the leading figures of modern Chinese painting, WU Guanzhong followed a conventional academic path and was originally set on studying electrical engineering.

An unexpected and decisive encounter

The meeting between CHU Teh-Chun and WU Guanzhong occurred almost by chance during the second term of their first year at secondary school, at a three-month military training camp. In a platoon of eleven students, Chu—tall and leading the line—often marched some distance ahead of the shorter Wu, who brought up the rear.

Yet a small detail in the regulations altered their destiny: the first to complete an exercise had to take position at the back. As Chu frequently finished first, he invariably found himself beside Wu, and thus began their first conversations. It was there that Wu confessed his lack of interest in electrical engineering and revealed his true passion: painting.

An artistic revelation

At the end of the training period, Chu invited Wu to visit the National Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou, then almost deserted for the summer. Wu stayed there and immersed himself in drawing and watercolour, encouraged by Chu. Driven by exceptional determination, Wu practised tirelessly. When he sat the entrance examination, he was admitted at the first attempt—an uncommon achievement at a time when only one in three or four candidates succeeded.

It marked the beginning of a vocation… and of a decisive friendship.

Years of intense apprenticeship

At the Academy, Chu and Wu became inseparable. Their days began before dawn: they ground ink sticks and painted in the stillness of the early morning. After breakfast came four hours of studio drawing, followed by theoretical classes, and then long sessions of painting en plein air.

Every Saturday, equipped with their paint boxes, they explored the landscapes of Hangzhou, sometimes producing several works in a single day. Their driving force was neither career nor recognition, but the pure passion to paint.

WU Guanzhong later continued his studies in France at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he immersed himself for more than three years in Western painting before returning to China. His work reflects a subtle balance between Chinese tradition and Western modernity, expressed in a language both light and poetic. CHU Teh-Chun, for his part, chose to settle permanently in France. There he developed a body of work marked by lyrical abstraction and a constant dialogue between modern Western painting and Chinese tradition.

An almost fraternal friendship

The bond between them endured throughout their lives. Thérèse, CHU Teh-Chun’s wife, described it as “almost fraternal”. Despite geographical distance and distinct aesthetic directions, their relationship remained profound, as evidenced by their extensive correspondence preserved in the Foundation’s archives. After meeting again in the 1980s, they visited one another regularly, maintaining a faithful and warm relationship.

Their story reminds us that art is also a matter of companionship, respect and shared experience—and that certain friendships shape not only an œuvre, but a life.