Chu Teh-Chun – The Radiance of All Things – A Major Retrospective at the China Academy of Art Museum – 19 October 2026 – 18 February 2027

November 11, 2026

In 2028, the China Academy of Art will celebrate its centenary. In the lead-up to this milestone, the Academy is presenting one of its major cultural events: The Radiance of All Things: A Retrospective of Chu Teh-Chun, which opened on October 19, 2026, at the China Academy of Art Museum in Hangzhou.

Jointly organized by the China Academy of Art Museum and the Fondation CHU Teh-Chun , with the support of the Consulate General of France in Shanghai, the Institut français de Pékin, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Switzerland, and Christie’s, this retrospective pays tribute to one of the great artists whose work embodies the cultural dialogue between China and France.

An Artist at the Crossroads of Two Cultures, an Art of Universal Resonance

A distinguished alumnus of the China Academy of Art, Chu Teh-Chun (1920–2014) is now recognized as one of the leading figures of gestural abstraction. His remarkable artistic journey embodies a fruitful encounter between Eastern and Western artistic traditions.

In 1935, he entered the National Hangzhou Academy of Art, where he discovered his artistic calling on the shores of the renowned West Lake. In 1955, he moved to France, where he gradually developed a distinctive visual language at the intersection of Western abstract painting and Chinese aesthetic sensibility.

His international recognition reached a defining milestone in 1997, when he became the first Chinese artist to be elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in its more than two centuries of history.

By bringing the spirituality of Chinese art into dialogue with the freedom of Western abstraction, Chu Teh-Chun forged a deeply personal, vibrant and luminous style of painting. His compositions, animated by movement, colour and light, evoke the power of nature and the profound beauty of Chinese landscapes. His work stands as a testament to the richness of exchanges between two great civilizations and to art’s ability to transcend cultural boundaries.

260 Works Offering an Immersive Journey Through an Extraordinary Artistic Career

Bringing together approximately 260 major works and archival documents, including 107 oil paintings, this retrospective offers an exceptional immersion into the artistic universe of Chu Teh-Chun. It traces the key stages of his career, reveals his sources of inspiration and highlights the evolution of a visual language that was constantly renewed.

The title, The Radiance of All Things, encapsulates the spirit and ambition of the exhibition. It brings together two complementary visions: radiance and light, central to the imagery of Western art, and the notion of “all things”, rooted in the Eastern conception of the cosmos. From this encounter emerges a universal vision in which light becomes a shared language, transcending cultures and borders.

An Exceptional Donation Celebrating a Living Legacy

The opening of the exhibition is also marked by a major donation from the family of Chu Teh-Chun to the China Academy of Art: 57 significant works by the artist, together with a sculpture by Albert Féraud, a lifetime member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, from Chu Teh-Chun’s personal collection.

This donation significantly enriches the Academy’s collections and strengthens the resources devoted to research into the artist’s work and creative process. It also represents a major highlight of the Academy’s centenary celebrations and contributes to a deeper understanding of the development of modern Chinese art in the twentieth century.

As Yu Xuhong, President of the China Academy of Art, Director of its Art Museum and curator of the exhibition, explains: “For Chu Teh-Chun, West Lake in Hangzhou was a spiritual place of origin, deeply engraved in his heart and never forgotten.”

Six Chapters Through the Artistic Universe of Chu Teh-Chun

The exhibition unfolds across six thematic sections, inviting visitors to explore the key influences and creative forces that shaped the artist’s vision:

“First Inspirations by West Lake and Among the Mountains”
“Nature in the Mist”
“Aura of Light and Colour”
“The Transforming Cosmos”
“Encounters Across a Century”
“The River of Time”

Through this journey, visitors discover the trajectory of an artist who transformed the encounter between East and West into an inexhaustible source of creative inspiration. More than a retrospective, The Radiance of All Things is an invitation to discover a powerful and profoundly poetic body of work, at the crossroads of cultures, where painting becomes a universal language.

The exhibition is on view at the China Academy of Art Museum in Hangzhou until February 18, 2027.