Chang Yu (Sanyu) 1901-1966

signed in Chinese Yu and Sanyu in the lower right
signed and dated Sanyu and Chinese Yu 1931 on the reverse
framed

Generally in good condition, with minor paint cracks due to natural aging.
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The 1930s were the most prosperous time for Sanyu. Most of his works were completed during that time. However, due to Sanyu's general contentment toward life bred out of a childhood spent in wealth and abundance, he was never compelled to produce a lot of work during his career, subsequently plunging himself into poverty and loneliness during his latter years.  Only fifty pieces of his work are extant today.

 

Sanyu's unique painting style differs greatly from that of academic artists. Since he received no orthodox European art training, Sanyu was able to experiment with various techniques. He eventually arrived at his own style after integrating what he had learned from art movements in Paris into what he already knew. Elements of Chinese literati painting, thus, have not lost their place in Sanyu's works.  Both in subject matter and technical execution, it is the austere and succinct approach championed by ancient Chinese literati that has most powerfully informed the artist's signature style. 

 

Sanyu played an exceptional role in the advancement of modern Chinese oil painting.  The art world of the 1920s and 1930s saw the beginning of a broad exploration into the difference between the art of the East and the West.  During that period, Sanyu echoed in his work the central focus on artistic conception in the Chinese tradition, and in doing so, helped push Chinese oil and Western-style painting into a new realm of creativity.  The sense of purity and the beauty of line so important in traditional Chinese art also found reinterpretation through Sanyu's art.

 

Paris has inspired Sanyu's artistic career, which marked the beginning of his life as an exceptional and legendary artist.  Sanyu studied in Atelier de la Grande Chaumière, which gave him the freedom and openness to meet different artists from different walks of life, and also to explore his artistic ability to full extent.  The Montparnasse groups of artists, such as Jules Pascin, Moise Kisling, Alberto Giacometti, Tsugouharu Foujita and of course Sanyu himself, represented countries around the world, and became known later as the Ecolê de Paris (Paris School). 

 

Sanyu's strong individual style and philosophy were notable even among such an outstanding group as the Paris School.  He and Japan's Tsugouharu Foujita were seen as the school's representatives from the East. 

 

During the 1930s, Sanyu often reduced his palette to minimum colours, highlighting the purity and directness of his still-life renderings and their Chinese conceptual orientation.  He simplified the forms of still-life objects in his compositions and set them against geometrically organized background, creating a strong sense of depth.  His flower still-life's in particular are rich in symbolic significance, such as Full Bloom Pink Chrysanthemums in a Basket, which exudes beauty in the most lucid and honest form.

 

In this composition, Sanyu covered the background in black and used the end of his paintbrush to etch out the silhouette of the vase.  This is an innovative relief painting technique that he often deployed in his works.  Delicate pink chrysanthemums are juxtaposed against the rough, angular contours of the vase, reflecting metaphorically the benign coexistence of strength and softness as hailed by Chinese philosophy.

 

Sanyu's earlier oils seem to revolve around the colours black, white and pink.  His agility at manipulating space is owed to his thorough understanding of depth arrangement in Chinese painting theory.  The colour white manifests itself as an outlining agent or a signifier of empty space, attesting to Sanyu's mesmerizing manipulation of visual elements.  The application of pink softens the stark contrast between the black and white, imparting yet another layer of complexity to the painting's colour scheme and compositional plan.

 

San Yu's flower and landscape paintings consistently abide by a minimalist approach, so do his sketches.  As for his oil paintings, a heavier dose of Western aesthetic gleaned from Expressionism and styles of the Paris School can be found.  Sanyu often engaged in heated discussions with his colleagues and contemporaries about his endeavours to strip his compositions of extraneous details, so that a lightest, most elegant assembly of pure line and colour may emerge.

 

Sanyu's early efforts never abandoned characteristics of traditional Chinese painting.