T'ang Boogie - T'ang Haywen by de Sarthe Gallery

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T’ang Boogie

Film d’artiste & featured rare paintings

de Sarthe is pleased to announce its second solo exhibition for T’ang Haywen, one of the three most important Chinese Post-war artists from the French diaspora, along with Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun. T’ang Boogie: film d’artiste & featured rare paintings opens January 26, and highlights an avant-garde 1973 film created by the artist in collaboration with filmmaker Tom Tam. A selection of rare paintings used in the film will also be displayed in the exhibition. The artist’s film, titled “T’ang Boogie” is an early experimental work constructed to further explore deeper truths about nature and the subconscious. Throughout much of T’ang Haywen’s artwork these ideas are explored in the context of traditional Taoist philosophies and Zen Buddhism. In “T’ang Boogie” the artist and Tom Tam quickly and repeatedly flash dozens of T’ang’s ink on paper artworks one after another, altering both speed and order of succession, in order to create an striking sensory experience and visual effect. The immersive nature of the film and the speed with which the images are displayed provoke a visceral and mind-altering effect. Displayed alongside the film are nine ink on paper diptychs, each of which is featured within “T’ang Boogie.” On their own the works are an effort to create a visual language that represents the concepts of Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

德薩畫廊將於2019 年年1 ⽉月26 ⽇日誠摯推出《曾海海⽂文舞曲：藝術家電影與其稀有畫作》—此次也是德薩舉辦的第⼆二次曾海海⽂文個⼈人展覽。曾海海⽂文與趙無極和朱德群⿑齊名，被並列列視為三位最舉⾜足輕重的⼆二戰後移居法國的中國藝術家。展覽將以⼀一部藝術家與電影導演譚閩⽣生於1973 年年共同創作的前衛電影作為主線, 同時展出⼀一系列列於電影中出現過的稀有畫作。電影《曾海海⽂文舞曲》是⼀一部具有代表性的中國籍藝術家早期實驗性影像藝術，旨在探索⼤大⾃自然和潛意識更更深層次的真諦。綜觀曾海海⽂文的作品，可⾒見見他把傳統的道家與禪宗哲理理的精粹發揮得淋淋漓盡致。曾⽒氏和譚閩⽣生在《曾海海⽂文舞曲》中通過改變速度及圖像順序接連快速的閃現藝術家的⽔水墨墨畫作，來來達到⼀一種突出的感官體驗及視覺效果。電影中沉浸式的⾃自然及對圖像的處理理激起⼀一種本能的、迷幻神經的感受。影像周邊展⽰示的九幅紙上⽔水墨墨雙聯聯畫均於影片中出現過。曾海海⽂文的畫作致⼒力力於創作⼀一種視覺語⾔言，以⽔水墨墨的筆觸解讀道家和禪宗的世界觀。

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 T’ang Boogie 1973 16mm film An experimental short film 2’49”

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1971-1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Unsigned Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Provenance: Private collection, France Private collection Exhibitions: T’ang Haywen-Works from the 1960s to 1970s, Christie’s, The James Christie Room, Hong Kong, 13 October – 3 November 2015. T’ang Boogie: film d’artiste & featured rare paintings, de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, 26 January – 16 March 2019 Literature: Christie’s, T’ang Haywen-Works from the 1960s to 1970s, exhibition catalogue, Hong Kong, 2015, no. 29 (illustrated, p. 72). This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné now in preparation by T’ang Haywen Archives and Mr. Philippe Koutouzis under No. S43-LDI-17. This work appears in T’ang Boogie, a short experimental movie shot and produced by T’ang Haywen and Tom Tam in 1973. A copy of the movie has been in the collection of the modern art museum in Paris, France since 2002. 14

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1971-1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Unsigned Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Provenance: Private collection Exhibitions: T’ang Boogie: film d’artiste & featured rare paintings, de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, 26 January – 16 March 2019 Literature: This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné now in preparation by T’ang Haywen Archives and Mr. Philippe Koutouzis under No. S43-LDI-14. This work appears in T’ang Boogie, a short experimental movie shot and produced by T’ang Haywen and Tom Tam in 1973. A copy of the movie has been in the collection of the modern art museum in Paris, France since 2002.

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Signed ‘T’ang’; Signed in Chinese ‘Haywen (Haiwan)’, lower right; Inscribed by the artist, verso, right side: “Incella 73” Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1972 Acrylic ink and watercolor on Kyro card, diptych Signed ‘T’ang’; Signed in Chinese ‘Haywen (Haiwan)’, lower right Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1971-1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Unsigned Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Ciel Interieur (Inner Sky) 1971 Ink on Kyro card, Diptych Signed middle right Inscribed by the artist on verso: ‘ciel interieur’ Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1971-1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Unsigned Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Provenance: Private collection, France Private collection Exhibitions: T’ang Haywen-Works from the 1960s to 1970s, Christie’s, The James Christie Room, Hong Kong, 13 October – 3 November 2015. T’ang Boogie: film d’artiste & featured rare paintings, de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, 26 January – 16 March 2019 Literature: Christie’s, T’ang Haywen-Works from the 1960s to 1970s, exhibition catalogue, Hong Kong, 2015, no. 31 (illustrated, p. 74). This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné now in preparation by T’ang Haywen Archives and Mr. Philippe Koutouzis under No. S101-LDI-4. This work appears in T’ang Boogie, a short experimental movie shot and produced by T’ang Haywen and Tom Tam in 1973. A copy of the movie has been in the collection of the modern art museum in Paris, France since 2002. 40

T’ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled c. 1970 Ink and watercolor on Kyro card, diptych Signed ‘T’ang’; Signed in Chinese ‘Haywen (Haiwan)’, lower right Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ang Haywen, 1927 - 1991 Untitled 1971-1973 Ink on Kyro card, diptych Unsigned Overall dimensions: 70 x 100 cm (27 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.) Each panel: 70 x 50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

T’ang Haywen 1927 - 1991

As an important figure in Modern ink, T’ang Haywen (1927-1991) born in Xiamen, China, belonged to the group of Chinese painters who settled in Paris after World War II and represented the third and final chapter of this generation of canonical artist expatriates. From ink to oil, T’ang Haywen’s gestural paintings imbue the pictorial space with flagrant yet subtle energy – simultaneously dynamic, textured, unrestrained and expressionistic. T’ang Haywen received no formal training in art, having moved to Paris in 1948 to pursue a career in medicine. Once in France however, T’ang soon began to pursue his long-held ambition to be a painter by fully immersing himself into the cultural environment of the time. This has set him apart from his contemporaries in Paris, Chu Teh-Chun and Zao Wou-Ki, who studied under Lin Fengmian whilst the sources of T’ang Haywen’s art are to be found in the teachings of traditional Chinese calligraphy and Taoist principles.

作為現代水墨畫的重要人物，曾海文(1927-1991年) 出生於中國廈門，在第二次世界大戰後移居法國巴黎，代表了第三代、也是最後他們那一代旅居海外的中國藝術家。曾海文的水墨和油畫創作具有一種既澎拜又細膩的藝術特質。生動的畫面、強烈的表現主義風格、自由奔放的筆勢都是他的創作特徵。 1948 年，曾海文移居巴黎學醫。從未接受過任何正式藝術訓練的他，很快便受到當地的藝術文化所吸引，流連於畫廊與博物館間，自學成材。有別於同代的、師承林風眠的朱德群和趙無極，曾海文的畫作靈感主要來自中國傳統書法和道家思想，自成一格。

T’ang Haywen was predisposed to gouache, ink or oil on paper, and as an aesthetic exercise coalesced traditional Chinese elements of the abstract wash with the more lyrical style of the West. In T’ang’s practice, this format became systematic removing any preoccupations with the spatial dimensions he was creating under. The dimensions define the artworks whilst conferring a recognizable visual identity to his oeuvre. Born out of the juxtaposition of two sheets of paper combined as one, the diptych is vast enough to enclose the world, one which history has deemed to be uniquely that of T’ang’s. His revolutionary oeuvre transcended the cultural boundaries of the East and West. Employing innovative techniques, T’ang composes within the parameters of Taoist artistic ideals, espousing tenets of naturalness, spontaneity and simplicity. During the 1980s T’ang Haywen had significant exhibitions in France, with a diptych collected by Dominique de Ménil, then the most important collector of contemporary art in the world but refused to meet the great American collector Paul Mellon as his trip to Paris coincided with T’ang’s insignificant trip to the west side of France. T’ang was not encumbered by notions with material success and did not gain widespread recognition during his time. He did however play an important role in the continued evolution of Chinese ink art developing a new language of lightness and depth. The artist was the first of his generation to restore to the medium of ink the power to translate the subtlety and complexity of the soul of China. Recognition of T’ang’s artistic achievement culminated after his death in 1991, thanks to many retrospective institution-level shows: Oceanography Museum of Monaco (1996); Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (1997); Maîtres de l’Encre Chang Dai- Chien – T’ang Haywen – Zao Wou-Ki, Musée de Pontoise, France (1999-2000); Paths of Ink, Musée Guimet, Paris, France; Shiseido Gallery, Japan (2002); Breeze from Paris, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2014), T’ang Haywen: Works from the 1960s to 1970s, Christie’s, Hong Kong (2015).

曾海文鍾情於紙上水粉、水墨和油彩，也喜歡把中國傳統的抽象元素跟西方的抒情筆調融匯貫通。在曾氏的藝術實踐中，這種形式變得系統化，消解了他在創造空間維度層面上的任何關注。尺寸定義了作品，同時賦予作品可被辨認的視覺特徵。兩張紙並列合一，雙聯畫足以包圍世界，成為了一個被歷史認為是曾氏的獨有形式。他革命性的作品超越了東方和西方的文化界限。他運用了創新手法，把道家的精粹發揮得淋漓盡致，體現了自然、任性和簡約之道。他的畫作沒有如傳統水墨畫般模擬自然，而是呈現一種形而上的現實，一種唯美而純粹的能量狀態。 1980 年代，曾海文的作品於法國多個重要展覽展出，其中一副雙聯畫作品更獲得隨後成為國際當代藝術收藏家Dominique de Ménil 收藏。有一年，美國重要收藏家 Paul Mellon 要求與曾海文見面，曾海文卻因同期需去往法國西部未允。這也反映了曾海文不重視交際名利的個性，也間接解釋了為何他生前並沒有在藝術界得到廣泛的認同。然而，由曾海文自創的輕盈深邃畫風在中國水墨的演化過程中有著重大的意義。在同代人中，曾海文是第一個利用水墨畫重新演繹中國文化的細膩和複雜。曾氏的藝術成就有幸在他身故以後通過多次知名學術機構舉辦的回顧展覽逐漸得到廣泛認可，這些展覽包含：摩納哥海洋學博物館，摩納哥（1996）；台北美術館，台北，台灣（1997）；法國蓬圖瓦茲博物館, 蓬圖瓦茲, 法國（1999 - 2000）; 《Paths of Ink》，法國吉美博物館，巴黎，法國；《墨の道》，日本資生堂畫廊，東京，日本（2002）；《來自巴黎的微風》，誠品畫廊，台北，台灣（2014）。

T’ang Boogie - Solo Exhibition January 26, 2019 - March 16, 2019 Hong Kong

de sarthe 20/F, Global Trade Square, No. 21 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Hong Kong Opening hours : Tuesday – Saturday, 11 am – 7 pm T: (852) 2167 8896 F: (852) 2167 8893 E: hongkong@desarthe.com Design by de Sarthe (Mario Bobbio)

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