Chao Chung-Hsiang

1910-1991, Henan, China

Introduction

In her introduction to Chao Chung-Hsiang, the second catalogue the gallery produced for the artist, Alice King noted “to Chao, painting was not merely a pictorial representation but a continuous thought process related to one’s spiritual well-being and outlook on life. He worked tirelessly to ensure that contemporary Chinese painting would become part of the mainstream and not a mere tributary of Western art.”

Like Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and Wu Guanzhong, Chao studied under the renowned artist Lin Fengmian at the National College of Art, Hangzhou (currently the China Academy of Art) before graduating in 1939. In 1948, he immigrated to Taiwan, and in 1956 won a fellowship to study in Spain. He toured Paris and Europe, before settling in New York in 1958, where he remained for most his life. There he discovered for himself American Abstract Expressionist art, and other New York Schools such as Action Painting and Pop Art which inspired him to work conscientiously to achieve a synthesis of East and West. The main subjects of Chao's work are flowers and fish, birds, the cosmos and abstraction. From the 1970s, Yin-Yang symbols and hexagrams derived from the ancient Chinese divination text I-Ching began appearing in his paintings, referencing Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. In his paintings, blocks of dazzling fluorescent colour sporadically float upon expressive images rendered in rich ink washes. After more than thirty years in New York City, he moved to Hong Kong in 1989, then to Chengdu, and finally to Taiwan. He passed away in 1991, at the age of eighty-one.

In 1972, Chao won the New York Creative Artists Public Service Program Award. From 1997-99 his works were exhibited in the important travelling group exhibition Asian Traditions/Modern Expressions, organised by the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. His work was also included in the exhibition China: 5,000 Years held at the Guggenheim Museum in 1998.

Alisan Fine Arts began representing Chao in 1985 and has organised 9 solo exhibitions for him since then, including 4 major solo shows, two of which travelled to Zhejiang West Lake Art Museum; Hong Kong Arts Centre; Alisan Fine Arts; Club 21 Gallery in Singapore in 1999-2000, and Taipei Museum of History, Taiwan; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum; Galerie Adler, Paris; Hong Kong Arts Centre in 2004. Chao’s works have been frequently exhibited at internationally renowned museums, including at the Guggenheim Museum, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, and Hong Kong Museum of Art. Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery organised a solo exhibition for him in 2014. Alisan Fine Arts manages the artist’s estate.

His works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Columbia University, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Zhejiang Westlake Art Museum, Hangzhou; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong; and M+, Hong Kong.


BIOGRAPHY
1910    Born in Henan, China
1920    Started studying painting with his father
1932-34    Studied at the Department of Art, Henan Teachers Normal School
1935    Studied in the Department of Art, Hangzhou National College of Art (now China Academy of Art), Hangzhou, China
1937    Exhibited at the 1st National Art Exhibition in Nanjing and won a figure drawing prize in watercolour 
1939   Graduated from Hangzhou National College of Art
Joined the production of government propaganda during the Sino-Japanese War
1940    Appointed leader of painting, Northwest China Artefacts Survey Group
1941-47    Appointed Head of the Department of Fine Arts, Northwest China Training League
Art editor in Political Office of Air Force 11th wing
1948    Left China for Taipei
1951-55    Associate Professor of Arts, National Normal University and concurrently at College of Politics and Combat, Taipei, Taiwan
1956    Received a scholarship from the Spanish Government and left Taiwan to study in Madrid
1957    Became a permanent member of the National Art Association of Spain
1958    Toured Paris and Europe for six months and left for New York, USA
1959    Won the Non-Member Award at the 92nd Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolour Society, New York
Met Franz Kline, Sam Francis, Mark Rothko in New York, USA
1962    Lecturer at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA
1965    Lecturer at Ulster County Community College, State Universities of New York, USA
1972    Won the Creative Artists Public Service Program Award, New York State Council on the Arts, USA
Lecturer at Garrison Art Centre & Russell Sage College, New York, USA
1974    Lecture series on Comparing Eastern and Western Art, at the invitation of Maryland University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Selected by the Israeli Government to submit 30 works to appear in its educational film Art Around the World
1974-75    Lecturer at Department of Art, Brooklyn College of City University of New York, USA
1980    Selected by Viyella Fabrics, New York City to provide its colour of the year
Lecturer at State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
1981    Returned to Taiwan for the first time since 1965
1984    Established a studio in Taipei 
1982-83    Visiting Professor, Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
1984-89    Travelled between Taipei and New York
1990    Moved from New York to Chengdu in March
Came to Hong Kong in May, where he showed his works to Professor Michael Sullivan and Laurance Tam, Curator, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Settled in Miaoli, Taiwan in November
1991    Passed away in December in Miaoli, Taiwan 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

2019

  • The Distant Planet: Chao Chung-Hsiang, Museum of Modern Art, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan

2017

2014

  • The Odyssey of a Master: Chao Chung-Hsiang, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, Hong Kong

2006

2004
2001
  • Chao Chung-Hsiang: 10th Anniversary of His Death, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
1999-2000

1999

  • Chao Chung-Hsiang Solo Exhibition & Symposium: Celebrating the Centenary of Lin Fengmian, Chinese Painting Academy, Shanghai, China 
1997
1995
  • Solo exhibition, Notices The Gallery, Singapore
  • Eastern Philosophy, Western Language, solo exhibition & symposium, Dimension Endowment of Art, Taipei, Taiwan

1994

  • The Art of Chao Chung-Hsiang, Godfrey Far Eastern Art, London, UK
  • Chao Chung-Hsiang Retrospective Exhibition, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan

1993

  • Solo Exhibition, Eslite Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Chao Chung-Hsiang: East-West Synthesis, Gallery 21, Singapore
1992
1991
  • Solo exhibition, Miaoli Cultural Centre, Miaoli, Taiwan 
1985
  • Paintings by Chao Chung-Hsiang, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
  • Solo exhibition & lecture, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1983

  • Solo exhibition, Apollo Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

1981

  • Solo exhibition, Hwa Kang Museum, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Paintings by Chao Chung-hsiang, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
1980
  • Solo exhibition, Spring Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
1977
  • Solo exhibition & lecture series (11 times),  Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows, New York, USA
  • Solo exhibition, Nassau County Fine Art Museum, Long Island, New York, USA 
1976
  • Solo exhibition, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA 

1975

  • Solo exhibition, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York, USA 

1973

  • Solo exhibition & lecture, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, New York, USA
  • Solo exhibition, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, USA

1972

  • Solo exhibition, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, USA 
  • Solo exhibition, The New Gallery, Russell Sage College, Albany, New York, USA

1971

  • Solo exhibition, Norwalk Museum, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA 

1969-70

  • Solo exhibition, Hemingway Gallery, New York, USA
1968-78
  • More than 10 solo & group exhibitions, Couturier Gallery, Stamford, USA
1968
  • Solo exhibition, Frederick-Nila Gallery, Texas, USA

1941-47

  • 3 solo exhibitions, Shaanxi, China

 
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

2023

2022

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016  

2015

2014

2013

2012 

2009

  • Hong Kong International Arts & Antiques Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre, Hong Kong

2008

2007

  • 3rd Shanghai Ink Biennial, Exploration: New Ink Art Shanghai, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China 

2006

  • 20th Century Chinese Landscape Painting, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China 

1999 

  • Pioneers of Chinese Abstraction: New York School: Chao Chung-Hsiang, John Way; Paris School: Chu Teh-Chun, Zao Wou-Ki, Asia Art Centre, Taipei; Pun Art Gallery, Tainan; New Age Gallery, Taiching, Taiwan

1998

  • China 5000 Years, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA 

1997-99

  • Asian Traditions: Modern Expressions, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Jersey; Chicago Cultural Center; Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California; Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles; Taipei Fine Arts Museum; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum; Akita Senshu Museum, Japan

1997

1996-97

  • Milieu: Part II, Asian American Arts Center, New York, USA

1996

  • International Asian Art Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, 7th Regiment Armory, New York, USA

1995-96

  • Twentieth-Century Chinese Painting: Tradition and Innovation, Travelling exhibition, British Museum, London, UK; Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, Germany; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

1995

1994

  • Art Taipei, Alisan Fine Arts, Taipei World Trade Centre, Taipei, Taiwan

1993

  • Tresors, Alisan Fine Arts, World Trade Centre Singapore, Singapore 

1992

  • Art Asia Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

1985

  • Modern Chinese Paintings, Abstract Expression of the Brush, Warwick Arts Trust, London, UK 

1984

  • Group exhibition, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1980

  • Group exhibition, Gallery 80, Toronto, Canada

1978

  • Ancient Heritage New Directions, Alternative Centre for International Art Inc, New York, USA 

1977

  • International Artists’ 77 Exhibition, New York, USA

1973

  • Chinese Arts and Culture, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA

1970

  • Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, Hemingway Gallery, New York, USA
  • 1st International Art Show, New York, USA
  • Contemporary Chinese Artists, Art Society of International Monetary Fund, Twelfth Floor Gallery, Washington DC, USA

1968

  • Contemporary Paintings Exhibition: The Wellington-Ivest Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

1967

  • Group exhibition, Contemporary Galleries, New York, USA 

1966

  • Group exhibition, Stamford Museum, Stamford, USA 

1965

  • Meet the Artists Series, Ulster College, State University of New York, New York, USA

1959

  • 92nd Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolour Society, American Watercolour Society, New York, USA

1957

  • Group exhibition, Layetanas Galarias, Barcelona, Spain
  • Group exhibition by special invitation, Museum of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil 

1951

  • Exhibition of Modern Painting, Zhongshan Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
1939
  • 1st National Art Exhibition, Nanjing, China

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA 
Queens Museum, New York, USA 
Columbia University, New York, USA 
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, USA 
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, USA 
Russell Sage College, Albany, USA 
Norwalk Museum, Norwalk, USA 
Stamford Art Museum, Stamford, USA 
University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA 
National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 
Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai China 
Zhejiang Westlake Art Museum, Hangzhou, China 
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan 
Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan 
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong 
M+, Hong Kong

Selected Publications
Rediscovering Chao Chung-Hsiang, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 2022
Chao Chung-Hsiang, Vol 1, 2,3, 4, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2004
Chao Chung-Hsiang Retrospective Exhibition, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, 1994
Chieh, Kathy, An Absolute Artist: The Artistic World of Chao Chung-Hsiang, Locus Publishing, Taipei, 1997
Chieh, Kathy, The Artistic World of Chao Chung-Hsiang, China Academy of Art Press, Hangzhou, 1998
Zhu Qi edited, Essays on Chao Chung-Hsiang, China Academy of Art Press, Hangzhou, 1999
Chao Chung-Hsiang: An Eternal Searcher, Taipei Museum of History, Taiwan, 2004
Wang Yong, Transplantation and Variation, China Renmin University Press, Beijing, 2005
Syncretic Visions: The First Generation of Chinese Diaspora Artists in America, booklet, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong, 2015
Kuo Bor-Jou, Chao Chung-Hsiang, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, 2019