Tseng Yuho
Introduction
Tseng Yuho, also known as Betty Ecke, is an internationally acclaimed artist, distinguished scholar, and educator. Born in Beijing in 1925, she began studying painting from an early age. In 1937, she studied brush painting with Fang Zhaoling and was privately tutored by Prince Pu Jin. In 1942, while she was a student at Furen University in the art department, Beijing, she supplemented her studies by conversing with well-known academics and artists. In 1949, she moved to Hawaii and attained her MA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii in 1966. She obtained her PhD from New York University in 1972. She was made a full professor at the University of Hawaii in 1973 and the deputy director of the Asian Art Department at the Honolulu Museum of Art. In 1989, she retired while continuing to paint and do research. In 1990, the Japanese Buddhist Association named her “Living Treasure of Hawaii”. In 2005, she returned to live in Beijing. Upon first inspection, Tseng's work appears to contain abstract forms executed in Chinese ink and colour on paper, making use of classical strokes and dots, but without traditional subject matter. However, upon closer study one discovers landscapes or other forms in these misty abstractions. In the 1950s, she experimented with layering and the patching of gold or silver foil that she named dsui. These remarkable works were first shown in a travelling exhibition sponsored by Smithsonian Institute, and in 1955 were shown in ten museums and art centers in the United States.
Following her 2002 retrospective at the National Museum of History in Taipei, Alisan Fine Arts held a solo exhibition in 2003 for the artist and included her work in a group exhibition in 2008 featuring women artists. When President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, as one of his diplomatic gifts, he gave Mao Zedong a book of calligraphy by Tseng. She has had over forty solo and group exhibitions, including the travelling exhibition Asian Traditions/Modern Expressions in 1997-99, and from 2001-2002 she was included in Chinese Modern Art: the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology at Oxford University. Her works have been collected by the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology, Oxford University; Honolulu Academy of Arts; Hawaii Culture and Arts Foundation; M+, Hong Kong.
BIOGRAPHY
1925 Born in Beijing, China
1937 Studied brush painting with Fang Zhaoling
Private studies with Prince Pu Jin
1942 Studied in Art Department, Furen (Catholic SVD) University, Beijing, China
Postgraduate studies: seal engraving and Chinese epigraphy with Rong Keng; Chinese bronzes with Rong King, Han Shouxuan (Beijing University), Gustav Ecke and Max Loehr; Research methods in Chinese painting and calligraphy with Qi Gong, Teng Yije (Central University), Chinese poetry Gu Weigang and Qi Gong
1942-5 Assistant to Pu Quan and Gustav Ecke
1945 Married Gustav Ecke, Beijing, China
1946-48 Lecturer, Yale-China Language School of Beijing - Chinese mounting and repair methods
1947-48 Sojourn in Amoy-Gulangsu, Fujian, China
1949 Went to Hong Kong and then moved to Hawaii, USA
1953 Summer session, University of California, Berkeley, history of later Chinese painting and studio Chinese brush painting
1953 Consultant, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
1953-62 Taught studio Chinese brush painting and history of later Chinese painting, University of Hawaii, USA
1957-58 Travelled in Europe
1960 Received Asian Institute Scholarship, Washington DC, travelled to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan
1963 In celebrating the new site of the Royal Far Eastern Museum of Art, the Swedish King invited Tseng Yuho to have her solo exhibition held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Sweden
Guest of King Gustaf of Sweden, Inauguration of Asian Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
1966 MA, Asian Studies, University of Hawaii
1966-67 Fulbright lectureship, Department of Art History, University of Munich and Academie der Bildenden Kunste, Munich, Germany
1967-69 Commuted between New York and Bonn, Germany, course work for PhD at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, USA
1969 Returned to Hawaii, Associate Professor, Fine Art Department, Faculty of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA
1971 Gustav Ecke died of heart failure
1971-3,79-82 Programme Chairperson, Art History, Art Department, University of Hawaii, USA
1972 PhD Far Eastern Art History, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, USA
When President Richard Nixon visited China, as one of his diplomatic gifts, he gave Mao Zedong a book by Tseng Yuho "Chinese Calligraphy"
1973 Full professorship awarded
1980-85 Chair of Council for Chinese Studies, Centre for Asia and Pacific, University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA
1985 Upon early retirement became Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA
Adjunct-curator of Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
1989 Consultant for Asian Art, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
1990 Japanese Buddhist Association named her “Living Treasure of Hawaii"1991
Honorary President of Beijing Arts and Crafts Association, and Ming Dynasty Furniture Association
Moderator, The International Colloquium on Chinese Art History, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
1993 Published "History of Chinese Calligraphy"
1998 Received the Contribution Award of Fine Arts, Fine Art Department, Campus of University of Hawaii, USA
2002-01 'Gathering Jade Assembling Splendor, the Live, and Art of Tseng Yuho', by Melissa Jane Thompson, a dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy, University of Washington, USA
2005 Moved back to Beijing, China
2017 Passed away in Beijing, China
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009
- Riverside III Gallery, Beijing, China
- Tseng Yuho: A Visual Symphony of Form, Line & Dot, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong
- National History Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- Kaikodo, New York, USA
- Award Exhibition, KOA Gallery, Community College, University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA
- Michael Goedhuis Gallery, London, UK
- Retrospective travelling exhibition: Shanghai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; National Museum of Singapore, Singapore
- The Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
- Kunstverein, Munich, Germany; Reitberg Museum, Zurich, Switzerland; Karmeliter Kloster, Frankfurt, Germany
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
- National Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden; Musee Cernuschi, Paris, France
- Honolulu Academy of Arts travelled to Stanford University Art Gallery
- Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
- Travelling exhibition sponsored by Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, shown in 10 museums and art centers in the USA
- Travelling Exhibition, The Honolulu Academy of Arts; de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA; Gallery Fussli, Zurich, Switzerland
- Fung Pingshan Art Museum, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong
- The Chinese Council, London, UK; de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024-2025
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Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination, M+, Hong Kong
2021-22
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Individuals, Networks, Expressions, South Galleries, M+, Hong Kong
2017
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Abstract Expressionism: Looking East from the Far West, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii, USA
2016
2008
2005
- The Act of Writing and Non-writing: The Open Space for Chinese Calligraphy, International Exhibition of Modern Calligraphy, China Art Academy, Hangzhou, China
2001
- Modern Chinese Art, Opening of the Michael Sullivan Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
1999-97
- Traveling Exhibition: Asian Traditions/Modern Expressions, Asian American Artists and Abstraction1945-1970, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New York; Chicago Cultural Centre, Chicago; Japanese American National Museum and Bedford Gallery, California, United States; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka; Akita Senshu Museum, Akita, Japan
1997
- The Living Brush, Four Masters of Contemporary Chinese Calligraphers, American Asian Cultural Exchange Centre, San Francisco, USA
1989
- Tan-Yi, One, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, USA
1984
- 20th Century Chinese Painting, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
1983
- Inaugural Exhibitions, Overseas Section, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
1971, 68, 65
- Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, USA
1969-85
- Faculty exhibitions, Art Department, Unversity of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA
- Artists of Hawaii Annual Exhibition, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii, USA
1965
- Rockford Museum of Art, IL, USA
- Pacific Heritage, touring exhibition, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Berlin Festival, Germany; IBM Gallery, Corcoran Gallery, New York, USA
- Group show, Downtown Gallery, New York, USA
- Art Festival, University of Illinois, USA
1958
- Stanford Art Gallery, de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA
SELECTED AWARDS, GRANTS
1960 Louise Horowitz Scholarship, Oriental Society, Washington DC, USA
1964 Book design award, Some Contemporary Elements in Classical Chinese Painting, Los Angeles Book Association, USA
Rockefeller Foundation, joint award with Gustav Ecke, two months in Italy
1972 Award for Outstanding Scholarship, New York University Foundation, USA
1971-3 University of Hawaii Community grant, USA
1973 Research grant from UH Foundation
1974 Paul S. Bachman Memorial Award, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, for outstanding contribution to the relationship of the USA and Asia
1976 Field trip in Eastern Asia and the USA, National Endowment for the Humanities of Hawaii, and US Bicentennial Commission of Hawaii grant, USA
1987 Appointed a member of the Governor's Commission for the Hawaiian-Chinese Bicentennial celebration in 1989
1993 Libraries Award for the Best Book Produced in Hong Kong for Black and White English Language books, Urban Council, Hong Kong
1998 Outstanding Artist Award, KOA Gallery, USA
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
Golden West Savings and Loan, San Francisco, CA, USA
Honolulu Academy of Art, Hawaii, USA
Honolulu International Airport, USA
Manoa Chinese Cemetery, Hawaii, USA
Maui Memorial Hospital, Hawaii, USA
University of Hawaii, USA
M+, Hong Kong
