Comments on: Death of a Master: Prof. Charles Chu (1918-2008)

By: Adrian McDonald

Adrian McDonald — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:21:13 +0000

I have a large oil painting of his of the hongkong harbour. How old was he?
He painted this for my parents many years ago as a request from my parents good friends.
It saddens me a man with that talent has left us.I am in New Zealand

By: Josh Friedlander

Josh Friedlander — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:02:03 +0000

Peter: I’ve passed your question on to the family.

By: Peter Eller

Peter Eller — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:56:35 +0000

Some time back I came into possession of a painting or lithograph labeled on back as follows: “Gift to Chuck Shepard from Charles Chu (the artist) on the occasion of Chuck’s retirement from the presidency of Yale–China.”

If anyone, perhaps from the family, can tell me more about the occasion, remembers it and the gift, I would be grateful for any further information.

Thank You.

Peter Eller
Peter Eller Fine Art

By: Josh Friedlander

Josh Friedlander — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:54:52 +0000

Ting: our pleasure. I know little about art, but do think there are some similarities in Japanese and Chinese paintings, however I would not doubt that a true expert would be able to point out major differences. My own impression is that there is a major difference in the amount of detail and use of brushstrokes and, of course, the subject matter of ancient paintings in either culture as per the varying landscapes of the two societies.

By: Ting C.

Ting C. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:07:08 +0000

Hello there –

I wanted to thank you for putting up such a nice tribute to my grandfather, Charles Chu, on your website! His death is an unbelievable loss to our family, but ours is a grateful grief that we got to spend such good years with him.

I’m interested in the views posted above about my grandfather’s work as influenced by Japanese painting. He would probably be a little bit taken aback by such an assertion, but you probably do know more about art than I (because I really know nothing about it except for my grandfather’s work, which I can recognize in an instant just from growing up around it). Anyway, I thought you might be interested to know that he used to call himself a Quaker in his religion, a Confucian in his philosophy, and a Taoist in his painting. He was almost entirely self-taught, and painted as the spirit moved him. We have piles and piles of sketchbooks of his to go through, and taking a walk with him was always quite a project, because every few paces he would stop and examine a flower or a tree that he found interesting, often taking a moment to sketch what he saw.

I’m so glad that his life and his art are being talked about. He greatly admired the work of the Chinese artist Qi Baishi (Ch’i Pai-shih), if that offers any more insight into his work.

Thanks again!

-ting