Friday, May 31, 2013

Teng Hiok Chiu

Evening Times-Advertiser
(Trenton, New Jersey)
July 12, 1931


The China Critic
October 25, 1934
Intimate Portraits by Wen Yuan-ning

Mr. Teng H. Chiu.

Mr. Chiu is one of those artists, whom Nature tries her best to wean from their love of Art. She has made him look anything but an artist. Any one may very well take him for a banker. His comfortable proportions, his broad plump face, his quietness, his decorous manner of attiring himself, his slow movements, his soft purring voice, his engaging smile, — all are qualities which one would expect in one’s banker: they do not inspire enthusiasm, but they certainly breed confidence. Now, one does not go to a banker to be rapt off the earth; that would mean panic, and panic is not a desirable state to be in, when one is considering financial questions. But one would be disappointed in an artist who, instead of communicating to one the feeling of transport (to use a Longinian expression), only leads one with the feeling of confidence. At the first contact with Mr. Chiu, it is just this feeling of disappointment that one feels. But it would be wrong to allow this feeling to persist. For if ever there is an artist in China, Mr. Chiu is certainly such a person. He has the body and appearance of a banker, but the soul and temperament of an artist. A slightly better acquaintance with Mr. Chiu will at once reveal to one all the traits of a genuine artist in him.

For one thing, he has the essential simplicity of an artist . His contact with the world is naked and direct. He has nothing up his sleeve. By this, I don’t mean to insinuate that his mind is simple. There is all the difference in the world between a simple mind and the sort of simplicity I have in view. By the “essential simplicity of an artist,” I mean that intense and undivided allegiance of an artist to his Art, which brooks no second love. He sees everything through the medium of his Art. He jealously keeps the medium transparent and pure, so that no secondary considerations eight of money or of material advantages will warp his vision of the world. He glories in the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. His wish, in the words of Sir Philip Sidney, is to make the too much loved earth more lovely still. To possess such a simplicity of vision is the sine qua non of an artist. Mr. Chiu has it. That he is not conscious of it stamps him all the more as an artist born, and not made. Mr. Chiu is one of the few Chinese, who have seriously studied western Art. Like all serious students, he has wisely decided to learn to walk, before attempting to fly. He has not tried to startle by any innovation, either in technique or design; but neither has he, on the other hand, tried to capture attention by bad workmanship, which in art circles is often euphemistically called “personal eccentricities.”

Mr. Chiu has studied for many years in America, England, and Paris. His academic record has been most brilliant. The Creswick Prize of 1926, and the Turner Gold Medal of; 1929 from the Royal Academy, London, are a few among the many signal distinctions, with which he has been honoured. He is a prophet not without honour, save in his own country. The reason for this, of course, is because Mr. Chiu hasn’t got the gift of the gap. To be a successful artist in China, it is not only necessary to paint well, but it is even more necessary to talk well…about one’s own pictures!

If I am asked, what are the qualities which characterize Mr. Chiu’s pictures, I would answer, — refinement of eye, and sensitiveness of hand. They are not, perhaps, the qualities which can make one enthusiastic. But what of it? Enthusiasm for Mr. Chiu’s pictures will come later when, with perfect mastery of his technique, he will have learnt to put more boldness into his brush.

(Tomorrow: Teng Hiok Chiu in Who’s Who in China)

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Allen Chin 2011

Casa Grande Dispatch
November 11, 2011
(click image to enlarge)

(Next post May 31: Tien Hiok Chiu)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Allen Chin 1965

Best TV Commercials of the Year
Wallace A. Ross
Hastings House, 1967
page 156, column 3, last entry
(click image to enlarge)






























Gaines Meal–“Golden Retriever”
Advertiser: General Foods
Agency: Benton & Bowles, New York
Production: Libra
Details: 30 seconds, color
First Air Date: October 1965
Account Supervisor: Bruce Allen
Agency Producer: Robert Cotton
Copywriter: Jeff McGrath
Art Director: Allen Chin
Film Producer: William Lebzelter
Director: Slavomir Vorkapich
Cameramen: Slavomir Vorkapich, Arthur Pembleton
Film Editor: Jerry Siegel
Optical Effects: Coastal
Voice Over: Howard Reig


Saturday, May 25, 2013

Allen Chin 1963–1964

Christmas Greeting
December 25, 1963
(click images to enlarge)

An Exhibition of Paintings by Allen Chin
Phoenix Art Museum
March 16–April 5, 1964

The Arizona Republic
March 27, 1964
A Try Beyond Realism

Phoenix Gazette
(Arizona)
March 27, 1964
Color Enhances Chin’s Paintings

The Arizona Republic
March 29, 1964
Allen Chinn Show Work at Museum


Phoenix Gazette
April 18, 1964
Theme Song: Where Did Cowboy Go?

(Tomorrow: Allen Chin 1965)

Friday, May 24, 2013

Allen Chin in All About Aviation

All About Aviation
Robert D. Loomis
Random House, 1964
illustrations by Allen Chin
(click images to enlarge)


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Allen Chin 1960

Casa Grande Dispatch
(Arizona)
Allen Chin to Begin Art Classes Monday
Allen Chin will begin a series of weekly classes in drawing and painting Monday at 8:15 p.m. in the Blue Flame Room of the Southwest Gas Corp.

Anyone interested in enrolling for the classes is invited to the Monday meeting.

Tucson Daily Citizen
(Arizona)
April 9, 1960
(click images to enlarge)

Paintings by Allen Chin
Memorial Union Galleries
Arizona State University
June 12–27, 1960
(photocopy of brochure)

The Arizona Republic
June 9, 1960

Casa Grande Dispatch
Casa Grande Dispatch
July 7, 1960

The Arizona Republic
October 23, 1960

Casa Grande Dispatch
October 27, 1960

The Arizona Republic
November 4, 1960

Arizona State Fair 1960

Casa Grande Dispatch
November 10, 1960

Allen Chin with “Triumph for the Silks”

Casa Grande Dispatch
December 8, 1960

(Tomorrow: Allen Chin 1961)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Allen Chin 1959

Paintings by Allen Chin
Society of Cinema Arts
Coronet Film Museum
Los Angeles, California
February 7—28, 1959
(click images to enlarge)

The Arizona Republic
November 2, 1959
Fair Art Impressive

(Tomorrow: Allen Chin 1960)