De Sarthe gallery revives French connection with Chinese artists

When de Sarthe Gallery sought a place at Art Basel Hong Kong, they wanted to continue a dialogue that started in the early 20th century between Paris-influenced Chinese artists and their Western abstract counterparts.

The Ice House Street gallery in Central was keen to show how Western art shaped these Chinese artists who worked in the French capital and inspired a yearning to break away from the old Chinese traditions in their artworks.

De Sarthe's powerful narrative and historical journey was a perfect fit for judges of the Galleries sector of Art Basel Hong Kong, who looked for thematic presentations on the most important developments from Asia's art scene over the past 100 years. De Sarthe was thus accepted as one of more than 170 galleries featured in the main Galleries section of the fair.

"During Art Basel this year, our Hong Kong gallery's exhibition will focus on 15 masterpieces from the first and second generation of the most important Chinese artists who moved to or worked temporarily in Paris from 1919 onwards," says de Sarthe founder Pascal de Sarthe.

"The show will highlight the influence of Western art in their artworks and the rupture with the centuries-old Chinese tradition these pioneers of modern Chinese painting were seeking when they went to Paris.

"It will also demonstrate that the second-generation artists such as Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun and T'ang Haywen later came back to their roots and created a "Chinese abstraction" differentiating them from Western abstract painters.