artist
In the early 1960’s, Chin’s work acknowledges the abstract expressionist movements but more importantly he had just returned from an extensive trip to Spain where he had received a grant from the Spanish government to be there from 1956 to 1957. In Barcelona he forms a relationship with artists such as Antoni Tapies and the El Paso Group. In 1959 he moves on to Milan and is aligned with highly avant-garde Italian artists Lucio Fontana, Roberto Crippa, Enrico Castellani and Pierre Manzoni. He exhibits with the Giorgio Marconi gallery while there.
Chin is an intriguing and important artist and it is clear that more scholarship will be put into his work in upcoming years. He is a part of a handful of artist who at this time traveled in very International circles and it informed their own abstract art moving forward.
Description
This impressive, haunting and spiritual work was painted in memory of artist Roberto Scuderi. Chin is clearly moved in this work to create a work that celebrates and is commemorative and he achieves this in the feel of the orb that hovers above the earth and the delicate sprinkles of color that sit within the earth’s realm representing the balance between life and spirituality. In looking at Scuderi’s paintings, Chin may be using a color palette in this work in line with a lot of what Scuderi is known for as normally Chin is a highly colorful artist.
provenance
Collection of Bernice McIlhenny Wintersteen.**
Private Collection, South Carolina (by family descent).
Freemans Auction, Philadelphia, 05-11-2021, lot 19
** Bernice McIlhenny Wintersteen was a major collector, arts patron and President of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1964 to 1968 and a noted American Civic Worker. Her brother Charles McIlhenny was also a Curator, Trustee and Chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and major collector. Bernice is a leading and impressive figure on many fronts and her biography is a must read. She gifted amongst other works a Matisse “Lady in Blue”, Picasso, Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Bronzino’s “Portrait of Cosimo I de Medici to the Philadelphia Museum.
exhibitions
The 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1961 - January 7, 1962, in the exhibition catalogue, no. 168 (not illustrated).
Philadelphia Collects 20th Century, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 3 - November 17, 1963, in the exhibition catalogue, p. 19 (not illustrated).
