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Spring 2003 | Volume 26, Number 2 | Alumni | |||
| The World of
Teng Chiu Frye Museum Spotlights Art Collection Owned by Professor Couple POINTING TO A FAVORITE painting, “Lake Lure, North Carolina,” Seattle Pacific University Professor of International Business and Economics Joanna Poznanska says, “This makes you believe the colors of the place are truer than the real place.”
Chiu’s work has been largely forgotten, but the professor couple hopes to change that. Poznanska has become an acknowledged expert on Chiu’s work, as has her husband, who wrote an essay for the exhibition catalog. According to Poznanski, “Chiu was a landscaper, capable of creating an illusion of universal harmony, often by depicting places where mountains meet water.” Born in 1903, Chiu moved to the United States as a young man and rose to fame in the art world, winning top awards in the United States and Europe for his expressive, color-soaked technique. The work Chiu accomplished was unlike either Western or Eastern art of the day. The artist explained the middle road he traveled in painting: “I am trying to get the best out of both Eastern and Western art. I am using the techniques of European art, but I try to preserve the broadness of Eastern art with its preoccupation with essentials.” Seattle Pacific Professor of Art Michael Caldwell, an accomplished painter himself, visited the Frye exhibit. “I was impressed by the facility Chiu had for handling paint,” Caldwell reports. “He was able to convey a sense of place — even the time of day — with just a stroke of color.” After Chiu’s death in 1972, his paintings drifted from the media’s attention. Over the past several decades, however, Poznanska and her husband have slowly built up what is assumed to be the largest collection of his work. One painting comes from the estate of Madame Chiang Kaishek, wife of the Chinese president, who was known to be close to Chiu’s family. The couple believes it was originally a gift to the president’s family from the artist. They plan to take the exhibit to museums where Chiu lived, from China to England. “We want to introduce him to the Chinese world,” says Poznanski, “and reintroduce him to the West.” — BY MARGARET D. SMITH |
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 From the President Cultivating hope in the face of chaos is vital today. "This is the time for a Christian university to dig down deep into its formative foundations … and decide quite clearly what bread we have to offer,” says President Philip Eaton. Volumes of Volumes SPU Library resources will top 22 million items in 2003. Starting this summer, materials can be ordered online from the new “Orca” catalog through the Orbis Cascade Alliance. [Campus] Homecoming 2003: The Weekend in Photos Playing With Joy |
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