Paris, France — A joyful exhibition is unfolding at the Musée Guimet, France’s national museum devoted to the arts of Asia. Chinese artist T’ang Haywen, who grew up in Vietnam,  arrived in Paris in 1948, officially to study medicine, but he found a capital city in the midst of an explosion of creativity. He was confronted with Western modernity and a burgeoning Modern Art movement. He would become one of the figures of the Montparnasse art scene, still filled with artist studios and artist supply shops today. The artist would remain in Paris for the rest of his life and it was a city he visited with rigor as his sketch books attest to revealing that he spent time in Parisian museums, notably The Guimet and the city inspired his urban landscapes often drawn with a ballpoint pen. 

His works form a link between Chinese painting and its monochrome ink drawings and a Western influence of bright colors, hovering between Figuration and Abstraction.  Entitled T’ang Haywen, a Chinese painter in Paris (1927-1991), the exhibition brings together some 100 major works  exhibited in the museum’s fanciful rotunda-shaped gallery. The works reflect, in the words of the artist himself, « an ideal painting, bringing together the visible world with the world in the mind. » The artist did not receive any formal art training but rather learned calligraphy and the principles of Taoism from his grandfather. A large collection of the artist’s archives complement the exhibition and include rarely seen items like post cards he sent to friends and acquaintances  or painted ceramic squares and pages from his sketchbooks. All part of the exceptional body of 202 works and 400 personal archives that were donated to the Musée Guimet. The exhibition is running until June 17th with guided tours and workshops all on the agenda. ©The Gourmet Gazette.  6 Pl. d’Iéna, 75116 Paris, France. Tel: + 33 (1)  01 56 52 54 33. https://www.guimet.fr/fr