1901

Sanyu    常玉was born on October 14 in Nanchong, Sichuan province, in China.

He was the sixth of twelve children.

His family was wealthy due to his older brother who owned a factory of silk weaving.  

He learned calligraphy from Zao Xi ( 1877- 1938 ) and painting with his father, artist,

1918

He spent two years in Japan with his younger brother, who was student in Tokyo.

1920

He was among the first artists to come and study in France.

He moved to Montparnasse and enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière..

1928

He got married on April 10 with a French woman, Charlotte Guyot de la Hardrouyère

whom he met at the Grande Chaumière, from whom he divorced three years later.

1929

He started painting nudes.

1931

He met the collector Henri-Pierre Roché (1879-1959 ).

This one bought him111 paintings and 600 drawings, allowing the artist to live

large.

He exhibited regularly in different Salons in Paris :

Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries.

1936

Ruined after the death of his older brother, with the family business in decline,  

and not selling his paintings, he invented the " Ping-Tennis " that he introduced

at Berlin Olympics without much success.

1948

He lived two years in New York with the photographer Robert Frank.

An exhibition was organized at the Passedoit Gallery, New York, but none of the 29

paintings was sold.

1950

Alberto Giacometti ( 1901- 1966 ), Philipe Hiquily ( 1925 - 2013 ), Jacques Monory ( 1924 - )   

et Marcel Van Thienenen ( 1922 - 1998 )

1963

The Minister of Education of Taiwan Huang Jilu, visiting Paris, proposed him to teach

at the National Normal School of Taiwan and to participate in a solo exhibition

at the National Museum of History in Taipei.

1964

He sent 42 paintings in Taiwan but he could not leave ad his works remained at the

Museum.

1966

He dead on August 12, asphyxiated in his sleep by gas,  in 28 rue de la Sablière, 75014

He was buried in Pantin cemetery.

Danièle Sicard

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Solo exhibitions  selection

1930

J.H. de Bois Gallery Haarlem The Netherlands

1930

Kunstzaal Van Lier Gallery Amsterdam  The Netherlands

1934

Kunstzaal Van Lier Gallery Amsterdam  The Netherlands

1963

Jean-Claude Riedel Gallery Paris  France

1992

10.04 30.04 Sanyu Dimensions Art Center Taipei  Taiwan

1995

Passedoit Gallery New York  United States

1995

14.10 26.11The Exhibition of Sanyu National Museum of History  Taipei  Taiwan

2001

In Search of a Homeland  - The Art of San Yu National Museum of History  Taiwan

2004

Sanyu, l'écriture du corps Guimet Museum Paris France

2013

13.04 12.05 Sanyu, a pioneering Avant-Garde, in Chinese Modernist Art The Tina Keng Gallery

Taipei  Taiwan

2025

15.02 15.05 SANYU  la ligne à l'oeuvre  Musée Départemental des Arts Asiatiques  Nice

 France

Collective exhibitions  selection

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chinesenewart  ©   Sanyu's drawing on paper tablecloth - collection Michel Nau

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