In 1921, Sanyu was among many Chinese artists who left his homeland to travel abroad to learn foreign ways. In Paris he enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where he delved into the world of sketching nudes from live models. Drawing on his training in Chinese calligraphy, his ink drawings are characterized by a unique curvilinear certainty and fluidity. He started to paint in oil in 1929, under the direction of author and art collector Henri-Pierre Roché. In contrast to his drawing, here he preferred to reference images or memories from his youth and his rich cultural heritage. After World War II. he traveled to New York, where he became roommates and close friends with the Swiss photographer Robert Frank, and became influenced by the New York School. While he did not embrace abstraction, he borrowed elements that are evident in a diversified color palette. Sanyu returned to Paris in 1950, where his life was characterized by hopeful but false starts and debilitating failures. This catalogue raisonné is the first publication that includes all of his known oil paintings to date.
