From China to France, ‘art has no boundaries’

“I’m very happy to be exhibiting in İstanbul,” said Chevassus-Agnès in an interview with Today’s Zaman, “because İstanbul is the capital of culture of Europe in 2010.This is a very big event on both European and international levels. And for us, it is very valuable.”

Yuan agrees. “On our way to the hotel, we saw a magnificent landscape. And when we woke up this afternoon, we heard the call to prayer. It’s music, it’s beautiful and it’s something that purifies the soul. Before, I thought there was a great difference between the cultures of China and Turkey, but I have since found that the people are close to each other.”

This is not the first time that the two artists have exhibited together. “We met at an art fair in China five years ago,” said Chevassus-Agnès, “and our paintings were very similar and we became friends. In China and in France as well, we’ve frequently exhibited together.”

Chevassus-Agnès doesn’t deny the influence of traditional Chinese art in his paintings, which seem to be a combination of Impressionism with some Chinese influence. “Chinese traditional painting has influenced me a lot because of the gesture, the color and the composition of mystery of the painting. I find some painters of France, such as Matisse and Picasso, very poetic, very nice and sweet. And for this reason I have gone to China to discover Chinese painting.”

“A long time ago we already had communication between the French and the Chinese,” Yuan pointed out with regard to the interaction between the two societies. “Especially in modern fine arts, the communication has become more and more vivacious. There are lots of Chinese artists going to study in France, and French artists are coming to China to discover our mysterious oriental country. So it’s very nice to see a French painter like Chevassus-Agnès very interested in our culture and in our country who has already mixed our culture and occidental culture together. The great painters of France and Impressionism have always been influenced by Chinese culture like Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh.”

On the other hand, it is not only the French who are influenced by the Chinese. “I have learned a lot from Jean-Pierre about colors,” noted Yuan. “And when I was young, I usually painted oil paintings in Monet’s style. So I use a lot Impressionist colors.”

One of the main features of traditional Chinese painting is that it integrates poetry and painting in one work. Yuan said: “Not only the colors and lines that we use in our painting but also our culture, our poetry and our calligraphy, which is a combination of different kinds of art and reflects our theology and the view of the universe of the Chinese people. In my paintings, I frequently use ancient objects of antiquity. And the flowers are always liked by people in the old world. So my painting is a combination of modern and ancient, the global and the local.”

“The French art of painting has served Realism,” said Chevassus-Agnès, comparing French art with that of China. “I rather like poetic French painting. In the traditional history of China there’s no difference between poetry and painting because Chinese people have a very beautiful relationship with nature. Great Chinese painters were also great poets or writers. In France that existed in the Middle Ages. But later in modern times, French painting became too realist but not symbolic. I’m not against realist painting, but poetry should be kept. It doesn’t have to be like photography. Yuan uses very good calligraphy in his paintings.”

“I sometimes use ancient poems,” confirmed Yuan. “But sometimes I use original poems to express different sentiments.”

Symbolism shows itself in the small details hidden in the paintings, such as the animal figures seen in the paintings of Chevassus-Agnès and Yuan. The paintings of Chevassus-Agnès are generally decorated with a tiny cat looking at onlookers from a corner of the painting. “I love cats a lot, and I have got two cats right now,” said Chevassus-Agnès. “And I’ve seen many cats in İstanbul, so we took many photographs. Turks love cats. İstanbul loves cats!”

“In Chinese art tradition all animals are symbols,” explains Yuan. “The fish is a symbol for richness. And in traditional Chinese gardens, we always have pools with fishes. A butterfly is a symbol for love and friends. And different kinds of birds symbolize different meanings. When we paint animals in paintings in fact it’s a good wish for life.”