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Exerpt from an art show pamphlet
Listing of Credentials
Critique by Eve Medoff
Associate in Art Research, Hudson River Museum
Arts Editor, Yonkers Record
Critique by Gordon Brown
Senior Editor, ARTS Magazine
Exerpt from an unknown news article
News article by Lee Sheridan (1971?)
News article by Florence Berkman (1984)
Another exerpt from an unknown source
News article by Mike May (1985)
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Exerpt from an art show pamphlet
TSENG-YING PANG, one of the great artists in all of
the Orient’s long history, has defied Rudyard Kipling’s
conviction that "East is East and West is West and never
the twain shall meet."
The twain do meet - in Pang’s celebrated watercolors,
which art experts throughout the world have described as
an "occidental symphony with oriental indirection," and
with similar encomiums.
Born to a Chinese artist-mother in Japan, Pang at an early
age exhibited talents usually displayed by adults. His art
education is at roots Chinese. His initial studies were in
Peking, China, where beginning in his youth he studied the
various forms of Chinese art. After graduating from
Chunghua College of Art, Peking, Pang was awarded a
scholarship to Study art at Nippon University in Tokyo,
Japan. There he received his M.A. degree in art. His
amazing visionary powers, greatly influenced by the
traditional Asiatic art and Western techniques soon
established him as one of the Orient’s most esteemed
contemporary watercolorists.
Gordon Brown, Senior Editor of ARTS magazine, whose
enthusiasm for Pang’s work is unrestrained, wrote that
"Pang brings his own version of Abstract Expressionism. His
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mood is predominantly poetic and leads to philosophical
meditation, It expresses grace, strength, elegance,
abruptness, and freshness as the occasion may require.
Through these qualities, that all nations can admire and
understand, he has made a splendid contribution toward the
internationalization of art while retaining rich values
that are national and personal."
In 1965 Pang was awarded Taiwan’s coveted President’s
Award and came to the United States on a grant from the
Asia Foundation. He has remained in this country and has
received more than 200 awards for his watercolor paintings,
many of which have become the proud possessions of
museums, galleries and private collectors throughout the
world.
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CREDENTIALS:
NEW YORK TIMES:
"He has seized upon some aspect of a scene with genuine
visionary power"
(12-10-54)
HERALD TRIBUNE:
"He has several trends of style, showing free brush work
in some, flickering color or an almost Van Gogh-like turn
in others and a formal somewhat abstract style in still
other canvases. In all of them, he is a competent
technician, direct in painting and tasteful in color...
His work is influenced clearly by Western ideas."
(12.25.54)
ART DIGEST:
"Their tenor is generally solemn and moody, especially
in the landscapes, where broad and heavy rhythms and
dramatic dark colors evok, expressionist overtones...
There are occasional surprises, for at times Pang’s
palette moves from somber browns and dull greens to an
almost fauve brightness, and his simple weighty form can
change, as in Trees in Twilight, to on animated dance of
fiery trees against the blue night sky." - (1-55)
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NEW JERSEY MUSIC AND MW’S:
"With each viewing of the watercolors of Pang Tseng-Ying,
one is readily carried into the mystique of Asiatic art at
the same time made aware of the ambivalence of his
expression. In tonal nuance and harmonious blending of
colors. Pang paints an Occidental symphony with Oriental
indirection."
ARTS MAGAZINE:
"Pang Tsing-Ying paints the countryside which poets write
about. Working on carefully prepared rice paper his
calligraphic strokes sing of rich ancestral heritage.
Although born in Tokyo, Pang is unmistakably a Chinese
artist. The abstract shapes, amorphous at first glance,
soon assume precise pattern and reveal a personal vision of
super-realism. A complexity of floating forms, rendered in
muted colors, tell brief stories of misty slopes and
budding trees. While it is true that this painter began his
artistic wanderings under Western influence as a kind of
Pascin-Iike portraitist, he has found his true style in
lauding his native soil. Pang’s forte is landscape. It is
Pang’s ethnical vision and sensitivity that recall Li
Ssu-Hsun’s formidable country scenes." (2-68)
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AMERICAN ARTISTS:
"The wealth of imagery in Chinese painting through the
centuries offers on inexhaustible resource to the artist.
In his art, Tseng-Ying has distilled from that treasure the
elements his own needs dictate: the expressive stroke, the
flowing, rhythmical movement, the lyrical quality." (9-68)
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Tseng-Ying’s maturation as an artist coincided with the
realization that ‘western style’ painting fitted him
uncomfortably like a suit sewn for someone else. To find
his own pattern, it was necessary to travel backwards in
time to the art of his ancestors and look to the present.
This introspective journey led to a vantage point where
cultural memory served the 20th century man in his search
for identity. Now Pang was ready to face the difficult task
of learning to let his hand do what his heart dictated.
What finally emerged on the rice paper which replaced the
less felicitous canvas were exultant, bounding staccato
images which leap off the brush as readily as the
calligraphic strokes taught him in childhood by his artist-
mother. Calligraphy is also seen in the delicate traceries
woven in and out of sweeping color galaxies. Pang prepares
the paper he uses with meticulous care to enable it to
receive the colors applied again and again until the
emotional demands of the painting are satisfied. Deep,
muted colors have the rich complexities of embroidered
silks in some pictures; in others, the spacial quality of
Chinese landscapes painted on scrolls is felt in the
floating, weightless forms.
Pang has found his aesthetic vocabulary in an East-West
equation: his ancestral heritage on the one hand; on the
other the indomitable urge to express the immediacy of the
moment. Armed with this equation, he began, cautiously at
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first and in total absorption, to communicate his vision.
Recent paintings, however, indicate that the pace is
quickening. In the current scene, he moves surely and with
grace.
What the New York Times called Pang’s "genuine visionary
power" has begun to flex its muscles. For many collectors,
Pang-watching is bound to become a fascinating pursuit.
EVE MEDOFF
Associate in Art Research,
Hudson River Museum;
Arts Editor, Yonkers Record
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TSENG
YING
PANG
A venerable Chinese sage is depicted on the left side of
Tseng-Ying Pang’s painting, "Dramatic Grouping" (1967).
This wise man may well he the artist’s Guiding Spirit, for
Pang, after a thorough study of western methods. Visible in
his early work, he has returned, at least in part, to the
style of his ancestors. He has so ably subordinated western
influences to eastern moods that one can only regard his
present manner as oriental. Eastern elements in Pang’s
inspired paintings include the free composition, the
reliance on tone rather than color to establish the basic
forms and the use of blank spaces as essential parts of the
design. His pictures vary in their degree of reliance on
western concepts. "Flowers and Cold Rock" (1967) offers
meticulous factual draughtsmanship very western in spirit.
In fact, Pang, seemingly preoccupied with oriental feeling,
has actually advanced in his mastery of western technique.
Yet the East remains in the blank spaces where the viewer
uses his own imagination, to carry on the imagery and in
the misty, atmospheric sections which are poetically
evocative rather than scientifically descriptive. Pang’s
paintings come close to Abstract Expressionism which, on
its part, comes close to Pang. The work of Franz Kline, for
example, has been greatly influenced by oriental
calligraphy. There are other parallels between the work of
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Pang and Abstract Expressionism.
He has abolished the fixed point of view of traditional
occidental perspective, encouraging the viewer’s eye to
move over the whole picture. His imagery is often subject
to change as the viewer creates his own configurations.
Pang brings his own personal qualities to his version of
Abstract Expressionism. His mood is predominantly poetic
and leads to philosophic meditation. He has a greater
variety of brushstrokes at his command than the average
western artist. Note the light delicacy of his snow scenes
and the powerful heavy spotting in his "Maelstrom." With
remarkable economy of means, Pang’s magic brush expresses
grace, strength, elegance, abruptness and freshness as the
occasion may require. These are qualities that all nations
can admire and understand. Pang has made a splendid
contribution toward the internationalization of art while
retaining rich values that are national and personal.
Gordon Brown,
Senior Editor. ARTS Magazine
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Exerpt from unknown newspaper
Tseng-Ying Pang
The works of Chinese artist Tseng-Ying Pang, who came to
this country in 1966, will go on exhibit this afternoon for
the remainder of the month at the Columbus Museum of Arts
and Crafts. A reception will take place from 4-6 p.m.
marking the opening.
Mr. Pang is a very serious and sensitive painter and an
extremely meticulous worker. He prepares his own paper with
great care, a rumpled rice paper that will take the ink
washes and paint more effectively. Usually he does not
start a work with a definite subject in mind although it
would be rare that some aspect of nature was not envisioned
by his sub-conscious. He applies color again and again
until the emotional demands that are in his heart have been
satisfied. He often stops work on one painting and goes on
to another, sometimes having four or five paintings in
process at one time. He uses four layers of rice paper,
glued together with paste, and the texture of the paper
itself becomes an integral part of his painting.
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SPRINGFIELD, MASS, DAILY NEWS
Chinese Watercolors
Mix Oriental, Western
By LEE SHERIDAN
The recently opened exhibit of Chinese watercolors by
Tseng-Ying Pang at the Holyoke Museum, Wistariahurst, had
its beginnings last May in New York City when Museum
Director Mrs. Marie S. Quirk first became acquainted with
the work of the artist at the annual meeting of the
American Association of Museums. "When I saw an exhibit of
Pang’s paintings at the Waldorf-Astoria I was quite
impressed," Mrs. Quirk said in a Daily News interview. She
added that she had met the artist at the museums
association meeting and made tentative plans with him,
which culminated in the present exhibit.
Mrs. Quirk considers the work of Pang particularly unique
since it brings Oriental feeling to western style
techniques and approaches. Describing the paintings as
"enchanting," the museum director said that the watercolors
on rice paper are "muted, subtle colors" and deal mostly
with nature — ledges, boulders, mountains, plant forms,
with "the suggestion of a little tree here and there."
Some paintings Mrs. Quirk said, are "ethereal," some
abstract but with delicate, calligraphic line tracery, some
"most unusual" in that they are peopled with tiny figures.
"It requires a bit of study to really see and appreciate
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the great amount of detail," said Mrs. Quirk.
Although Pang was born in Tokyo he is of Chinese parents
and unmistakably a Chinese artist the museum director
explained, working in abstract shapes which, upon
contemplation, assume precise patterns and personal
realism.
Pang was privately educated in the traditional arts of
calligraphy and painting in Peiping and studied Western
painting at Chinghua Art College, where he graduated in
1937. After an assistant instructorship in art at the same
college he was awarded a scholarship for study in Japan.
Head of the art department of Hubsien College in Xian
from 1941-44, the artist then taught in Taiwan until he
came to the U. S. on a grant by the Asia Foundation in
1965.
Pang’s first one-man show in this country was in l954 at
the Argent Gallery in New York City, while he was still in
Taiwan. Since then he has had numerous New York City shows
as well as in Detroit and has participated in more than 50
art association shows in New York, New Jersey, and
Massachusetts, including the Berkshire Art Association.
Chinese watercolors by Tseng - Ying Pang will be on
exhibit at the Holyoke Museum through Feb. 20, Monday
through Saturday from 1 to 5 pm. and Sunday from 2 to 5 pm.
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The Middletown (Conn.) Press,
Friday Evening! September 21, 1984
Art: Work by Tseng-Ying
By FLORENCE BERKMAN
Tseng-Ying Pang’s paintings prove wrong Rudyard Kipling’s
conviction that "East is East and West is West and ne’er
the twain shall meet."
A collection of his watercolors now on view at the New
England Center for Contemporary Art in Brooklyn, brings
together the basic techniques of Chinese art, its poetic
interpretations of nature and the freedom of 20th century
abstract-expressionism.
Recently an editor of ARTS Magazine wrote: "Pang brings
his own version of Abstract-Expressionism. His mood is
predominantly poetic and leads to philosophical meditation.
It expresses grace, strength, elegance, abruptness, and
freshness as the occasion may require. Through these
qualities, that all nations can understand and admire, he
has made a splendid contribution toward the
internationalization of art while retaining rich values
that are national and personal."
The interesting point about the effect of abstract-
expressionism on Pang’s art, is that the American abstract-
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expressionists were strongly influenced by Chinese art. The
thing has come full circle in Pang’s work.
These are ingratiating works on view. They invite the
imagination to wander and there is a tranquility, a oneness
with nature that provides the viewer with a peace that has
been absent in American art indeed since the advent of
abstract-expressionism.
Strangely, there was no peace in the heart of this artist
when he created many of the works. I noticed he had placed
tiny human figures in the folds of color and form. In an
interview, I asked Pang what these meant. Putting his hand
over his heart, he explained that they represented the most
tragic period of his life: World War II, when Japan invaded
China and he and his family had to leave their homes and
wander in the mountains begging food and money to live.
Pang said he could not get that
period with its travails out of his mind. For a number of
years he painted scenes that recalled the days of wandering
for his family and for so many Chinese. Often the people
from whom they begged received them with kindness; other
times there was only cruelty.
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Pang was born in [1916] to a Chinese artist in Japan, and
at an early age showed great talent. He returned to China,
however, to study the various forms of Chinese art.
After graduating from the College of Art in Peking, he
was awarded a scholarship to study art at Nippen University
in Tokyo where he received his master’s degree. Art
scholars there were impressed with his visionary powers
which were influenced by the traditional Asiatic art and
Western techniques. This soon established him as an
important contemporary watercolorist. Later he moved to
Taiwan, where, in 1965 he received the President Chiang
Kai-Shek Award and a grant from the Asia Foundation which
brought him to the U.S.
During the 1930s Pang became aware of Western art. "For
me Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin were most inspirational,"
he said. Predominantly a landscapist, he brought both
cultures together in the complexity of floating forms,
abstract shapes, amorphous at first, which on closer
examination turn out to be "misty slopes and budding
trees."
For many years Pang emphasized the Western influence, he
said. "Now I am going back to my roots - the Oriental
approach to nature and to the world." Art critics have
marvelled at Pang’s "genuine visionary power" and predicted
that "for many collectors Pang-watching is bound to become
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a fascinating pursuit." Since his arrival in America he has
had over fifty exhibitions - one-man shows and in group
shows and has been the recipient of many awards. Viewing an
exhibition in the openness of the countryside at the New
England Center for Contemporary Art adds a pleasurable note
to the occasion. Located on Route 169 it is about 50 miles
from central Connecticut.
Admission is free, hours are daily and Sunday from 1 to
5 p.m.
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Exerpt from Unknown Newpaper
In the world of saavy art collectors, Tsen-Ying Pang
needs very little introduction. Like a movie star, Pang has
fans who watch his works carefully - always searching for a
unique piece that will please them visually and appreciate
in value.
Pang specializes in watercolors and his work has been
hailed by art experts throughout the world as an
"occidental symphony with oriental indirection." His new
collection now is being shown at the Hartley Gallery on
Park Avenue in Winter Park.
In addition to painting living creatures, flowers and
other objects either in abstract or realism, he always
manages to induce subtle moods in viewers. He says he is
fascinated and obsessed with the colors and imagery he sees
in his dreams and tries to transform them onto his
paintings.
One of his latest works "Raindrops" is an example,
infused with bluish gray and lightest pink colors, and
dotted with imperfect circles of soft cloud like color.
He said he paints from early morning to the wee hours of
the night, taking hardly any time out, even for a chat with
his wife. "That’s why I can’t speak or explain my paintings
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in English too well," said the Taiwanese born artist. "When
I sleep, all I can think of is my painting, trying to
figure out how to draw certain objects and what color I
want. I beat my brains out and dream about it," he said
laughing.
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Kiss Kiss, Pang Pang
by Mike May
"East is East and West is West and...
a) ...never the twain shall meet."
b) ...the wrong one I have chose."
c) ...now you can start your morning with Egg McMuffin
wherever you happen to be."
d) ...the twain do meet in Pang’s celebrated
watercolors."
Choose "d" and you have a description of Tseng-Ying Pang
as given by Bondstreet Gallery’s John Gillespie. (FYI: "a"
is from Rudyard Kipling; "b" is the old song "Buttons and
Bows," a Doris Day staple; and "c." well, if you have to
ask, you should be writing memoirs about what it’s like to
leave a larnasery after three decades.
Bondstreet, at 5640 Walnut Street, Shadyside, has a
retrospective exhibit of watercolors and serigraphs by
Pang, commemorating his 22 years of residence in the United
States.
It’s a beautiful show, and Gillespie has played up the
mood of the mysterious East in the gallery with such
Orientalia as cloisonne figurines, highly carved blackwood
furniture, and Occidental ideas of Oriental music as
background sound—"The 101 Strings Live at Peking’s
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Forbidden City." or something like that. (And John
Gillespie says one "art expert" described Pang’s work with
musical imagery. He sees it as "an Occidental symphony with
Oriental indirection.")
It’s certainly lyrical, all right. And romantic, but with
control and understatement.
After receiving the Republic of China’s (Taiwan’s)
coveted President’s Award in 1965, Tseng-Ying Pang came to
America on a grant from the Asia Foundation. Since his
arrival, he has received more than 200 awards here for his
watercolors. Pang was graduated from Chunghua College of
Art in Peking, and later received a scholarship to study
art at Nippon University, in Japan, his birthplace. His
mother was a Chinese artist residing there.
Although his artistic roots are Chinese, the influence of
the Occident is apparent in his work. One need only note
such obviously titled watercolors as "Homage to Miro (I and
II)."
Gordon Brown, former senior editor of Arts magazine,
described Pang’s art as "his own version of abstract
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expressionism." However, Pang never really strays over the
borders into true abstract expressionism. except in pieces
like the Miro homages. And these are not his best work.
Actually, they look like Rorschach blots.
No, it’s the romantic Orientalisms gently ruffled with a
touch of the West wind that makes his art captivating. His
enchanting mountains, whispers, mists, flowers, leaves and
autumn breezes—described with an elegant sensuality of
color never stray far from reality. Or perhaps, what
reality should ideally be.
His look at goldfish in several serigraphs and paintings-
"Goldfish Ballet," "Golden Pond"-gives a glimpse at the
creatures as though studied through the glass surface of
still, ever-clear water. They seem to float effortlessly,
timelessly.
In the end, it’s the timeless quality of Pang’s art
that’s impressive. His vision has that kind of universal
appeal-big enough to encompass yesterday, today and
tomorrow.
There’s promise that someone, somewhere will always
understand that vision. And long after Egg McMuffin is a
dusty footnote on the relentless march of time.
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