Ting, Walasse

1928-2010
Wuxi , China

Born in Wuxi, Jiangsu in 1928, Walasse Ting is an artist celebrated for his colourful and bright depictions of animals, flora and sultry women. He briefly studied at the Shanghai  College of Fine Arts in the 1940s, before leaving for Paris in 1953 in his early 20s. There he became associated with artists belonging to the avant-garde group CoBrA. In 1957, he travelled to New York, where he befriended the American artist Sam Francis; here Ting became strongly influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. In 1964 he wrote One Cent Life, edited by Francis and published by E.W. Kornfeld, which involved collaborating with twenty-eight European and American Pop Art and Expressionist artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Joan Mitchell, and included sixty-two original lithographs. In 1977, he won the Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his drawings. His paintings during this period are filled with bold dripping brush strokes mixed with bright acrylic pigments, but by the 1970s, he began experimenting with figures, developing the distinctive style that we are so familiar with today. His paintings are a sheer testimony to love, life and beauty. His paintings of women, flowers, cats, fish, horses, and watermelons are often painted in a rich palette of bright acrylics on rice paper, layered with powerful effervescent brushstrokes in Chinese ink. He passed away in 2010.


Alisan Fine Arts organised Ting’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong in 1986 and has since held 13 solo shows for him. Alisan's inaugural exhibition at our new gallery location in New York City in November 2023 celebrates a new chapter and the vibrant legacy of Walasse Ting, coinciding with Ting's first solo museum exhibition in the United States, Walasse Ting: Parrot Jungle, at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. In 2016, the Musée Cernuschi in Paris also held the first large-scale retrospective exhibition of Ting's work in France. His works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Chicago Institute of Art; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Tate Gallery, London; Musée Cernuschi, Paris; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan; Hong Kong Museum of Art; M+, Hong Kong.

 

BIOGRAPHY

1928  Born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

1940  Studied at the Shanghai Art Academy, China

1948  Moved to Hong Kong

1953  Arrived in Paris, France

1957   Moved to New York, USA

1960   First solo exhibition, Ting, Martha Jackson Gallery (historic), New York, USA

1961   First exhibited with Sam Francis, Arte e Contemplazione, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

1962   The Century 21 Exposition World Fair, Seattle, USA

1964   Publication of 1 Cent Life

1972   The Fresh Air School, with Sam Francis & Joan Mitchell, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburg, USA

1974   Became an American citizen             

1977   Awarded a fellowship for drawing from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, USA

1979   Travelled to China

1986  First exhibition at Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong

2001  Set up studio in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2010   Passed away on May 17 in New York, USA 

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024-2025

2023-2024

2017

2016-17

  • Walasse Ting: The Flower Thief, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France

2010               

2009              

  • The Catto Gallery, London, UK

2008               

2002              

2001               

2000

  • Scheringa Museum, Spanbroek, Netherlands

1999

  • The Catto Gallery, London, UK

1998

1997

1996               

  • Wetterling Teo Gallery, Singapore
  • Galerie Delaive, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1995              

  • Gallerie Guy Pieters, Knokke, Belgium

1994               

  • Belgium Kunstforum, Ghent, Belgium
  • P Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

1993

  • Apollo Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Avant-Garde Art Centre, Taipei, Taiwan
  • P Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
  • Galerie Luc Pieters Galerie, Knokke, Belgium
  • Galerie l’Orangerie, St. Paul-de-Vence, France

1992         

  • Sala Nonell, Barcelona, Spain
  • Galerie Acolea, Madrid, Spain
  • Ghent Lineart Internationale, Ghent, Belgium

1991            

1990               

  • Galerie Alcolea, Barcelona, Spain
  • Galerie Alcolea, Madrid, Spain
  • Galerie Moustache, Osaka, Japan
  • Galerie l’Orangerie, St. Paul-de-Vence, France
  • Ghent Lineart Internationale, Ghent, Belgium
  • Galleria 2RC, Milan, Italy
  • Galeria de Arte, Almancil, Portugal
  • Louis Stern Galleries, Beverly Hills, USA

1989              

  • American Club, Hong Kong
  • Lens Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium
  • American Prints Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • Galerie Lucy Weill-Seligmann, Paris, France
  • Galerie Ostermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Galleri Scandinavia, Gothenburg, Sweden

1988             

  • Galerie Alcolea, Barcelona, Spain
  • Galerie Alcolea, Madrid, Spain
  • Galerie Guy Pieters Knokke, Belgium
  • Galerie Asbaek, Horsens, Denmark
  • Galeria Torres Clary Reus, Spain
  • Ghent Lineart Internationale, Ghent, Belgium

1987

  • Galerie Asbaek, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Gallery Esperanza, Montreal, Canada
  • Elfin Art Gallery, Quebec, Canada
  • Ars Mundi, Hanover, Germany
  • Galerie l’Orangerie, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1986              

1985               

  • Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Galerie La Hune, Paris, France
  • Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Galerie Asbaek, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1984

  • Galerie Huset, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • Avant-Garde Art Centre, Taichung, Taiwan
  • Lung Chiang Art Gallery, Kao Hsiung, Taiwan
  • Galerie BBL, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Galeria 2RC, Rome, Italy
  • Galeria 2RC, Milan, Italy

1983              

  • Galerie Dessers, Hasselt, Belgium               
  • Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, Netherlands
  • Gallery Koppelmann, Leverkusen, Germany
  • Lens Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Galerie Grafica Club, Milan, Italy
  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Galerie Moderne, Silkeborg, Denmark  

1982              

  • National Gallery of Art, Reykjavik, Iceland
  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA      

1980              

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1979              

  • Galerie Nouvelles Images, The Hague, Netherlands
  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1978              

  • Lens Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Galerie Aele, Madrid, Spain

1977               

  • Galerie Adrian Maeght, Paris, France
  • Galerie Grafica Club, Milan, Italy

1975              

  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • National Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Galerie Nord, Randers, Denmark
  • Kornfeld and Klipstein, Bern, Switzerland

1974

  • Galerie Minami, Tokyo, Japan
  • Galerie Adrian Maeght, Paris, France

1973

  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1972

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden

1971

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1970

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden
  • Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, USA
  • Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA

1969

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1968

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • Galerie de France, Paris, France

1967

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • J.L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit, USA
  • Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA

1966

  • Galerie Lefebre, New York, USA
  • Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA

1965

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA

1964

  • Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA

1963               

  • Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA
  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, USA

1962              

  • Galerie St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria

1961              

  • Galerie Van de Loo, Munich, Germany
  • Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris, France
  • Galerie Smith, Brussels, Belgium
  • Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA

1960               

  • Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, USA
  • Galerie Espace, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Galerie Birch, Copenhagen, Sweden

1959              

  • Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, USA

1957              

  • Galerie Chalette, New York, USA

1956              

  • Galerie Taptoe, Brussels, Belgium

1954             

  • Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France

1952              

  • Hotel Cecil, Hong Kong

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025              

  • Art Personalised: Masterpieces from the HKMoA (Phase IV), Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong

2024              

2023  

2022-2023  

  • Ink in Motion: A History of Chinese Painting in the 20th Century, Cernuschi Museum, Paris, France 

2022  

2021-2022

  • Individuals, Networks, Expressions, M+, Hong Kong

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017 

2016-17

  • Sam Francis & Friends - Ting, Appel, Alechinsky, Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands

2016

2015

2012

2010

  • ART HK 10, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre, Hong Kong

2009

  • Hong Kong International Art & Antiques Fair, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre, Hong Kong

2007

  • Exploration: New Ink Art Shanghai 2007, 3rd Shanghai Ink Biennial, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China

2006

  • Sam Francis and Walasse Ting: Friends, Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1997

1995

  • Nostalgia.Modernity: Walasse Ting, Xu Lei, Tresors: The International Fine Art & Antiques Fair For Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, Suntec City Centre, Singapore

    1994

    • Chinese Ladies, Two Approaches: Paintings by Walsse Ting & Peng Xiancheng, Tresors: The International Fine Art & Antiques Fair For Asia, Alisan Fine Arts, World Trade Centre, Singapore

    1992

    • Art Asia Hong Kong, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong

    1972

    • The Fresh Air School: Sam Francis, Walasse Ting, Joan Mitchell, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA

    1962

    • The Century 21 Exposition World Fair, with Sam Francis & Walasse Ting, Seattle, USA

    1961

    • Arte e Contemplazione, with Sam Francis & Walasse Ting, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

     

    SELECTED COLLECTIONS

    Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
    Tate Gallery, London, UK
    Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA
    Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York, USA
    Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA
    Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA
    Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York, USA
    Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
    MOCA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, USA
    Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California, USA
    Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois, USA
    Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
    Chrysler Museum, Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
    Baltimore Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA
    Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hannover, New Hampshire, USA
    Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
    U.S. Steel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
    Gulf Oil Corp, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
    Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
    Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA
    Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
    Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France
    Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark
    Randers Kunstmuseum, Jutland, Denmark
    National Gallery of Art, Reykjavik, Iceland
    Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
    Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
    Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
    Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
    M+, Hong Kong

     

    SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

    1961   My Shit and My Love. 10 Poems. Walasse Ting, poems by Walasse Ting, lithographs by Maurice Beaudet & Georges Girard, Smith Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

    1964   One Cent Life, poems by Walasse Ting, edited by Sam Francis, E.W.Kornfeld, Bern, Switzerland

    1967   Chinese Moonlight, 63 poems by 33 poets, Wittenborn & Co, New York, USA

    1969   Hot and Sour Soup, poems by Walasse Ting, Sam Francis Foundation, California, USA

    1971   Green Banana, poems by Walasse Ting, Rosengreen Litografi, Copenhagen, Denmark

    1974   Trip, Walasse Ting, Adrien Maeght Gallery, Paris, France

    All in My Head, Walasse Ting, Yves Rivière, Paris, France
    Good Morning, text by Walasse Ting, Atelier Clot, Paris, France

    1977   Red Mouth, poem by Walasse Ting, Hong Kong

    1984   Rice Paper Paintings, Selected letters, Yves Rivière, Paris, France

    1988   Jolies Dames, one poem by Walasse Ting, Yves Rivière, Paris, France

    1993   Blue Sky, poems by Walasse Ting, Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    1995   Acrylic on Canvas, essays by Mia Ting & Walasse Ting, Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium

    1997   A Very Hot Day, Shanghai Art Museum Solo Exhibition, poems by Walasse Ting, Jesse Ting, USA

     2024  Walasse Ting: Parrot Jungle, Solo Exhibition at NSU Art Museum, Nova Southeastern University, Skira, Milan, Itlay

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