Stones

John Young Collection.

Dsui Painting.

荷。1959年。水彩画纸裱于木板。品相佳。

Betty Ecke / Tseng Yuho

Tseng Yu-ho 曾佑和 (1925–2017), also known as Betty Ecke, was a Chinese-born artist but also a art historian and educator. She trained in classical Chinese and calligraphy painting. Tseng studied at Furen University in Beijing in 1942, and pursued further education when she moved to Hawaii where she got her Masters in Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1966. Subsequently, she got her PhD in New York University. During her career, she became a full professor at the University of Hawaii in 1973 and also served as the deputy director of the Asian Art Department at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Tseng’s artwork may look like abstract shapes painted with Chinese ink and color on paper, using traditional brush strokes and dots, without clear subjects. But upon closer look, you can spot landscapes and other subtle shapes hidden within the misty designs. In the 1950s, she began experimenting with layering gold or silver foil, which she called “dsui.” Her work was part of a traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Institution and was displayed in various museums and art centers across the United States in 1955.