San Yu was born in China at the beginning of the last century. He moved to Paris when he was twenty and stayed there until his death in 1966. In his art one finds a fusion of the East and West, a style that emerged from the long-term influence of his era and his surroundings.
As suggested by the title of the present catalogue, 'In Search for a Homeland', the exhibition of Sanyu held at the National History Museum (Taiwan) in 2001 attempted to trace the 'Chineseness' in the art of Sanyu. The subject matters, such as lotuses, chrysanthemums, bamboo, Chinese porcelain vases, longevity characters and the Beijing circus, for example, can be read as his unique artistic creation as well as the longing the artist felt for his homeland. Continuing in this direction, the accompanying essays study a few subject matters commonly found in Sanyu's paintings and explore any reference made to the artist's mother culture. A chronology of the artist is included. With prefaces by Huang Kuangnan (Director of the National Museum of History, Taiwan）and Yu Jianxin (Publisher of China Times).