SANYU
His Life and Complete Works in Oil
Volumes One & Two

Author: Rita Wong
Graphic design: Glenn Suokko
Publisher: Hatje Cantz, Berlin
Printed in: Italy
Languages: English, Chinese, and French editions

Volume One: 2024 · Hatje Cantz · Hardcover · 33 × 27 cm · 248 pages · 300 illustrations
Volume Two: 2024 · Hatje Cantz · Hardcover · 33 × 27 cm · 600 pages · 321 paintings illustrated

This definitive two-volume set documents the complete oil paintings of Sanyu (Chang Yu, 1895–1966), a modern artist whose work bridged Chinese artistic sensibility and Western modernism. Living primarily in Paris, Sanyu developed a language of line and form marked by restraint, balance, and a lyrical simplicity that continues to resonate across cultures. I designed this edition to manage a complex intersection of biography and data, utilizing a restrained typographic grid that accommodates trilingual scholarship. Volume One traces the artist's life through a rhythmic editorial flow, while Volume Two provides a systematic, clear, and durable record of his complete oeuvre, ensuring that the artist’s lyrical simplicity is echoed in the book's own physical form.