SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Born in Xiamen, Fujian, T’ang Haywen grew up between China and Vietnam: at around the age of ten, he moved with his family to Cholon, Saigon’s Chinese quarter. The calligraphy taught to him by his grandfather and the principles of Taoism were among the sources of his artistic and intellectual formation. In 1948, he went to France, where he was officially supposed to study medicine, then turned to art and attended classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Known as T’ang Haywen, he lived from 1927 to 1991.
His early subjects included Parisian landscapes, interiors, portraits, self-portraits and still lifes. In the early 1960s, he increasingly favoured gouache, watercolour and ink on paper; in the middle of the decade, he produced, among other works, washes conceived as diptychs and triptychs. He developed a large diptych format measuring 70 × 100 cm. In 1964, he painted Hommage à Cézanne on a sheet measuring 70 × 50 cm. A diptych made in 1968 depicts three women. After painting large diptychs on cardboard, he began working on Arches paper.
In 1975, his ink works were presented at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford by curator Mary Trégéar. An exhibition of washes, acrylics and watercolours was presented at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper from November 1983 to January 1984, and then at the Musée du château de Vitré from January to April 1984. His washes also accompany two books by Loránd Gáspár: Patmos, published in 1989, and La maison près de la mer, published in 1991. In 1984, he was baptised and took the first name François.
This profile brings together identity references for T'ang Haywen and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
5 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky, Zofingen. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Watercolour on paper
Ohne Titel
Aquarell auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2025-06-07
Published result : 450 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 600
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Watercolour on paper
Ohne Titel
Aquarell auf Papier
Catalogue period : 2024-11-30
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 1200
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Oil on canvas
"Marine".
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2017-05-12
Published result : 60000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 9000
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Ink and watercolour on Japanese paper
Untitled (Fish).
Tusche und Aquarell auf Japanpapier
Catalogue period : 2017-05-12
Published result : 2800 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 3000
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Oil on canvas
Grüne Landschaft.
Öl auf Leinwand
Date to be documented
Published result : 210000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 6000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
