In its continuing series of events paying homage to artists of yesteryear, Studio Joli is launching Lisa Henry Chu Foon: A Retrospective.

This five-day event will allow art-lovers a rare view of the artist’s work on loan from private collections. There will also be selected works available for purchase, a media release said.

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Henry Chu Foon was born in Sweden in 1947 to a family traditionally involved in the arts. Completing her artistic studies, first in the National College of Art and Design in Stockholm, then in St Martin's College in London, Henry Chu Foon moved to Trinidad in 1971.

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Like her husband, artist Pat Chu Foon, she was very active in the local art scene, both exhibiting, and serving on the Art Society executive committee for four years, the release said.

She offered lessons, and illustrated two children’s books, The Magical, Mystical Ibis, and A Year of Environment, which she did for the UN and which won her a nomination for a Unesco Prize.

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Henry Chu Foon’s works are in many private and corporate collections in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world.

She died of cancer in 1997.

The artist once said of her work, “Whether I paint what might appear to be non-figurative or abstracted realism, the world around me is my inspiration. I say 'what might appear' because for me there is no pure abstract.”

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The proprietors of Studio Joli say they seek to preserve and promote the knowledge of our artistic past. Director Lisa Leid quotes historian David Mc Cullough in the release, "History is who we are, and why we are the way we are.

“Art history in particular allows us to understand our past and its relationship to our present, because the act of making art is one of humanity's most universal pursuits. To lose sight of our artistic roots would be to lose so many of the hard-won advances and achievements of the artists who have come before us. This is why exhibits like this one are so important.”

The exhibition opens July 13, from 5-8 pm, and runs until July 18 at the studio 21 Henry Pierre Street, St James.

The exhibition can be viewed Mondays-Fridays from 10 am-6 pm.

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