Sui Wesley Chan, Artist and Member of the Chinese Art Club

Sui Wesley Chan, also known as Wesley S. Chan, was born on September 15, 1897 in Canton, China according to his World War II draft card. His naturalization application had the birth year 1898 and his immigration name, Soy Jung Chan. A 1937 passenger list said his birthplace was Toishan, China.

Chan immigrated to Canada in 1915 based on the date recorded in the 1930 United States census. He resided in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In August 1921 Chan crossed the border for the purpose of studying at the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The register included his birthplace, Tong Lee, Sun Ning (an earlier version of Toishan), China and mother’s name and location.

The Chicago Daily News, November 27, 1929, said

Artist Society Shows Cream of Local Work
Almost but not quite snowed under by football celebrations and such distractions of metropolitan hotel life the Chicago Society of Artists is carrying on in a third floor corridor of the Stevens hotel. ...

...the Chicago society’s exhibition contains with few exceptions the cream in painting of the independent wing of our artists.

There is ... Sui Wesley Chan, the young Chinese who is the latest product of the Art institute’s graduate school, ...

The Hyde Park Herald (Chicago, Illinois), December 6, 1929, said

Sui Wesley Chan, whose studios are in the Arcade building, 36th and Ellis, is one of Hyde Park’s artists to have a picture hung in the exhibition of the Chicago Society of Artists at the Stevens hotel.

The Hyde Park Herald, December 13, 1929, said

North Hyde Park is peculiarly favored in it many distinguished artists. ... Sui Wesley Chan, well-known Chinese artist, lives in the Douglas Arcade at 36th ands Cottage Grove. These are representative of the large number of well known painters who have found North Hyde Park a pleasant place in which to live and dream and work.

The Chicago Daily Tribune, August 3, 1930, reported events at the Art Institute.

An exhibition of paintings and lithographs by Sui Wesley Chan, a native Chinese who graduated from the Chicago Art institute and who is a member of the Chicago Society of Artists, is on view in the Kroch gallery.

The 1930 census counted Chan (line 14), his wife, Florence, and daughter, Susian. The date and place of Chan’s marriage is not known. The family lived in Chicago at 3560 Ellis Avenue. Chan was a self-employed artist.

Publishers Weekly, August 30, 1930, said

The galleries of A. Kroch’s International Book Store at 206 North Michigan Ave., have been showing an exhibit of the art of Sui Wesley Chan, including water colors, oils and lithographs.

The Chicago Daily News, September 10, 1930, said

“Over the Lagoon, Lincoln Park”—A Lithograph by Sui Wesley Chan, Young Chinese Student Now Working in Chicago.

Sui Wesley Chan, the young Chinese artist who graduated at the institute school recently, had his first one-man show at Kroch’s this summer. There is a nice paint quality in the work of this painter, if he has so far stuck rather closely to the styles of his different teachers. Already he has tried his hand at a wide variety of subjects—[portraits, the figure, landscape, and city life. He handles both water color and lithography with a true feeling for these media. His lithograph of the lagoon in Lincoln park, on this page, is one the new items for Chicago fans which will be kept in the portfolios at Kroch’s.

The Chicago Daily News, November 11, 1930, said

The Chicago Art Guild, Sister Stanisia’s idealistic plan to bring the work of Chicago artists before the residents of Longwood, opened its second exhibition last Sunday at the Academy of Our Lady, Throop and 95th streets. ...

The collection now hanging at the academy, which is to remain for the winter, is a cosmopolitan and up-to-date one, including the work of such as Helen West Heller, Sui Wesley Chan, Frances Foy, Edouard Chassaing, Macena Barton, Camille Andrene, Emil Armin, Eugenie Glaman, Ralph Clarkson, Thomas Hall, Carl Hallsthammar, Irving Manoir, Tunis Ponsen, Eva Watson Schutze, Karl Wagner and Louis Weiner.

The Art News, December 13, 1930, reported the international exhibition of lithographs and woodcuts at the Art Institute of Chicago and said

... Several Chicago artists are represented: Theodore J. Roszak, J. Brozik, William S. Schwartz, Davenport Griffen, I. Iver Rose, Sui Wesley Chan, and Helen West Heller. ...

The Chicago Daily News, December 17, 1930, said

...at the [Art] institute’s international print exhibition there are works by about a dozen Chicago woodcut artists and lithographers who made the show, among them Sui Wesley Chan, Jean Crawford Adams, Charles Wilimovsky, Frederick Larson, Catherine O’Brien, Towell Scott, Davenport Griffen and Theodore Roszak.

Chan’s art was exhibited at the Art Institute from 1929 to 1931.

The Chicago Daily Tribune, March 20, 1931, published an article about chop suey and its origin.

When next you eat chop suey, remember you are eating an American dish, whether it is prepared by American or Chinese chefs, and that the food you are eating, according to the Chinese interpretation of the words chop suey is “many things in small pieces.”

Four Chicago Chinese leaned back from a dinner table one evening this week and by combining answers in English with considerable discussion among themselves in Chinese, answered some of the questions that interest the average American.

Wesley Chan, an artist, first settled the meaning of the words chop suey by explaining that chop means “many things” and that suey means “in small pieces.” It is not a Chinese dish but an American dish composed of typical Chinese foods. ...

The Chicago Daily News, April 22, 1931, said

Features Gone But City Offers Plenty of Art
Town Full of Exhibits That Fail to Replace Exciting Shows

With such exciting art shows as the Carnegie International and the Guelph treasure no over, the gallery fan looks in vain this week for anything to take their place. And the town is full of exhibitions, too. ... The Midland Club has a dignified, if not very thrilling display by the Chicago Society of Artists. Perhaps Sui Wesley Chan’s picture of the red Wabash avenue bridge, Macena Barton’s modern Simonetta leaning on her red polka-dotted window sill and Charles Mullin’s new delight of suburban life may be the exceptions, ...

The Chicago Daily News, October 8, 1931, said

Mrs. Kelly Heads Art Exhibit to Open Sunday
Mrs. Haven Core Kelly, of 7701 Yates avenue, is chairman for the third annual exhibit sponsored by the Fine Arts Guild of Chicago, to open Sunday at the Longwood Academy galleries, 95th and Throop streets. Among exhibitors will be Sister M. Stanisia, Sui Wesley Chan, Tunis Ponsen, Anna Lynch, Wellington Reynolds, Maud I. G. Oliver, Leon Hermann, Thomas O’Shaughnessy, Harold Leroy, Martin Hennings, Gerald Frank, Oscar Gross, Marshall Smith, Joseph Berrien, G. Armando Michell, Livia Macrini and Ralph Clarkson.

By 1933 Chan moved to New York City.

In 1933 Chan illustrated Isaac Taylor Headland’s book, Chinese Rhymes for Children: With a Few from India, Japan and Korea. The book was mentioned in Reformed Church Messenger, Women and Missions, and The Chinese Recorder.

A review appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), November 11, 1933, which said

... Sui Wesley Chan did the illustration, and Sui Wesley is particularly terrible. It is too bad she [sic] forgot her own charming Chinese background and went frankly—and stuffily—Occidental in her pen-and-inks. ...

The New York Evening Journal, November 22, 1933, said

Morris Eisenman to Get Portrait
Morris Eisenman, president of the Metropolitan News Co., tonight will receive a portrait of himself, executed by Sui Wesley Chen [sic], at a gathering of artists and writers at 122 W. 13th st. The artists commissioned Chen to do the portrait in recognition of Eisenman’s philanthropy in art.

The Los Angeles Times, July 5, 1934, printed Chan’s artwork.

Chan, his daughter and four-year-old New York-born son, Du Can, traveled to China. They stayed at Park Sha, Toyshan, China where Chan’s father-in-law, Mah Wing Sang, lived. On November 26, 1937 the family was aboard the ship Empress of Japan when it departed Hong Kong. The trio arrived at Vancouver, Canada on December 15. They transferred to the ship Princess Kathleen which took them to Seattle, Washington. On the passenger Chan named his friend, Mrs. W.C. Moy, who lived in Brooklyn at 1707 East 52nd Street. Chan’s Chinese Exclusion Act case file number was 27730/3-1 and ticket number 7032/3070.

The New York Times, December 8, 1938, said

The Chinese Art Club Elects
The Chinese Art Club, 175 Canal Street, announced yesterday that it has elected its founder, Chu Jor, as the new president for the coming year. K. L. Eng was elected vice president and Wesley S. Chan treasurer. It also announced that its annual Chinese children’s show, which will be held in February, will not be confined to New York City, but will be national in scope.

Chinese Digest, January 1939, said

New Officers for N.Y. Chinese Art Club
New York—The Chinese Art Club here at its fourth annual meeting elected Chu Jor for its next president, succeeding Moowee Tiam. Others elected included K.L. Eng, Wesley S. Chan, Marquis Chunn, Arthur Lee, and Stanley H. Chin.

The club is now preparing for its next annual Children’s Art exhibition. This year it intends to have a nation-wide representation and Chinese children’s art work from the Chinese communities of San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and other Chinatowns.

The Nassau Daily Review-Star (Freeport, New York), October 11, 1939, said

Dinner Marks Birth of Chinese Republic
Hong Host to Freeport Group at Affair in Commemoration of Its Founding

The village of Freeport today has an oil painting showing a section of Sunrise highway in the western part of the village. The painting was presented to the village by Edward L. Hong at a dinner commemorating the 28th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese republic held in Savoy inn, Merrick road, last night.

Mr. Hong, who operates the restaurant, was host to a group of village officials and leading business and professional men at the dinner. Mayor Robert E. Patterson accepted the painting on behalf of the village.

The painting is by Wesley Chan of Freeport, and shows a portion of Sunrise highway near the municipal lighting plant. It is titled, “The Heart of the Sunrise Trail.”

Clinton J. Egan acted as toast-master at the dinner, which also marked the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Savoy inn at Freeport.

The Nassau Daily Review-Star, December 5, 1939, covered the Nassau County Art League’s annual exhibition. Chan was an exhibitor.

Chan’s one-man show was covered in the Nassau Daily Review-Star, January 15, 1940.

Chop suey isn’t the only attraction at Eddie Hong’s Savoy Inn on West Merrick road, Freeport, these days. Eddie is sponsoring an exhibit of 14 paintings by his fellow countryman and friend, Sui Wesley Chan, in the dragon room of the inn. The exhibit will continue through the remainder of the month. Above, left to right, Dr. Nathaniel Cooper, Mrs. J. B. Barnes, Eddie and Chan look at the largest painting on display, a formal portrait of Chester A. Fulton, Freeport business man and civic leader.

Chinese Artist Shows Work in Solo Show at Freeport

Sui Wesley Chan Exhibits 14 Canvases in Dragon Room of Savoy Inn

“Rosh job, rosh job,” said little Sui Wesley Chan, deprecatingly. But for all his real and unaffected modesty, honest pride showed through the oriental, poker-face composure of the Chinese artist as people streamed in to view the exhibition of his latest paintings in the dragon room of the Savoy inn on West Merrick road, Freeport, operated by his fellow countryman, friend and patron, Edward L. Hong.

Studio in China Destroyed

The phrase, “latest paintings,” was used advisedly above, for Wesley is mourning the loss of most of his works, among them several pieces that he considered his best. They were destroyed when the Japanese invaders blew up his studio in Canton, China. Wesley just managed to escape ahead of them.

The exhibit consists of 11 oils and three water colors, most of them local subjects, including formal portraits of Chester A. and Mrs. Fulton and Mrs. S. G. Myers, widely known Freeport residents, as well as a still life and a study of Chinatown in lower Manhattan.

Wesley painted them all since coming to Freeport to live with the Hong family at 164 Southside avenue during the past year. Like most artists, he would have liked to have devoted more time to their execution, but the promptings of his energetic friend, Eddie Hong, kept him at his easel many times during the summer when he would much rather have been playing tennis on the Schuman courts in Baldwin. He’s as handy with a racket as with a brush, incidentally.

Subjects to Get Portraits

After the exhibit, Wesley and Eddie Hong will present the portraits to their subjects, a study of its clubhouse to the South Shore Yacht club and a study of the municipal electric power house called “The Heart of the Sunrise Trail,” to the Village of Freeport. The other works will be for sale to art lovers.

A native of Canton, China and the only artist in his family, Wesley is a graduate of the Art institute of Chicago, where he won a scholarship for excellence in painting. He is a member of the Chicago society of artists and the Art league of Nassau county. His works have been exhibited in the American institute of paintings and sculpture and at the art institute of Chicago, at Cedar Rapids, Ia.; Beloit college, Beloit, Wis.; the Art association at Ann Arbor, Mich.; Garden City and at New York city.

When he returned to his native land several years ago, the Canton government school of art appointed him head of the western art department with headquarters in that city. But the Japs blasted his pictures, his plans and his hopes and he is now in Freeport, supporting himself by commercial art work and creating his more serious compositions in his spare time.

A quiet, studious little man in his forties, Wesley is the perfect foil for his dynamic, thoroughly Americanized friend and patron, Eddie Hong. The exhibit is Eddie’s idea and he is carrying it through with the thoroughness that characterizes his many civic activities.

The Savoy Inn was featured in Chan’s 1939 painting.

In the 1940 census Chan (line 53) and his family lived in Manhattan at 22 Spring Street. He was a freelance artist who earned 600 dollars in 1939.

On February 15, 1942 Chan signed his World War II draft card. His home address was the same. He was described as five feet four inches, 143 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

An image of Chan’s 1943 painting is at Bonhams.

In 1948 Chan and his wife became naturalized citizens; Florence on January 5 and Chan on November 15. He changed his name from Chan Soy Jung to Sui Wesley Chan.

The 1950 census said Chan (line 20), his wife and daughter lived at 22 Spring Street in Manhattan. The whereabouts of his son is not known. 

Chan passed away on December 24, 1961 in Manhattan, New York City. His wife, Florence, passed away on December 21, 1993 in Exton, Pennsylvania. Chan’s daughter, Susian, passed away on September 18, 1999. His son, Du Can, passed away on March 2, 2016.


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