Art On Sunday - Chen Yifei
Published July 22nd, 2007 in Art.
Chen Yifei is recognized as one of the most famous contemporary Chinese oil painter. He was renowned for his classical realism and impressionism style and his works were amongst the earliest of their type to be exhibited and sold in the West.
The artist was born in 1946 and graduated from the Shanghai Art Training School. Chen very soon won the recognition from the authority for his obvious talent and mastery of oil painting techniques. During the Cultural Revolution, he was famous for his big Mao Zedong portraits and depiction of grand heroic events of modern China.
After the death of Mao and the remission of the Cultural Revolution, in late 1970s, Chen began to break away from the “uncritical glorification of historical events”. He painted “Looking at History from My Space”in 1979, depicting himself standing from a distance observing the specific events of the 1910s and 1920s in China he portrayed.
The painter went to study in the United States in 1981. He gained much freedom and exposure in the West for his art, while his classical realism style let him stand out from the crowd. He had his first one-man exhibition held at New York’s Hammer Galleries in 1983. Since then, his works have been displayed in countless galleries and museums in the United States, Britain, France and Japan.
Chen painted realistic portraits of musicians playing musical instruments, Tibetan villagers and ballet dancers; as well as impressionistic scenery, especially that of the small “river villages” in his native Zhejiang Province (near Shanghai).
Chen returned to Shanghai and continued painting. In the 90s, the artist began his entrepreneurial pursuit by diversifying into fashion, environmental arts, modeling, magazine publishing as well as film making. The Yifei Group was formed.
The artist passed away in 2005 when he was 59. His early death shocked the art circle and the general public tremendously. And it definitely is a loss.
The Paintings of Chen Yifei by Michelle Farm-Cohen
A Tribute To Chen Yifei by Marlborough Fine Art
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These paintings are really beautiful. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Random. Glad that you like them.