Chen Yifei was born in 1946 who studied at the Shanghai Art College in the early 1960’s with many other famous artists. Yifei is know for his paintings glorifying the deeds of Mao Zedong. He utilized classical European art styles to create more realistic  depictions of the successes of the communist party in China such as his piece The Taking of the Presidential Palace which depicts the communist forces removing the flag of the Nationalist regime over the presidential palace in 1949. To accomplish this, Yifei had models pose for a photograph which he then used to paint this piece with his colleague Wei Jingshan in 1977. After the death of Mao and the Cultural Revolution, Chen shifted his focus towards fashion, movies and portraits of westerners. He moved to New York for 10 years before returning to Shanghai where he died 15 years later in April of 2005.

The Taking of the Presidential Palace, 1977.

Chen Yifei and Wei Jingshan. Oil on canvas. This work depicts the success of the Communists over the Nationalists as they lower the Nationalist flag over the Presidential Palace in 1949. https://experimentalbeijing.com/items/show/798

Works Cited

Andrews, Julia F., and Kuiyi Shen. Art of Modern China. University of California Press, 2012.

“Chen Yifei.” artnet, n.d. http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/.

“The Taking of the Presidential Palace.” Experimental Beijing, n.d. https://experimentalbeijing.com/items/show/798.