Author Archives: burim

The Differences Between Artistic Expression Pre- and Post-Mao’s Death

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My final exhibition will focus on the works of Chen Yifei during Mao’s reign as well as after Mao’s death in 1976. Chen was a well respected artist in the eyes of the Communist party leaders for his artwork portraying the devotion of communist soldiers as well as their battles against the Nationalist and Japanese forces.

Chen caught the eye of the officials in the Communist party for his adoption of the Socialist Realism style early on in his career. The socialist realist art style reflected the socialists in a positive, strong, and inspiring light in order to create support for the party. Red Flag I (1971-72) was such a painting which drew support for the communist party from the viewer. This painting was a large portrayal of several communist soldiers who are ready to charge into battle. They all display the red star symbolizing the communist party on their hats and the soldier closest to the viewer — and as such is closest to the danger of the coming battle– is proudly holding the red flag. The soldiers show no fear in their faces, rather they show pride and confidence in the face of death. These details combined with the vast size of the painting displays a sense of pride in the viewer and evokes a feeling of being protected by the communist party.

After the death of Mao, Chen’s works change drastically to focus on individual portraits. One such portrait titled, The Flutist (1987), portrays a woman playing the flute while in an elegant black dress. This is a drastic change from Chen’s previous works as it portrays the subjects individual wealth and talent which contrasts the communist ideals of equality for everyone. This change was inspired by Chen’s move to New York in 1980 where he studied western art.

This change displays how restrictions on art were loosened after Mao’s death and artists were able to created what they were passionate about. The emphasis on portraying the communist party was diminished and as such artists from across China began to express themselves through styles other than Socialist realism.

chen, yifei red flag 1 ||| history ||| sotheby's hk0488lot75f82en

Chen Yifei, Red Flag I, Oil on Canvas, Dimensions: 300 x 159 cm (118.1 x 62.6 in.), 1971-1972. Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/red-flag-1-tBXyFFUh-0HVcgGfbG-bXA2

The FlutistThe Flutist

Chen Yifei, The Flutist, Offset Lithograph, Dimensions: 69.5 x 69.5 cm. (27.4 x 27.4 in.), 1987. Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/the-flutistthe-flutist-Gg00GSjS9MnWCl48qZ9ChQ2

Works cited:

“Chen Yifei.” Chen Yifei Biography – Chen Yifei on artnet. Accessed May 8, 2020. http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/biography.

“The Flutist – Chen Yifei – Google Arts & Culture.” Google. Google. Accessed May 15, 2020. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-flutist-chen-yifei/JgHtUATxu6SBqg.

 

 

Informative Webpage – Chen Yifei

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Chen Yifei is an extremely interesting artist because of his works during the rule of Mao as well as his shift in style after Mao’s death. To get a better understanding of Yifei himself I have been using the webpage www.artnet.com. Artnet has been very helpful as it gives a general biography for main points but it also gives a longer, more in depth review of Yifei’s life as well as his art. This webpage also has all of Yifei’s paintings with information on the medium, size, title and date of creation so that I can determine when he changed his style after Mao’s death and started to focus on his own style of realistic portraits, fashion and cinema.

 

Bibliography

http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/

Chen Yifei – “Red Flag 1”- Visual Analysis

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chen, yifei red flag 1 ||| history ||| sotheby's hk0488lot75f82enChen Yifei, Red Flag I, Oil on Canvas, Dimensions: 300 x 159 cm (118.1 x 62.6 in.), 1971-1972. Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/red-flag-1-tBXyFFUh-0HVcgGfbG-bXA2

 

Red Flag I is constructed of oil on canvas and depicts a number of soldiers holding the Chinese Flag and a gun. The landscape is unclear as most of the detail is in the soldiers and their forms. The soldiers are preparing to charge into battle to fight for the liberation of China. The image is mostly realistic with the exception of its size in order to create a sense of reality for the viewer showing that there are people who are fighting for the liberation of China.

This image of the soldiers standing tall and proud before running into battle creates a sense of pride in the viewer as they are not afraid to die for what they believe in. Red Flag I towers over the viewers at 300 x 159 cm. This size creates a sense of pride and power as well as protection for the masses which is provided by the communist party. The importance of the communist party is exemplified in this painting by the red accents of the flag and the crests on the soldiers hats which contrasts with the dark earth-tones of the soldiers uniforms and the background. By having the soldier holding the flag, Chen Yifei is conveying to the viewer that these soldiers, who are about to run into battle and possibly lose their lives, are not afraid of death because they are fighting for a cause that they truly believe in. The Communist Party.

Red Flag I is a powerful image for the communist party as it glorifies the work that they and their soldiers are doing to liberate China. It also creates a sense of pride in the viewer and shows the communist cause as one that is for the people and will provide protection and a strong ruling over the country.

 

 

Sources:

“Now Sotheby’s Hong Kong 40th Anniversary Evening Sale.” chen, yifei red flag 1 ||| history ||| sotheby’s hk0488lot75f82en, n.d. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/40th-anniversary-evening-sale-hk0488/lot.25.html?locale=en.

Yifei, Chen. “Red Flag 1 by Chen Yifei.” Red flag 1 by Chen Yifei on artnet. Van Ham Kunstauktionen, n.d. http://www.artnet.com/artists/chen-yifei/red-flag-1-tBXyFFUh-0HVcgGfbG-bXA2.

Artist Introduction – Chen Yifei

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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.

 

Introduction – Matthew Buri

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Hello, I am Matthew Buri. I am a Junior from Rochester NY with a major in psychology.  Last year my SRS was focused on medieval art and I found it interesting. As such, I decided to take this class to learn more about art around the world. I find artists themselves to be the most interesting as I like to find out why they chose to create the pieces that they did and what those pieces are trying to convey.