Pan Yulaing – Self Portrait (1945), Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 60 cm
Source: A Century in Crisis, page 169 (figure 69)
Pan Yulaing (1895-1977) is best known for her female nude paintings but I decided to focus on one of her self portraits for my visual analysis as I feel they best embody the spirit of my topic. Pan Yulaing painted many self-portraits over the course of her life, giving us a better glimpse into her life, each one a reflection of her self-preception. The painting I chose, Self Portrait (1945), was painted by Pan Yulaing in Paris a few years after she moved back to Europe for good (Andrews and Shen 1998: 178). Painting in the western style of oil on canvas, Pan uses a mix of post-impressionist styles with hints of fauvism influence, reflecting her western training, although the colors she uses in this painting are darker and more serious (Andrews and Shen 1998: 178).
In this painting, Self Portrait (1945), Pan Yuliang depicts herself standing in front of a closed window confidently leaning one hand against a table with a vase of yellow flowers. Unlike many of her other self-portraits where Pan depicts herself dressed in traditional Chinese garb, in this portrait she is wearing her hair up while dressed in simple western-style clothing, showing her struggle with her Chinese identity. Her bright, rosy cheeks and pink lips are contrasted by bulky winter clothes that hide her feminine figure with dark, traditionally non-feminine, colors and patterns.
Pan’s facial expression is serious and confident, portraying an air of professionalism. In opposition to social customs which dictated that women must avert their gaze as a show of modesty (Ng 2019: 26), Pan Yuliang stares straight ahead with a penetrating and unflinchingly direct gaze, challenging the preconceived notions of how women should act. The yellow blossoms behind her are reminiscent of classic feminine ideals and the vase suggestive of the outdated views of women she was forced to fight against her whole life. In traditional Chinese culture, women were often compared to flower vases, equating them to a fragile decorative object with no substance (Ng 2019: 25). By juxtaposing herself next to the vase of flowers (a reoccurring theme in many of her self-portraits) she confronts these antiquated and oppressive ideas, challenging viewers with her piercing gaze. She paints herself as a complex human being rather than as a clichéd ornamental beauty that women were so often portrayed as in art.
Works Cited:
Andrews, Julia Frances, and Kuiyi Shen. A Century in Crisis: Modernity and Tradition in the Art of Twentieth-Century China. Guggenheim Museum Publications, 1998.
Ng, Sandy. “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.” Woman’s Art Journal 40, no. 1 (2019): 21–31.