"My knowledge of Western art today comes from the culture of the city of Shanghai, because the city once had its own history."
■ Exhibition site
How did a generation of art masters Chen Yifei grow up? After several years of planning, "Young Chen Yifei: The Javelin Thrower" kicked off yesterday at the Jinchen Yifeiming Art Museum in Shanghai.
With rich exhibits and detailed literature, this exhibition sorts out chen Yifei's artistic practice in his youth, that is, from the beginning of the 1960s to the end of the 1970s.
Chen Yiming, the chief planner of the exhibition, the younger brother of Chen Yifei and the famous artist, said that the artistic achievements of young Chen Yifei are worth excavating again, and the creative road that he has embarked on to bravely climb the peak of painting expression is worth discussing and studying.
According to reports, in this exhibition, some exhibits collected by many parties are facing the public for the first time.
■ Chen Yifei when he was a student
Including classroom assignments, various sketches, original manuscripts and sketches during the early years of study, it also immersively restores the creative scene and living environment of young Chen Yifei, and reviews his choices and thoughts in the rupture period of artistic development.
■ Chen Yifei's used desk
This exhibition integrates the original paintings, documents, objects, images and new media technologies, presents the fiery pursuit of young Chen Yifei's artistic dream in multiple dimensions and at multiple levels, and shows the spirit of a generation of Shanghai artists in the special historical period of struggle and enterprising, wisdom and truth-seeking.
■Chen Yifei sketch "Discus Thrower"
"Throwing a javelin" is an inextricable theme in art history. The intermediate state of the javelin thrower's image illuminates the spirit of the artist who bursts out of power and breaks the deadlock in the midst of ruptures and imbalances.
With the subtitle of "The Man Who Threw the Javelin", this exhibition reviews Chen Yifei's choice and creation in the rupture period of artistic development, and the prospects he has thrown for new Chinese art.
"Nong knows how to cut, a painter with a pair of sharp eyes, depending on long-term rigorous training. If you have the opportunity, you can see more, copy more ancient Greek and Roman and 15th century after the sculpture album, that is the masterpiece of the masters! ”
Wang Tie wrote this about Chen Yifei's teachings in his article "Memories of the Sketching Movement".
■ Chen Yifei watercolor painting
Chen Yifei's artistic myth originated in the Bund of Shanghai, where Western architecture and revolutionary passion coexisted.
Chen Yifei's style is diverse and complex. Before being baptized by Supai art, traditional art and classical art have long been mixed into creation.
The knowledge of classical art imported by the artists in Europe and the knowledge of creative practice accumulated by local artists in the revolutionary era are closely integrated in the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts.
Yan Wenliang's colorology, Zhang Chongren's anatomy, Harding's watercolor paintings, Meng Guang's sketching training methods, and the courses of Wu Dayu, Zhou Bichu, Yu Yunjie, Zhang Longji and other famous artists continue to nourish him.
■ Sketch by Chen Yifei
In addition, the classical art pictures in Soviet films and magazines are also a great source of knowledge, and their diligent character has been silently written one by one, becoming the nourishment for subsequent creations.
The first chapter of this exhibition shows Chen Yifei's initial artistic training and his practice of fetchist art under the guidance of new ideas.
These rare materials also show the audience the model of art education in Shanghai after 1949.
In the second chapter of the exhibition, Chen Yifei's red classic creative language is highlighted.
From "Made in China" to "Pioneer", and then to the later benchmark works such as "Red Flag", "Ode to the Yellow River" and "Occupation of the Presidential Palace", he integrated the formal language and stylistic tension taken from classical art and socialist realist painting into the red theme, injecting a novel and effective style into the art creation of the time.
■ Chen Yifei's masterpiece "Pacing" (the works on display are reproductions on canvas)
Different from the popular practice of portraying typical states, Chen Yifei tries to give the work a sense of time and space, so that powerful shapes emerge rhythmically.
■ Chen Yifei's original design when he created "Pacing"
This classical artistic composition technique first enabled "Pioneer" to transcend the traditional themes of workers, peasants and soldiers and enter the narrative height of historical painting. His attention to chiaroscuro, virtual reality, and color contrast, and his narrative technique based on perspective methods have created a magnificent picture that highlights the great changes of the times.
In order to clearly show the development of his narrative language, he also shows his important manuscripts in an all-round way, outlining his mental journey in the creation of red classics.
What refined Chen Yifei's brilliant artistic life? In the third chapter of the exhibition, from creative tools to study notes, from diaries to important publications of the time, a large number of documents on display reflect the development of his creative ideas.
■ Books that Chen Yifei has read
It is not difficult to find that his imaginative artistic practice and later transition to fashion and film were all conceived in the artistic experience of his youth. The exhibition brings people close to Chen Yifei and sees the moment when he planted the seeds of new art.
■ Chen Yifei's diary
The final highlight of the exhibition is a precious video material that has been lost and recovered, the process of Chen Yifei's fan painting for Meng Guang's "Sketch Teaching Film" (1979).
■ Chen Yifei's fan painting model in "Sketch Teaching Film"
As the afterglow of the vigorous "sketching movement" of that year, this video once became an important tool for art academies across the country to abandon the old model of drawing teaching and revive the real and rich art modeling techniques. It once nourished a generation of Chinese art students, but suddenly disappeared.
Fortunately, this precious video document was finally revived after many searches and fundraising, and was presented to the audience at the same time as the original sketch "Young Woman" demonstrated by Chen Yifei.
At the exhibition site, a group of sketches of Chen Yifei's grandmother, mother, brother and sister painted during his youth and youth were also exhibited, which was warm and touching.
■ Chen Yifei paints his mother
■ Chen Yifei painted his younger brother Chen Yiming
On the 10th anniversary of Chen Yifei's death, Chen Yiming co-authored with art critic Gong Yunbiao to launch the book "Young Chen Yifei" >
■ Chen Yiming (middle) guided tour at the exhibition site
Chen Yiming said, "The youthful temperament is not only full of Chen Yifei's youth, but also runs through his entire life, and his life has always been filled with a breath and vitality of youth. Revisiting Chen Yifei's youth not only allows us to feel the difference of a great contemporary visual artist again, but also to tell today's young people, an idealist born in the big era, how to use their own creation and pursuit to dedicate their lasting and eternal charm to the world. ”
It is reported that as one of the important projects of the "Maritime Wind and Art Season", this exhibition will also set up several special activities to lead the audience to approach Chen Yifei. The exhibition will be held until February 20, 2022.
"Young Chen Yifei: The Man Who Threw the Javelin"
Exhibition time: November 20, 2021 to February 20, 2022
Venue: Jinchen Yifeiming Art Museum (No. 88 Yonghong Road, Minhang District, Shanghai)
Source: Thoughtful