The Long Museum will present The Long Museum Case Studies – Rhyme of Vision: Chen Yifei from June 28 to July 25, 2014. As the first case study programme focusing on modern and contemporary artists launched by the museum, the exhibition will be put on display in Gallery 1 of Long Museum PUDONG. Moreover, a variety of public talks and lectures will be presented at the Long Museum West Bund throughout the exhibition.

Chen Yifei (1946-2005) was a renowned Chinese painter, film director, designer and style entrepreneur. Born in 1946, he graduated from Shanghai College of Art (shang hai mei zhuan) in 1965 and was recruited by the newly-established “Shanghai Oil painting and Sculpture Studio” (later known as Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute) right after his graduation. During the 1970s, his depiction of grand heroic events of the modern Chinese nation earned him a place in the art history of new China. Seizing of the Presidential Palace (jointly painted by Chen Yifei and Wei Jingshan from 1976 to 1977), a monumental oil painting made for the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution, was the best known and was hailed as an exemplar of that era. He went to study in the Untied States in 1980 and gained a master’s degree at Hunter. Later, he established as a contract artist for the Hammer Galleries. Chen returned to China in 1990, and his ingenious combination of realistic skills and romanticism with Chinese subject matter earned his wide recognition and acclamation from both the market and the general public. In the meantime, he also transformed himself into a successful style entrepreneur, setting foot in various realms such as film making, publication and fashion design. His passion and sense of responsibility for the support and promotion of the course of art education made him a forerunner of the development of visual culture.

In 2005 while working on a feature film The Music Box, Chen fell ill and passed away. His sudden and early death left people in shock and grief. People from different circles carried out a variety of activities and research programmes in memory of this great artist. Shanghai Art Museum and Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute (SPSI) presented major exhibitions featuring both the artist’s works and the study of his artistic practice in 2010 and 2013 respectively.

As a newly founded department of the Long Museum, the Curatorial Research Department consists of a group of young curators and researchers. When conceiving the case study of Chen Yifei, the first project initiated by the department, the foremost idea was to combine the resources and perspectives of different prestigious institutes and professional individuals with the collection of the museum in order to present an integral picture of the artist’s practice and how it was perceived and interpreted.

It is with great honor that the project received generous support from the SPSI. Mr. Xiao Gu, executive vice president of the institute, will give a themed lecture at the Long Museum West Bund during the exhibition. Ms. Fu Jun, director of SPSI Theoretical Research Department and vice director of SPSI Art Museum, is one of the academic researchers of this exhibition. With a focus on the early stage of Chen’s artistic practice, she will offer viewers an insight into the ideas and vision behind Chen’s practice before he went to study in the States through archive, manuscripts and objects that he had used. In terms of the presentation of the artist’s original works, besides Flutist (1978) and Zhou Zhuang (1990s) collected by Mr. Liu Yiqian and Ms. Wang Wei, founders of the Long Museum, Warm Spring in the Jade Pavilion (1993, courtesy of CC Collection) and Oriental Beauty(2000, courtesy of the artist’s family), a sculptural work on display in China for the first time, will also be exhibited. Thinking of History at My Space (1978), also a widely-known work of the artist, will remain to be exhibited at the inaugural exhibition of the Long Museum West Bund (which will run through August 31, 2014). Yang Beichen, also an invited researcher of the exhibition, will take the role as the moderator for the discussion about the achievements of Chen Yifei in the realm of film making. In addition, the artist’s practice of film making will be shown in the gallery in the form of both document presentation and screening.

The exhibition endeavors to cast light on Chen Yifei’s artistic vision, development of his practice and people’s understanding and further exploration of the concept of “grand vision” that he advocated. In addition, the initiation of the case study programme will also help to enrich the museum collection and to offer new perspectives and materials to probe into the perception of artists/artistic collectives. Anthony Yung, senior researcher of Asia Art Archive, will give a relevant lecture at the Long Museum West Bund during the exhibition.

Opening: 15:00 June 27th 2014

Date: June 28th - July 25th 2014

Venue: Long Museum PUDONG

Curator: Lu Jing

Exhibition researchers: Fu Jun, Yang Beichen, Zhang Jingjie

Special thanks to:

Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute, CC Collection, Shanghai Yi Ying Cultural Communications Co., Ltd, Wu Siyuan, Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, School of Visual Arts (SVA), Anthony Yung, Vision Magazine

Courtesy of the artist and Long Museum, for further information please visit www.thelongmuseum.org.