Following the reform and opening-up of China in 1978, the vision of Chinese artists were suddenly widened, as they suddenly had new opportunities to study Western history of art and modern art developments comprehensively. This differed profoundly from their unilateral education in oil painting from the Soviet Union in from the 1950s onwards. Now oil painting became a means of rational thinking, instead of the political propagandist tool it has previously been. Chinese art academies gradually became the testing grounds of modern art. These are among the major paths in which Chinese art broke away from its history of mimesis and blindness, moving instead towards a new classicism rooted in a rediscovered pride in Chinese national culture. Artists were now free to explore their personal ideas and cultural self-awareness in highly individualistic creations. Even in the realm of realistic paintings, there has been a flourishing of styles and ideas. Through understanding the works of Ai Xuan, Wang Yidong, Li Guijun, Chen Yifei and Chen Yanning, we can get a glimpse of the Chinese artists that have stayed true to their training in academic realism, and how their reinterpretation of those techniques, along with their own personal experiences have helped to create such multidimensional movement.
Wang Yidong: Beauty of the Orient
Wang Yidong was born in Linyi County in Shandong, whose Yi-meng mountain region still preserves ancient customs and traditions and is also one of the areas in which the China's late Neolithic Longshan culture arose. Wang has worked steadfastly to develop a kind of oil painting that is thoroughly Chinese in character, honoring its great cultural traditions and rituals. He places heavy demands on himself in terms of composition and the modeling of his subjects, believing that "it is through shaping forms as rigorously as you can that you communicate a personal feeling." In Portrait (Lot 2124), created in 2000, from the Anna Maria Jagdfeld Collection, Wang deliberately recreated the 15th century European Renaissance portraits of royalty through his form and composition, establishing a dialogue between the cultures of the east and the west. Such comparison accentuates the unique Oriental beauty and spirit. Bounded by social norms, 15th century female portraits of the West could not be painted with frontally, unlike their male counterparts. Hence, a profile is the only solution so that direct eye contact can be avoided between the sitters in the painting with the viewers. In order to illustrate their social status and wealth, the sitters would wear knitted velvet clothing complemented with jewels and accessories, displaying their poised and elegant within the limitations of the portraiture genre. Wang conveyed the unique spirit of the village girl through the format of a Western royal portrait. The special composition of such paintings let go of the traditional three-dimensionality and perspectives, making the two-dimensional design central to the composition. The contour of her profile, the floral-patterned clothing and the flowers at the background covers the surface of the canvas. Colouring it with the flat-coating technique, the artist reinforces the two-dimensionality of the graphic design. The ethnic clothing wore by the little girl is not accompanied by elaborate jewelry, but a simple headdress instead; yet it shows a refined sense of elegance and grace that expresses the traditional Chinese beauty. The background of budding white flowers further complements the oriental sensation that surges from the implicit purity of the young girl.