Yan Pei Ming

Recalling Chairman Mao's death in 1976, Yan Pei Ming, who had previously been employed by the state to paint bright red portraits of the leader in factories and schools, reminisces how: “That day, for the first time, I painted a portrait of Mao in black and white. Before it was forbidden to paint Mao in black and white. For the Chinese, black and white are the colours of death and mourning.” (Yan Pei Ming cited in Michael Nurisdany, China, Art Now, Paris 2004, p. 47)

Since then, he has continued to paint portraits of Mao, a form of repeated study that has crucially provided him with an arena for experimentation and development. “For me, Mao is a sort of laboratory. I try all sorts of new things out with his portrait.” (ibid. p. 50) Unlike his other portraits of Mao which take their lead from the idealised images propagated by the leader during his lifetime, the present work embodies Mao’s position as the father figure of a nation who viewed him both as a hero and dictator. It was in this vein that the artist also painted a series of works depicting his own dead father. “I don’t see much of a difference between Mao and my father,” he explained. “In China we were always being told that Mao was more important than our own fathers. But I didn’t agree with that. Of course Mao is the father.” (ibid.)