Chen Yifei

signed in pinyin and Chinese; Marlborough Gallery, New York label affixed to the stretcher on the reverse
Executed in 1999.

Marlborough Gallery, New York
Important Private European Collection

New York, Marlborough Gallery, Chen Yifei: New Works, December 7, 1999 – January 15, 2000

Chen Yifei: New Works, Marlborough Gallery, New York, 1999, plate 10, illustrated in colour
Chen Yifei, Marlborough Gallery, London, p. 179, illustrated in colour
Song Yingmei, ed., Chen Yifei, Tianjin Yangliuqing Fine Arts Press, Tianjin, 2008, p. 167, illustrated in colour

This work is in good condition overall. There is evidence of minor scattered paint losses across the surface of the painting, only visible under close examination. There is no evidence of restoration under UV.
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Lonely Girl is classic painting of the "Shanghai" series. In this piece, Chen surpassed the conventional aesthetics in depicting Chinese women, discarding neoclassic requirements of perfect proportions, focusing his eyes and heart instead to observing Shanghai nightlife of the nationalist era. By injecting film technique of a close-up shot, he depicted a young woman whose body takes up more than half of the canvas. The artist created this composition just like a film director, lengthening the woman's arm daringly, and accentuating the almost translucent table, as if spotlights are arranged to cast a glow on its surface. As a result, there is depth in the painting as well as dramatic tension directing the viewers' focus on the young woman's posture and expression. We see her leaning against the table, her right hand holding a cigarette between her fingers. With her stylish short hair and a spaghetti-strap Western outfit, we can sense her straightforward demeanor. Although she is sitting in a crowded restaurant, her face suggests someone unfettered by the bustle around her. She even ignores the couple whispering to each other right behind her, as if only communing with her own solitary, inner world of calm, her body confined within her immediate orbit. In the span of one cigarette puff, time stands still. The character in the painting reminds one of a short poem by Indian philosopher-poet Rabindranath Tagore, taken from his Stray Birds: "I am like the road in the night listening to the footfalls of its memories in silence."

Chen Yifei's brushstrokes expounded the loneliness that can creep up on us at any moment, replaying one's life memories in a solitude that comes with being. Just as his significant advocate from Hammer Gallery said, when Chen Yifei made art, he "threw himself totally into it, a prerequisite for anyone who would be a master artist. In his paintings, he preferred gentle lines and sombre colours. His drawings might not be finely detailed because he feared details would crowd out the viewer's emotional response. His paintings are close to poetry, because he only hinted at but did not confirm. Chen liked to use simple, everyday subjects. To him, they are essential in casting new interest."

With regard to Chen's late 1990s "Shanghai" series, Chinese art critic Shang Hui says: "Chen Yifei attempted to apply the essence of early classicism on urban sentiments that were infused with mundane colonial culture. He chose settings of nightlife such as bars, night clubs, mahjong tables populated by concubines to express decadence amidst extravagance, pointlessness amidst refinement, blandness amidst multi-coloured hues to symbolize the overabundance of materialistic life." 1 This work is not only Chen Yifei's artistic breakthrough, but its provenance is also illustrious: this has been included in both important catalogues on Chen Yifei published by London's Marlborough Fine Artand New York's Marlborough Gallery. The sale of this work is indeed an anticipated highlight this season.

[1] Shang Hui, ed. The Lonely Journey Crossing Cultures, Shanghai People's Art Publishing House, 2010, p. 341