Chen Yifei was the most celebrated modern painter working in China. He died on 10th April 2005 in Shanghai, and his paintings (often over-lifesize) and drawings are of figures and landscapes observed in China and Tibet. The fine detail and pathos of his work has earned the description 'romantic realism'.

Well-known in the USA, having lived and worked in New York 

1980-1990

his European reputation has grown after showing at the Venice Biennale and at Marlborough New York, 1999. 

Chen was also an established film-maker.

CHEN YIFEI

1946 

Born in Zhejiang, China?

1964 

Graduated from High School for Art, Shanghai

1970 

Became the leading artist at the Shanghai Institute of Painting

1984 

Master's Degree in art from Hunter's College, New York

2004 

Lived and worked in Shanghai, P.R.C.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1980 

New England Centre for Contemporary Art, USA (also in 1981,82,83)

1983 

Hammer Gallery, New York (also in 1986,88 and 90)

1990 

'Recent Paintings', Seibu Museum, Tokyo

1996 - 1997 

The Homecoming of Chen Yifei, Retrospective Exhibition, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai; The China National Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing

First London Exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art, London

Paintings of Tibet, Pavilion of the People's Republic of China, XLVII Venice Biennale, 1997

Chen Yifei, Premise Exposition en France, Muse Granet, Aix-en-Provence