Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo’s Paintings

         Meet Each Other at Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Institution

         The exhibition “Selected Paintings from Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo” will be held at Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Institution from 25th July to 2nd Sep.2013. As one of “Series Exhibitions of 20th Century Chinese Art Masters”, more than seventy Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo’s paintings from Beijing Fine Art Institution and Nanjing Museum will be included in the exhibition. The exhibition tries to reveal Chinese paintings’ development though three parts: “Protege of Ancient Masters”, “Protege of Nature” and “Poem and Painting”.

          Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo made great contribution for Chinese fine brush painting’s transform in the 20th century, the fine brush bird-and-flower painting experienced a long time bottom period after Song dynasty, Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo changed the phenomena. Yu Fei’an is a north artist, Chen Zhifo was born in south China, and however they haven’t met each other when they were alive. Today Nanjing Museum and Beijing Fine Art Institution cooperated to present the exhibition; it is considered a great event in art circle.

         Two Artists

          Yu Fei’an was born in Beijing, he inhered Beijing’s distinguish culture character; he began his fine-brush painting after middle age, he had learned from Chen Hongshou, he especially likes Son Huizong’s painting and calligraphy. On this base, Yu Fei’an also emphasized on the nature, he analyzed flower, fish, bird’s shape and movements, he also learned this kind of painting though folk silk embroid techniques. Chen Zhifo was born in Yuyao in Zhe Jiang province, he had studied design in Japan, after returned to China, he taught at different art academies on design. Chen Zhifo started his fine-brush bird-and-flower painting since 1930s. He began to observe and copy art pattern, he absorbed nutrition from different kinds of art and added western design elements into his creation.

          Representative paintings from different times are all included in the exhibition; the two artists’ art development can also be found in the exhibition.

         Protégé of Ancient Masters

          Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo started their research on bird-and-flower painting since almost the same time, there are a lot of similar points in their study and creation, for example, they all focused on the study of nature. What’s more important；the two artists all paid great attention to tradition’s learning and research, Yu Fei’an had copied a lot of original master pieces, Chen Zhifo followed Xu and Huang style which rooted in Song’s court painting style. Mr.Yu and Mr.Chen have the same attitude towards tradition, they study tradition, but not bonded by the tradition, they combined the tradition with modern emotions, and created fine-brush bird-and-flower time spirit. Because of these new ideas, and different life experiences and local culture character, Yu Fei’an, Chen Zhifo formed different art styles in different parts of China.

          Yu Fei’an and Chen Zhifo bring time spirit to fine-brush bird-and-flower painting; they enriched Chinese painting treasure, and became representative artist in north and south China. They are not only example for today’s Chinese painting creation but also give us a lot of inspiration.