Yan Pei-Ming

Massimo de Carlo, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

London, Massimo de Carlo, Yan Pei-Ming: Innocent, 2014

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the red tends more towards burgundy in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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“…I think it is one of the greatest portraits that have been made, and I became obsessed by it. I buy book after book with this illustration in it of the Velázquez Pope, because it just haunts me, and it opens up all sorts of feelings and areas of – I was going to say – imagination, even, in me… I think it’s the magnificent colour of it”
Francis Bacon
in conversation with David Sylvester, 1962, in: David Sylvester, The Brutality of Fact: Interviews with Francis Bacon, New York 1981, p. 25

The current portrait of Pope Innocent X is a magnificent example from a series based on one of the most important portraits in art history. Painted by Diego Velázquez circa 1650, the Portrait of Innocent X has an allure and relevance which has fascinated artists and critics for centuries. Francis Bacon most famously adapted the motif several times in his own work, distorting the pontiff’s features with his mouth wide open, caught in a silent never-ending scream. Whilst Bacon examined the psychological and emotional turmoil of the individual, Yan Pei-Ming’s take on the subject shows a highly analytical approach. Each Pope Innocent X in the series is distinctly unique; however they do share the same basic composition with the pontiff sat in his papal throne, draped in lavish ecclesiastic vestments, his eyes gazing directly out at the viewer. Based on this close adaption of Velázquez’ seminal work, Yan Pei-Ming varies the dimensions, colour, the handling of paint and the position of Innocent’s hands in each canvas. Some are almost entirely executed in shades of red, green or blue, others held in black and white giving the scene a dark sinister aura. In some works the Pope clasps his hands together as if in prayer, in others his arms rest on the armrests palms turned upwards, almost approachable. In the present work Innocent’s gaze is inquisitive, dominant and relentless, breaching the confinement of the canvas and staring right into ones soul. Closely in keeping with Velázquez’ template, Innocent’s mozetta traditionally a sign of authority and power is kept in a dark claret, red interestingly being a colour representing purity and virtue within Chinese tradition. Having worked with large brushes, thick impasto layers of paint and dynamic gestures, Yan has achieved a form of painting that is both analytical and highly expressive, reminiscent of the visual qualities of American action painting of the 1960s. Radiating an all-powerful aura, the artist’s struggle, both painterly and physically, is immediately translated onto the viewer. One is inevitably drawn into the world behind the canvas; into the artists own emotional turmoil.

Born in Shanghai in 1960, Yan Pei-Ming grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China before immigrating to France in 1980. Influenced both by the experiences of his childhood, and western art in Europe, Chinese visual tradition alongside a Western formal approach find their way onto the vast painterly surface of his canvases. Politically charged subjects such as Chairman Mao Zedong, Barack Obama or Pope John Paul II, but also cultural icons like Bruce Lee, Alexander McQueen or Pablo Picasso are protagonists in his work. His portraits are filled with a haunting immediacy and truth that is often lost in our modern media culture. Ever since embarking onto the world stage in 2003 with his exhibition “Zone of Urgency” curated by Hou Hanru in the 50th Venice Biennale, Yan Pei-Ming’s epic size monochromatic paintings have truly redefined the traditional parameters of portraiture. His works can be found in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions around the globe such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the Museum Ludwig on Cologne. To his ongoing success in creating a unique visual language away from the mainstream trends, he humbly states that, “My aim is set at the highest, that is, to be acknowledged by the whole world, and to be an influential artist in the world. Now I feel I am still out of the playground, and my game has not started. I am doing the warm-up exercise.” Wang Huangsheng, “Forward”, Yan Pei-ming: Life Souvenir, 2005