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Lot Essay
"A good portrait painter can penetrate your mind, grasp your character, express your habits, and paint the expressions of which you yourself are unaware. An experienced portrait painter, like an expert face reader or fortune teller, will use brush and pigments to speak of your life's experiences and encounters."
- SHIY DE-JINN
Born in Sichuan in 1923, Shiy De-Jinn graduated from National Hangzhou School of Art in 1948, where he was instructed by Lin Fengmian. While there he both enhanced knowledge of his Eastern heritage and came into contact with Western painting theory. In the early 1950s, influenced by Matisse, Shi Dejin gained new insight into color; in 1954 he began studying portrait painting, typically using an intense primary color set against a background in the complementary colour. By 1958, Shiy had developed a powerful interest in abstract art, and he explored both Hard Edge and Op Art styles. This Portrait of Evelyn (Lot 468), painted in 1960, is a striking work from the period following Shiy De-jinn's experimentation with abstract techniques.
In Portrait of Evelyn , Shiy employs various shades of blue in the background — blue lake, sapphire blue, peacock blue, and indigo —
laying on both vertical and horizontal strokes with his refined brushwork. A few touches of orange-yellow and fresh violet near the borders further add a sense of layered space. The surface textures of Shiy's portrait suggests some of the later work of Gerhard Richter, whose rubbing and scraping techniques revealed blurred and striated layers of color.
Shiy De-Jinn attached great importance to the emotional aspects of painting, and to expressing the spirit of the individual. Thus his techniques for depicting people were not limited to just beauty of form and modeling, but included attention to those aspects of their charm, grace, or style that directly touch the viewer's emotions and spirit. Fauve artist Kees van Dongen used bold, fresh, intense color in his portrait of a nobleman's wife; Shiy's attention to color shows especially in the face and skin of his subject, where pure red and the mingling of light blue and green bring out the quality of her fair white skin. The artist's depiction is detailed in other respects too. She wears a long, sapphire-blue gown and a thin lace scarf draped across her shoulders. The portrait conveys her graceful manner and style as she sits comfortably on a striking red and blue chair, highlighting her elegant and aristocratic bearing even in a casual and relaxed pose.
Evelyn M. Delanoy (1923 – 2015) was born in Kingston, New York. Her husband, Charles W. Delanoy (1916-1999) was a colonel in the US Air Force and from 1975-1978 was mayor of Satellite Beach, Florida. His service in the Air Force meant that the couple traveled to many parts of the world. This portrait was made when he was stationed in Taiwan and Evelyn commissioned Shiy De-Jinn to paint her portrait.
- SHIY DE-JINN
Born in Sichuan in 1923, Shiy De-Jinn graduated from National Hangzhou School of Art in 1948, where he was instructed by Lin Fengmian. While there he both enhanced knowledge of his Eastern heritage and came into contact with Western painting theory. In the early 1950s, influenced by Matisse, Shi Dejin gained new insight into color; in 1954 he began studying portrait painting, typically using an intense primary color set against a background in the complementary colour. By 1958, Shiy had developed a powerful interest in abstract art, and he explored both Hard Edge and Op Art styles. This Portrait of Evelyn (Lot 468), painted in 1960, is a striking work from the period following Shiy De-jinn's experimentation with abstract techniques.
In Portrait of Evelyn , Shiy employs various shades of blue in the background — blue lake, sapphire blue, peacock blue, and indigo —
laying on both vertical and horizontal strokes with his refined brushwork. A few touches of orange-yellow and fresh violet near the borders further add a sense of layered space. The surface textures of Shiy's portrait suggests some of the later work of Gerhard Richter, whose rubbing and scraping techniques revealed blurred and striated layers of color.
Shiy De-Jinn attached great importance to the emotional aspects of painting, and to expressing the spirit of the individual. Thus his techniques for depicting people were not limited to just beauty of form and modeling, but included attention to those aspects of their charm, grace, or style that directly touch the viewer's emotions and spirit. Fauve artist Kees van Dongen used bold, fresh, intense color in his portrait of a nobleman's wife; Shiy's attention to color shows especially in the face and skin of his subject, where pure red and the mingling of light blue and green bring out the quality of her fair white skin. The artist's depiction is detailed in other respects too. She wears a long, sapphire-blue gown and a thin lace scarf draped across her shoulders. The portrait conveys her graceful manner and style as she sits comfortably on a striking red and blue chair, highlighting her elegant and aristocratic bearing even in a casual and relaxed pose.
Evelyn M. Delanoy (1923 – 2015) was born in Kingston, New York. Her husband, Charles W. Delanoy (1916-1999) was a colonel in the US Air Force and from 1975-1978 was mayor of Satellite Beach, Florida. His service in the Air Force meant that the couple traveled to many parts of the world. This portrait was made when he was stationed in Taiwan and Evelyn commissioned Shiy De-Jinn to paint her portrait.