The Paper learned that the well-known contemporary artist Yu Youhan died in Shanghai on the evening of December 13 at the age of 80 due to illness.
Yu Youhan was born in Shanghai in 1943, graduated from the ** Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1973, and later taught at the Shanghai School of Arts and Crafts, is one of the pioneers who influenced the history of Chinese contemporary art in the evolution of art such as the 85 New Wave of Fine Arts in the last century and the political pop in the 90s, and was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale in 1993, and was one of the first Chinese faces to appear at the Venice Biennale in the same year, and was also the first batch of contemporary artists who were internationally recognized after China's reform and opening up.
A sad heart's desire for beauty, this is my painting. "I think what I paint is to find a way to promote society. Yu Youhan said in an interview with The Paper in 2016.
Yu Youhan's son Yu Yu told The Paper today: "At 19:30 on December 13, 2023, my father Yu Youhan passed away in Shanghai Chest Hospital at the age of 80 due to ineffective rescue after being ineffective. ”
Yu Youhan in the studio surging news materials.
Yu Youhan is considered one of the most important and influential contemporary Chinese artists, and his painting practice dates back to the 1970s, while Chinese contemporary art is generally considered to have begun in the 1980s. As one of the important pioneers of contemporary abstract art and political pop style in China, Yu Youhan combines multiple perspectives and the study of the ontological structure of Chinese culture, and his works integrate traditional visual symbols of the East and the expression of Western modern art, which has had a wide impact on the Chinese art world and later generations of artists, and has played a pioneering key role in the history of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Representative works include: abstract "circle" series, political pop series, "Yimeng Mountain" landscape series and so on.
Yu Youhan has actually been creating non-stop over the years, and the number of paintings is quite large, but it is only in the past two or three years that the number of creations has been reduced due to physical reasons.
Yu Youhan 1943 2023.
Yu Youhan was born in Shanghai in 1943, and in 1973, he graduated from the ** Academy of Arts and Crafts and entered the Shanghai School of Arts and Crafts to teach. Yu Youhan participated in the "Fudan Six Artists Exhibition" in 1986, the "Chinese Modern Art Exhibition" in 1989, the Venice Biennale and the Post-89 New Art Exhibition in 1993.
From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, his paintings were mainly landscape sketches, from the natural scenery of Jiading District, where the Shanghai Arts and Crafts School is located, to the alleys near Wuxing Road in Xuhui District, where he lived. With the gradual opening of China's borders, Yu Youhan's early sketches were also deeply influenced by Western artists such as Cézanne, Picasso, and Miró with the influx of Western ideas.
A portrait of Yu Youhan taken by Feng Lianghong, a student of Yu Youhan, in 1982.
In 1993, Beijing Youth Daily reported on the layout of the 45th Venice Biennale in which Yu Youhan participated.
Through political changes and economic take-off, Yu Youhan's artistic creation follows his own unique context, from the abstract "Circle" series to "Political Pop", and even the "AhhWe", as well as the scenery of "Yimeng Mountain" that returns to the countryside, and finally returns to the world of abstraction, although the types and styles are different, but always carry out personal taste, thinking and care.
The "Circle" series is one of Yu Youhan's most well-known classic works in his early days. At the same time, it contains his experience of movement and harmony, and his understanding of the death of life and old age, showing a connotation of "cage heaven and earth in the form, frustration of all things in the end of the brush".
Yu Youhan in the 1980s in the Changle Road studio.
Yu Youhan, The Dead, 143x232cm, Acrylic on canvas, 1998
When he is creating, he can always pursue the "ancient and modern Chinese and foreign take-it-or-leave-it-or-leave-it", oppose the narrowness of art, abandon all kinds of "concepts" of art, and add personal life experience, social observation and philosophical thinking on the macrocosm to the painting language one after another, integrating the traditional visual symbols of the East and the expression forms of Western modern art, and using abstraction, figuration, landscape and pop freely, which has played a key pioneering role in the construction of the history of modern and contemporary Chinese art.
In 1991, Yu Youhan had the following monologue about art:
Freedom of artistic expression;
Art is conducive to breaking the shackles of consciousness and culture;
Art is linked to tradition and the future
Art seeks novelty, but novelty is not the only criterion;
Art is creation, but creation is not the only requirement;
As much as the soul needs, there is as much need for art;
Art needs honesty, and artists need honesty even more, but honesty is not art;
Art strives for perfection, but perfect art is the least perfect;
Contemporary art is not about life, but about culture
Criticism is the life of modern art, and beauty is criticism;
After too much criticism, people crave quiet, and then beauty is quiet. ”
Art at that time was blank in the field of abstraction, like a wasteland with no grass on it. But this is a good season, when it rains, the grass will grow, and even if it doesn't grow with me, it will grow somewhere else. Yu Youhan recalled his early involvement in contemporary art.
In December 2016, the retrospective exhibition of "Yu Youhan" of the "Chinese Contemporary Art Collection Exhibition Series" was held at the Power Station of Art. It was Yu's largest and most comprehensive retrospective to date. The exhibition presents more than 200 works of his paintings, manuscripts and documents, covering early abstractions, the "Circle" series, "Ahhh"We" series and "Yimeng Mountain" series, as well as new works in recent years.
Yu Youhan's solo exhibition "Eternity and Change" exhibition view restores Yu Youhan's studio scene, Nanjing Golden Eagle Art Museum, 20229.25-12.4
In 2022, Nanjing Golden Eagle Art Museum will welcome Yu Youhan's solo retrospective exhibition "Eternity and Change". "In the picture, I try to unify the opposing aspects of simplicity and wisdom, silence and vividness, eternity and change, and nothingness" - a passage from Yu Youhan became the title of the exhibition**.
Regarding the "Yimeng Mountain" series many years ago, he told The Paper Art Review in 2016: "(At that time) some people started to make money. Why did I paint Yimeng Mountain? The people of this place are similar to the situation in our Han Dynasty, with similar clothes, similar thoughts, and similar ways of labor. I went and thought, this place is so good. Because the human mind is still the same as before, and it is not fully controlled by money. ”
The Car of Flowers (1989), Yu Youhan, ** artist.
While creating abstract works, he also began to paint some works in the pop style. Compared with the abstract series, the Pop series is more into the WTO, in the face of the rise of the commercial atmosphere at that time, Yu Youhan maintained a cautious attitude, he linked the experience of painting in the old days, coupled with the current situation of life at that time, and created a work that was later called "Political Pop", the image in the painting is from history, and he also hopes to reflect on his life experience through this interpretation, and look at the leader from a humane perspective. These creations were widely recognized by Western collectors in the 90s, and in 1999, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Time magazine used an image of him on the cover of Time magazine.
Yu Youhan, Still Life, 55x71cm, oil on paper, 1979
Yu Youhan's creation did not stop because of the positive response of the collectors, and in the following "AhhhIn the series, he began to depict all kinds of ordinary individuals who have appeared since the reform and opening up: migrant workers, farmers, models, children in the city or the countryside, and those symbols that represent traditional Chinese culture: terracotta warriors and horses, stone lions, ......
Children and Models (2002), Yu Youhan, ** Yu Artist.
AhhYu Youhan once said in his autobiography that what he depicts is "not only the emotions of the days and nights of his life, but also the people who are afraid to avoid not far away". On the one hand, the artist shows the faces of all beings in the midst of drastic social changes, and on the other hand, he also tries to understand and face the radical changes of society more deeply by tracing and searching for the DNA of Chinese tradition.
In 2002, Yu Youhan went to Yimeng Mountain once, and after returning from the investigation, he began to paint landscapes according to the ** left at that time. The "Yimeng Mountain" series shows a fresh and beautiful scenery of paradise, and also reflects Yu Youhan's reflection on the rapid development of the city.
Why do you want to paint Yimeng Mountain?Yu Youhan said that he felt that the people in this place were like living in ancient times, although the material conditions were not abundant, but the people's mental state was simple and pure. Yu Youhan called the city's high-rise buildings "empty shells", far from empty shells, he is willing to paint a landscape of stones and mud, "There will be fields in such mountains, you can plant some potatoes and potatoes, and there are one or two girls walking with hoes, and old mothers doing some things, they are always kind and sincere to people." This kind of life is like the life of early human beings when they were not alienated and their hearts remained pure, and I feel very delighted. ”
In one of the "Yimeng Mountains," two girls have their heads poking out of a cornfield with the expression of herbivores, and their eyes penetrate from ancient times to the future.
Yimeng Mountain 05 (2002), Yu Youhan, ** artist.
At the age of "doing what he wants, not exceeding the rules", his creation returned to abstraction. "There's a Chinese saying that leaves return to their roots," Mr. Yu said, "which means that no matter where you go, when you're old, you have to go back to where you were born." ”
Yu Youhan seems to be painting this circle of his life, but his creation at the moment has come a long way from the beginning. He still pays attention to social events, such as when the "Oriental Star" capsized, he happened to be painting a large abstract painting, in which he painted small people, as if they were undulating in chaos.
"I think what I paint is to find a way to promote society. In an interview with The Paper in 2016, he said.
Further reading: The Paper in Conversation with Yu Youhan (2016).
The Paper: Can you tell us about your early experience of learning to paint?
Yu Youhan: I was admitted to the ** Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1965, and I started in 1966, although I only graduated in 1973, in fact, I only took one year of classes in total. I'm in ceramics. At that time, there were very few courses. It is closer to the needs of the workers, that is, how to make a cup, not a good-looking cup.
There are art-related courses. For example, sketching, it is an old man who sits in the middle of it, and we students surround him. It took about two weeks to paint, and it was only about half a day a day. It's not a human body, it's a head, and there is no relationship between light and dark, like a Chinese painting, a line drawing. Two weeks later, I went to the countryside. In a village about forty or fifty kilometers away, I worked with the peasants in the morning, and in the afternoon I took a notebook and went to draw casually.
In short, there is a limit to what you can learn, but it doesn't mean that there is nothing at all. The best treatment for us students is free admission to the Forbidden City. Why did I take the ceramics exam?I think that Chinese ceramics have a long history, and everything else is foreign, and I think that learning Xi traditional Chinese things can always learn a little bit of our own country's artistic viewpoint.
Once the pattern teacher came to talk to me, she said, Yu Youhan, some people say that the things you paint are a bit Western. At that time, the rural atmosphere was good, but the foreign style was not good. Aesthetic and political direction are related.
The Paper: Your neighbor when you were a child was Mr. Fan Jiman, and it can be said that you got the earliest artistic enlightenment in him. We know that he was an early underground member of the Communist Party of China, and we know less about his creations
Yu Youhan: I've never heard a word of his teaching to me to paint. He was in his fifties at the time, and he always had a pipe in his mouth and a hat that seemed to be French. I didn't dare talk to him, I was young at the time. Later, in the fifties, Mr. Fan was imprisoned.
So we had very few interactions, but there were a lot of paintings hanging in his room, all of which were his own paintings, and some of them were very small. Lin Fengmian, Guan Liang, and Liu Haisu are all his friends ......They will also be together on Sundays. His paintings are mainly landscapes, impressionists, and fauvists, all of which are very good.
His son later began to tidy up, and some of the paintings fell off. Once, he sorted out a dozen or twenty photos and asked me to take a picture of him. I helped him shoot it for him, and I still had it hidden in my own computer, and I was reluctant to get rid of it.
He also has a lot of albums, and I saw a lot of them in his house, impressionists, Picasso.
Abstract 1990-17-1 (1990), Yu Youhan, ** artist, Power Station of Art.
The Paper: How did you find the abstract method and language and create works such as "circles" that we are familiar with now?
Yu Youhan: To be honest, it's hard for me to say it in one sentence. There was a teacher in our school (Miao Pengfei) who later went to Macau. I saw something hanging on the wall next to his little bed. I said this thing. He said abstract painting. I say what defines abstract painting. He said: You don't usually see things, it's lines, color blocks, black and white, you say it's a painting, it's okay, you say it's not a painting, it's okay. It's like you're playing. If you play twenty cards, thirty cards, fifty cards. Later, you will think, I will be happy with these pictures, and I will not like those ones. In the middle of this, the level is opened. The better things you create are the ones that have art in them.
There are some things that you don't say, but after reading more, you will know it in your heart. Overall, it has a harmony, a line, a square, a black, it has an intrinsic connection.
I paint abstract paintings, which also has something to do with traditional Chinese training. For Wu Changshuo's seal characters, I probably studied Xi for at least two years. Later, when I looked at it again, those lines were more sophisticated and moist, which also had something to do with it.
What I just talked about is relatively superficial, and the things inside are related to Lao Zhuang, especially Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching is the earliest encyclopedia of Chinese philosophy.
Why did I have an idea in the 1980s. First, I hope that my own paintings, painted from the heart, are also the artistic path taken by the contemporary world now, and I don't want to completely go against them. The times, mine, are these words.
The Paper: After graduating in 1973, you were assigned to Shanghai Arts and Crafts School as a teacher, and later many artists were also your students
Yu Youhan: Some people say that Mr. Yu is our leader, and you are the earliest. I said don't say that, spring is here, the grass comes out, isn't it normal, your grass comes out, and other people's grass will come out. Of course, at that time, they would show me the things they drew and let me give my opinions. Ding Yi was in the next class, and there were a few classmates in our class who knew him, and once brought him to our dormitory. Teacher Yu, there is a little classmate here, Ding Yi was relatively low at that time, and now he is not too high, others call him a little classmate. I watched some and he was not bad. I said I'll lend you a book in two days, and it's from Japan, it's called Utrillo, a French painter, and he was still painting Impressionism at the time.
Later, I participated in the Fudan Six Artists Exhibition in 86, with five students and one teacher, and after the exhibition, there were quite a lot of people who came. Although at that time, we were very scared, at the previous stage, there was a very large exhibition in Fudan that was blocked. At that time, a few of their students secretly did not dare to make a big poster, which means that we quietly made this exhibition, on the second floor of the Fudan student activities, and below is a place to play table tennis. Nothing happened after that.
Plaid Girl Head (1988), Yu Youhan, ** Yu Artist.
The Paper: How did you turn from abstract painting to pop painting?
Yu Youhan: After the 1980s, the economic aspect has been moving forward, but the inner aspect of people has not moved forward. Every store is looking at the money, and if you can have more money, you will be happy. I don't think so. I think I have to find a way to promote society with the things I paint. I just came out of abstract painting, although there are some things in my heart that have been inherited from abstract painting, but on the whole, it is a state of non-social involvement. I want to be closer to society. I want to do it by drawing. My first painting is *** on the Tiananmen Tower, and there is a white railing in front of him. I drew it in school, and once, the secretary of our general branch came in, and he saw this painting, and he didn't make a sound, and looked at it for a long time. This is what you painted?I said, "This is what I painted, how about it?"The painting is *** He won't say it's bad, he looked at it for a long time and said, hey, okay, okay. I didn't say much about what that meant. At that time, you don't need to talk about it.
Since ping-pong diplomacy, China and the United States have been relatively close. Later, whenever there was an important historical event, I took a picture as a commemoration.
Black Painting (2000), Yu Youhan, ** Yu Artist.
The Paper: After that, you started to draw "AhhhWe", pay attention to more ordinary people and traditional Chinese content.
Yu Youhan: "Ah!."We "this is the earliest painting in China, including terracotta warriors and horses, stone lions. This is a line, a line of history. Some people are very good at saying, and I agree with myself, that he said that I just want to show the DNA of Chinese. Whether the display is very good or not, this is still a problem. Quite a few were drawn at that time. Why is it called "AhhhWe", in this, in my mind, this feeling is a little rich.
The Paper: After 2002, you painted the "Yimeng Mountain" series, which is said to be a very simple place in China
Yu Youhan: Some people are starting to make money. Why did I paint Yimeng Mountain? The people of this place are similar to the situation in our Han Dynasty, with similar clothes, similar thoughts, and similar ways of labor. I went and thought, this place is so good. Because the human mind is still the same as before, and it is not fully controlled by money.
Black Painting (2000), Yu Youhan, ** Yu Artist.
Part of the content of this article is based on the past information of The Paper and related literature).
The Paper, for more original information, please **"The Paper" app).