CHEN YANNING (CHINESE, B. 1945)
SERENITY, 1994
Estimate: £40,000 - £60,000
Auction: 16 May 2025 from 09:00 BST
Description
陳衍寧 (1945年生) ‘風調雨順’ 油彩畫布 木框 一九九四年作
款識: 陳衍寧 CHEN YAN NING (右下)
oil on canvas, portraying in near photorealistic style two solemnly dressed young Chinese girls standing under a carved stone gate, an enormous bronze bell hanging down from its lintel, and inscribed with four-character idiomatic expression reading ‘Feng Tiao Yu Shun’, meaning ‘wishing for moderate wind and timely rain', one of the two protagonists contemplating a flower in her hand with tender expression, the other with back turned towards the viewer, signed lower right in Chinese and ’CHEN YAN NING'
Dimensions
160cm x 105cm
Provenance
Private collection, London; acquired from Lyon & Turnbull, 15 June 2015, lot 537;
Collection of Susan and Michael Gassaway, Syllavethy Gallery, Aberdeenshire.
Literature: The Works of Chen Yan Ning, Hong Kong, Inspiration Art Press, 1995, pl. 36 and 37 (Illustrated) [According to Christie's Catalogue, London, 10 June 1996, pp. 162-163]
私人收藏，倫敦；2015年6月15日購自本拍行，拍品537；
前蘇格蘭亞伯丁鎮Syllavethy畫廊廊主蘇珊及邁克爾·加薩維（Susan and Michael Gassaway）賢伉儷收藏。
著錄：《The Works of Chen Yan Ning》，香港：Inspiration Art Press，1995年，圖版36及37。（根據倫敦佳士得，1996年6月10圖錄，頁162-163）
Footnote
Note: Dating is according to Christie's Catalogue, London, 10 June 1996, p. 162;
註：定年「一九九四年作」乃根據倫敦佳士得，1996年6月10日圖錄，頁162。
Susan and Michael Gassaway first met Chen Yanning on a trip to China in 1984, when he was Head of the Guangdong Institute of Fine Art. To reciprocate his hospitality, Susan and Michael invited Yanning to visit the UK to view some of the Old Masters of Western Art that he had only seen in books back in China.
Two years later, Yanning arrived in Aberdeen and together with Susan and Michael, he visited the museums in Scotland and London. Yanning made the museum attendants nervous as he wanted to get up close to study the thickness of paint on his favourite masterpieces. He, Susan and Michael communicated by using sign language and drawing sketches and quickly established a great friendship.
Yanning was invited to visit the US in the Eighties. When he decided to remain there, Susan and Michael offered to support him by finding portrait commissions for him in the UK. With hard work they amassed a fine collection of portrait commissions from a very wide variety of people, from those who scraped together the money because they so admired Yanning’s talent, to dignitaries including the Lord Mayor of London, Richard Branson, all the Body Shop family and the Royal Family including the late Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne.
Once, while organising a sitting for the Duke of Edinburgh in Buckingham Palace, a regimental flag was needed. With the help of some palace attendants, a broomstick was found and they managed to prop it up somehow, hidden by the flag. They were checking the lighting with Susan sitting in the chair to be used by the Duke, when the whole contraption landed on her head! They fixed it safely before the Duke arrived and there was no repeat of the comedy moment!
Susan made all the arrangements for portrait sittings, from booking flights, to hotels and sittings, often several in different parts of the UK during one trip. She accompanied Yanning as the driver and Jill-of-all fixer. During the sessions, Susan would chat to the sitters, placing herself in their direct line of vision so that they moved as little as possible and Yanning could concentrate on his work. This is a very exceptional friendship going far beyond a mere business association.
蘇珊及邁克爾·加薩維夫婦在1984年的一次中國之旅中第一次見到陳衍寧。當時陳衍寧是廣東美術學院院長。為了回報其盛情款待，加薩維夫婦邀請陳衍寧到英國，觀賞一些其在中國僅於書本上翻錄過的西方古典油畫。
兩年後，陳衍寧終於抵達蘇格蘭亞伯丁，加薩維夫婦帶他參觀了蘇格蘭和倫敦的博物館及藝廊。陳衍寧在欣賞西方大師畫作時，爲了細究作品油彩的厚度而過於靠近作品的舉動，令博物館工作人員感到緊張。陳衍寧及加薩維夫婦透過手語及素描進行溝通交流，很快就建立了深厚的友誼。
八十年代，陳衍寧受邀訪美。加薩維夫婦在英國幫他尋找肖像畫委託籌資。經過艱苦努力，加薩維夫婦籌集了一系列精美的肖像畫委託作品，其中包括當時倫敦市長理查德·布蘭森在內的政要，以及英國Body Shop家族企業成員和王室成員，其中含已故英女王、愛丁堡公爵和安妮公主。
有一次，在白金漢宮為愛丁堡公爵畫肖像時需要一面軍團旗，在宮廷侍從的協助下，他們發現了一根掃帚棍，並設法將其支撐起來，隱藏在旗幟下。當陳衍寧跟蘇珊為了確定光線，而坐在之後公爵要落坐的椅子上時，整個裝置落在了她的頭上！他們在公爵抵達前修復了這裝置，喜劇幸好沒有重演！
蘇珊負責陳衍寧肖像畫的所有行政安排，從預訂航班到酒店，通常在一次旅行中會在英國不同地方進行多次繪畫。在繪畫過程中，蘇珊會與畫像者聊天，將自己置於他們視線的直線上，以便他們盡少移動，而陳衍寧則可以專注於其繪畫工作。這非比尋常的友誼，遠遠超越了單純的商業聯繫。