Xun+Yang+Yi+Yun+-+oil+painting+by+Yifei+Chen



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 * Image Source **

Title: Xun Yang Yi Yun (浔阳遗韵) Xunyang Rhyme --translation??? Artist(s): Chen Yifei ( 陈逸飞 ) Date: 1991 Period: Contemporary Country of Origin: China Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation: Han Chinese Medium: Oil painting Dimensions: 150×130cm Museum/Collection: private collection Accession Number: unknown Current Location and Manner of Display: unknown Provenance: (the history of ownership if known) unknown
 * Artwork Identification **


 * Introduction **

This entry about one of Chen Yifei (1946-2005) characteristic “Romantic Realist” style of oil paintings of beautiful women. Chen is one of China's most renowned contemporary artists. He is a central figure in the development of Chinese oil painting. Born in 1946 in Ningbo, in coastal Zhejiang Province Chen studied for his master degree in Hunter College in 1980s as one of the first artists from People's Republic of China permitted to work and study in US. This work is one of the highest prices for a Chinese oil painting in auction, which was sold for around US $162,000 in an exhibition in Hongkong in 1991--- it is probably no longer the highest.


 * Descriptive Analysis **

//Xunyang Rhyme// is an oil painting on canvas done in an almost photographic style. The dimensions are about 1.5 meter tall by 1.3 meter wide. It shows three beautiful women wearing traditional Chinese dresses and playing instruments in a dark background. The lady on the right side facing towards audience has a graceful appearance. She is listening to the music played by the other two ladies with a little melancholy and showing a well-disposed feeling. The lady in the front of the left side is playing a bamboo flute and the one on the back is playing a pipa. All of them are wearing traditional style dresses with elaborate patterns. The colors are pretty graceful, with blue, yellow and purple. The textures on the dresses were depicted in fine and smooth.

The light for the whole work come from the front left, which shows a clear expression of all three ladies. The whole gloomy environments are expressed from their faces and it coincident with the dark background. The bright yellow color from the fan hold by the right lady and clothes from left two ladies shows distinct contrast with the background, expressing the beauty of calmness.


 * Formal/Contextual Analysis **

Shen’s style in oil painting focus on a few topics including landscape of his hometown in Jiangnan area, Chinese women in traditional dress, musicians’ performance, and some figure and landscape in Tibet. No matter which theme and style for his different works, the common aesthetic link behind all of Chen’s work is a commitment to beauty. One of famous series of Chen’s paintings is intended to express his admire to the long Chinese history and culture and this work is definitely one of the examples. His characteristic “Romantic Realism” style is reflected in this one with dark and dense colors and conveying a sense of richness and integrity. The style is exquisite yet dignified, elegant and refined yet with heroic bearing.

There is a very famous long poem named “Pipa xing” coincide with similar idea of this painting. The poem was written by Bai junyi in Tang Dynasty (~ AD 816) about how beautiful and touching feeling of the poet listened to a lady playing Pipa. This painting comes from similar idea but in different media. He tried to exhibit the beauty of Chinese culture including music even though the audience cannot hear it.

Some of Chen yifei’s other works: Beauties

Jiangnan



Venice bridge []

[] [] [] [] h[|ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi]
 * Online Sources **


 * Lesson Title: ** Self vs. Culture
 * Grade Level: **6-8
 * Time: ** 12 class periods (min. 50 minutes each)

National Standards for Arts Education (Visual Arts) NA-VA 6-8. 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes NA-VA 6-8. 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas NA-VA 6-8. 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Standards: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">National Educational Technology Standards for Students <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">3: Research and Information Fluency (b, c) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (a, c, d)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Central Concepts: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Culture: the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. as well as the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. No matter which theme and style for his different works, the common aesthetic link behind all of Chen’s work is a commitment to beauty within a given culture.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Assimilation: the process of receiving new facts or of responding to new situations in conformity with what is already available to consciousness. One of famous series of Chen’s paintings is intended to express his admire to the long Chinese history and culture and this work is definitely one of the examples.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 1: Art, Music, Culture (1 class)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lesson Activities: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Brief discussion on what relevance the arts has on society- . positive/negative? Influential/minor relevance?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Possible use of artworks from the past relating to the subject, as well as artifacts taken from different cultures that hold relevance to the lesson i.e. religious symbols, iconic clothing, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Give brief lecture on several different cultures and the importance of music and art (can include things like dance, jewelry, crafting, etc.) and the impact they had on the society.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 2: Artworks integrating culture and music Find 5 example of artwork integrating culture and music (1 class)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The student is required to find 5 examples of artwork integrating culture and music.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The artworks must come from separate times and cultures, though there are no restrictions on time or place (modern or ancient?)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The student then chooses two from their examples, describe each artwork, compare and contrast them in a one page essay.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will decide a culture and music function that would like to portray. Do they choose the culture and music because could be the culture and music they are part of it/familiar with, or do they choose a culture because they admire/respect it? Students must give reasoning before approval to continue.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 3: Sketches for a Digital Collage (2 classes)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Each student needs to create at least 3 sketches for their ideas.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students must reference at least 5 images relating to their culture and music theme, making sure that they keep the image sources they use. Possible sources can be stock photos, personal photos, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">After a quick demonstration in the use of Photoshop as well as giving outside tutorials/videos if needed, students will then use Photoshop to create a collage of their works, anything from transforming and placement to distortions of color, shape, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Once finished, students will present their works to the class for critique, and discussions will be held on whether it seems finished or not as well as possible alterations, its strengths and weaknesses, and so on.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 4: Create an Oil Painting (6 classes)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Using the previous digital collage, students will be using this as the basis for an oil painting. Students will be given at least half a class period to correct anything in their collage that they wish, using suggestions given from the previous class critique.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will be given a canvas to work on, and the teacher will demonstrate using a grid to keep proportions while transferring the image from the digital collage to the canvas.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Demonstration will also be given on the proper use, treatment, and application of oil painting before students attempt to use it themselves.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will then spend the remaining classroom periods painting their final image.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 5: Class Critique and Discussion (2 classes)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students must have their final painting at least 80-90% completed for critique. Presentation of work will be followed by discussion of strong points and possible changes that can be made
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students will have a chance to add revise to their painting before adding it to their final portfolio at the end of the year.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Assessment: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Participation in lecture and beginning discussion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Quality of research time and materials
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Minimum of 3 sketches referencing at least 5 artifacts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Digital collage is creative, put together in a proper manner, and depicts at least 5 artifacts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Proper application and technique of oil painting
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Likeness to the items found in the digital collage
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Participation in final critique and discussion

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">"ISTE NETS Student Standards 2007." //ISTE NETS Student Standards 2007//. International <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> Society for Technology in Education, 2007. Web.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">References: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">"The National Arts and Education Network." //ARTSEDGE//. John F. Kennedy Center for the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> Performing Arts, 1996-2013. Web.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">"Reverse Pastel Painting - Lesson Plan." //YouTube//. YouTube, 28 July 2010. Web.