2. STUDIES AND TEACHING IN CHINA – 1920 TO 1935

1. Apprenticeship in China

It was his mother who encouraged his creative abilities and in 1920, at the age of 13, Yan began his apprenticeship in the studio of Zhu Zichang (1874-1934), the most renowned woodcarving master of the Wenzhou School during the Qing Dynasty.  

He worked mainly on boxwood that has been used for a long time, as boxwood carvings appeared more than 900 years ago. Appreciated by the artists for its pliability and resistance to splitting, its softness to the touch, its elegance and the delicacy of its grain, it was considered the most precious wood for carving. Some sculptors first made a clay model, but Zhu taught his apprentice to practice direct carving. It was in this cradle of boxwood carving in Zhejiang Province that Yan took his first steps as an artist in the purest Chinese tradition, with works mostly representing Buddhist or Taoist, occasionally profane figures.

Zhu Zichang – Jigong (boxwood)

Yan Dehui – Jigong (boxwood), 1970’s – Acquired by Cernuschi Museum in 2015

Zhu Zichang – Guanyin brings a son (boxwood)

Yan Dehui – Guanyin brings a son (boxwood), 1970’s – Acquired by Cernuschi museum in 2015

Gifted and hardworking, he also had a curious mind and a taste for discovery. Several Chinese artists returning from Europe had founded art academies and Western art began to spread. At the end of his secondary studies in 1927, Yan chose to enroll at SAFA – the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts – founded by the painter Liu Haisu (1896–1994) and modeled on the ENSBA, the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. During his training, he notably learned sculpture in the round, first shaped in clay and then cast in plaster.

2. Professional life

After graduating in 1930, he became one of the assistants of his sculpture teacher, Jiang Xiaojian (1894-1939) who was trained in France in the 1920s. Appointed professor of architectural wood decoration at SAFA in 1934, Yan was named its sole professor of sculpture the following year.

Yan Dehui – Working Mother – SAFA Yearbook, 1934

Yan Dehui – Working Mother – SAFA Yearbook, 1934

List of teachers – Bottom right: Yan Dehui, Professor of Sculpture — SAFA Yearbook, 1935

Yan Dehui, Relief of Ghandi— SAFA Yearbook, 1935

In year 1934, Yan Dehui went to Kumbum monastery in Gansu, now Qinghai, during the Lantern Festival, which celebrates the end of the Chinese New Year and documented the trip with photos.

Written by Yan Dehui – « February 1934 – Lantern festival in Ta’er Temple »