3. IN CHINA, A CAREER IS TAKING SHAPE

June 3, 2024

3. IN CHINA, A CAREER IS TAKING SHAPE

1. A diversified production

Between 1927 and 1937, Yan explored various new materials and styles in his sculpting.

In parallel with his studies, Yan continued to carve on boxwood and participated in the first national art exhibition subsidized by the Ministry of Education in Shanghai in 1929. He presented two religious figurines -the Immortal Nanji and the Buddha Maitreya which received particular notice in No. 2 Issue of “Art Exhibition” magazine.

Buddha Maitreya – Shanghai Exhibition, April 1929

February 23 Invitation from the Ministry to participate in the exhibition

Invitation Letter from the Ministry of Education

The original of the invitation letter was sent by the Art Exhibition of the Grand Academy.

The National Fine Arts Exhibition of the former Grand Academy, now resumed under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, is scheduled to open on March 25 [1929]. Preparations are currently underway, and the collection of artworks has already begun. Our regulations stipulate that works submitted under a Special Invitation will be admitted directly, without being subject to review by the selection committee. Your artistic renown and the excellence of your talent have particularly prompted us to extend this invitation to you.

We would be greatly honored if you would agree to present several works of your choosing, thereby contributing to the prestige of the exhibition and to the cultural enrichment of the public. We kindly ask you to provide us with a list of the proposed works. Enclosed please find the participation regulations as well as the artwork submission form.

Please accept the expression of our deepest respect

The President of the Exhibition Committee

National Exhibition of the Ministry of Education

Jiang Menglin, on February 23

In the same year, Yan assisted his teacher Jiang Xiaojian in the creation of a bronze equestrian statue of General Chen Yingshi in Hangzhou. Installed in Gushan Park on the northwestern shore of West Lake, it was destroyed in the 1960s, but a replica of the statue was erected on the same site in 2005.

Jiang Xiaojian with the model of his statue

Original statue of General Chen Yingshi in Hangzhou

In 1931, the Shanghai Pictorial (上海画报) published a reproduction of his bronze relief of Gandhi (1869–1948), whose struggles for independence and for improving the living conditions of peasants echoed his own reflections.

Yan Dehui also made busts that have since been lost.. In the few surviving photos of the period, we can already see a great mastery of portraiture as well as a realistic approach borrowed from the West – expressive face and precise rendering of the flesh.

2. Creation of the Sun Yat-sen statue in Lanzhou

Yan also engaged in monumental sculpture, developing a more synthetic approach. In 1935, the Guomindang, (a political party created by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 after the 1911 Revolution, also called Kuomintang, KMT, or Nationalist), decided to erect a bronze statue of its founder in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province. Responsibility for the project was entrusted to the Gansu National Factory, which commissioned Yan Dehui for its design and its realization. It was intended to be erected in front of the Provincial Executive Building. After conducting preliminary studies and receiving approval for his proposals, Yan traveled to Lanzhou in the summer of 1936.

Contract between the Gansu National Factory and Yan Dehui

Preparatory drawings

Despite difficult realization conditions and an intense workload due to extremely short lead times, in early 1937 the statue was finally completed. In 1939, it was positioned in the Zhong-Shan Forest in Lanzhou. In 1956, it was moved to the entrance of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial in Wuquanshan Park, where it still stands.