7. EXHIBITIONS – 1938 TO 1950S
One of the ways Chinese artists made themselves known was by participating in exhibitions. Yan presented his works on many occasions at the Grand Palais, starting in 1938 at the Salon des Artistes Français. Then he exhibited at the SNBA – Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts – during the 1940s and 1950s as well as at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants, of which he was a member in 1949.
While he mainly presented academic sculptures – nudes and portraits corresponding to the teaching of the ENSBA – he was also keen to introduce the French public to figures from Chinese culture or characters belonging to the Buddhist pantheon.
Cernuschi Museum, June 1946
Exhibition catalogue
List of exhibitors
The sculptors
The Gypsy, nearly 2 m high and presented under the name of “Dancer” in 1946 at the Cernuschi Museum and the ENSBA, was his major work that year. Nearly 70 years after this exhibition, it has returned to well-known places, which the Cernuschi Museum acquired in 2015.
The Gypsy or Dancer, patinated plaster
Hake-maillard, boxwood
ENSBA, October 1946
Between October 1 and 20, 1946, the Association of Chinese Artists in France organized an exhibition at ENSBA to commemorate the first anniversary of ” The Victory in the War of Resistance of the Chinese People against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War “, corresponding to the Second World War.
Exhibition of the Association of Artists
Chinese in France at ENSBA, 1946
Exhibition catalogue, ENSBA 1946
Yan Dehui in front of The Gypsy or Dancer, ENSBA 1946
Boxwood statuettes by Yan Dehui and
Zhou Lin in front of his paintings,
ENSBA 1946
List of exhibitors, ENSBA 1946
List of works by Yan Dehui, ENSBA 1946
Salon des Indépendants, 1948 to 1950
At the Indépendants, he chose to highlight traditional Chinese art by presenting Confucius in 1948 and Lin Daiyu Buries the Flower in 1949. In 1950, he exhibited the bust of Louise Lenoir.
Galerie Raymond Duncan – 1949
In 1949, the Raymond Duncan Gallery (Isadora Duncan’s brother) allowed a few Chinese artists to make their works known. Yan then exhibited two nude studies and two portraits.
SNBA – Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1940s – 1950s
From the 1930s to the 1950s, the SNBA was a major trade fair for Chinese artists. It was mainly held at the Grand Palais.
SNBA 1950 Salon Catalogue
In 1950, Yan Dehui was elected a member of the SNBA and a member of the admission jury. During his exhibitions at the SNBA, he was awarded two prizes in 1949, the Sandoz prize and the sculpture prize of a generous member. In 1952, he was awarded the Kronberg Prize.
Sculpture Prize awarded by a
generous member in 1949
Prix Kronberg, 1952
Five works by Yan Dehui (Guanyu
and a male nude in the foreground,
Josepha in the center and two busts
men in the background),
SNBA Salon, Grand Palais 1952
Josepha, patinated plaster
The photo of these five works illustrates the variety of styles presented by Yan Dehui in the same exhibition, that of 1952. On the left, a representation from traditional Chinese iconography, Guanyu, a general of the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), later deified, very popular in China and often depicted holding a book in his hands. On the right, a nude made according to the academic canons of the time, as well as the two portraits of men at the back.
The figure of Josepha, in the center, rediscovers an astonishing modernity today. In 2019, an unprecedented exhibition in France was held at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, “The Black Model, from Géricault to Matisse“. The aim was to give visibility to the anonymous figures of colour represented by artists during a period from the eighteenth century to the interwar period.
However, in this new look at the history of art, Chinese artists also have their place, as evidenced by this sculpture, among several executed by Yan Dehui on the same subject – also treated by Hua Tianyou, Sanyu and Pan Yuliang.
It should be noted that Josepha’s name appears in the list of models of the ENSBA from 1929 to 1959, published in the exhibition catalogue.
