陈逸飞

The girl depicted in Portrait of a Girl (Lot 118) was only around two years old when Chen Yifei painted her portrait, possibly one of Chen's youngest subjects ever painted. Her father was a professional framer and stretcher at the Julius Lowy Frame & Restoring Company in New York from 1980 to 1991, located in the Upper East Side, a few blocks away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Hunter College where Chen was earning his Master's degree in Fine Art. For almost a decade, her father was Chen's personal stretcher at Chen's Upper East Side apartment and also at his studio on Broadway & Houston. The two became good friends and in 1984, the year of Chen's graduation from Hunter College, Chen painted this portrait as a gift. This was only a year after his first solo exhibition, and Chen was at the beginning of his rise to success as an international artist. Thus, the artist signed the work twice, once at the completion of the work in 1984, and once again in 1988 after Chen had achieved considerable fame.
Portrait of a Girl demonstrates Chen's love of and skillfulness in portraiture. He was less concerned with exactitude, focusing on the charm of the subject and rendering with care her feathery eyelashes, the lovely curves of her glinting eyes, and the fullness of her cheeks. The flat treatment of her airy white shirt lends the image an angelic glow. Even in her youth, she is portrayed with the poise and elegance characteristic of Chen's portraits. Her head faces the viewer but her eyes glance to the side as if something has captured her interest. The empty background is covered in strokes of dark green paint, creating an iridescent void that draws the viewer's gaze towards the psyche. The viewer is captured by the young girl's angelic spirit in this vivid and enchanting depiction of the beauty of youthful innocence.