Alisan Fine Arts is delighted to present its sixth solo exhibition for Chinyee (1929-2023), honouring six decades of the renowned female abstractionist’s career. A first-generation Chinese-American artist, Chinyee was associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. This exhibition marks her first posthumous solo show in Hong Kong since her passing in 2023 and features around a dozen oil paintings along with selected works on paper, including watercolours and collages created between 1955 and 2018. From traditional calligraphic strokes to vibrant Western hues, these pieces invite viewers to revisit the artist's evolution in abstraction. Many of the pieces have never been exhibited in Hong Kong, including several that will make their global debut.
Lyrical Abstraction
Born in Nanjing, China, in 1929, Chinyee began her formal education in Chongqing, where her family sought refuge during the Sino- Japanese War. In 1947, she was awarded a scholarship to study Fine Arts at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. Like other Chinese diaspora artists of her generation, such as Walasse Ting, she arrived in the United States during the peak of Abstract Expressionism, which inspired her to explore abstract art.
Initially trained in traditional methods, including drawing, watercolour, and oil painting, Chinyee began her artistic journey with a focus on realism. However, it was during the 1950s that she began to experiment with semi-abstract art before fully embracing total abstraction. Her work uniquely combines Eastern spirit and Western expression, with gestural and loose brushstrokes that reflect both Asian brush techniques and her careful study of modernist abstraction.
Chinyee’s spontaneous touch, the excitement of her offset compositions, and the unexpected bursts of colour are genuine expressions of her moods, emotions, and life experiences. In the 1980s, her fascination with Peking Opera transformed her creative rhythm and methods; the lines in her paintings became more resonant and forceful, intertwining in length and strength. This evolution mirrors the highs and lows of musical notes, resulting in a distinct personal style that encapsulates her journey as an artist. In her own words:
“The gestural strokes and linear lines are an essential part of my painting, and they are the most satisfying movements that I enjoy. These free gestures are often the final touches of my painting... It is my own created stage upon which I sing and I dance.” - quote from ‘Foreword’, A Lyrical Journey: Chinyee’s 50-Year Retrospective, Shanghai Art Museum, 2007 (p.7)
Debut in Asia
Among the highlights of the exhibition, A Touch of Red stands out as the most significant. This painting was selected for the traveling group exhibition Action / Gesture / Paint: a Global Story of Women and Abstraction 1940-70 held from 2023 to 2024. It was exhibited alongside the works of renowned women abstract artists such as Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, and Elaine de Kooning. The exhibition toured from Whitechapel Gallery in London to Fondation Vincent van Gogh in France, and Bielefeld Art Museum in Germany. Chinyee's artworks formed part of a long overdue survey of female abstract painters, most of whom were overlooked in the decades that were dominated by their male counterparts.
This exhibition also marks the Asian debut of A Touch of Red, created in 1964. The piece is characterized by a gradient effect of lush green and yellow tones, dynamic brushstrokes, and elongated lines, resembling a verdant meadow that imparts a strong sense of space and depth. Notably, at the lower left corner of the painting, the artist has included an enigmatic touch of red. In the words of Song Dynasty poet Wang Anshi (1021-1086), "Amidst a sea of green, a hint of red," this literary metaphor—depicting how a single flower stands out among the leaves—aptly applies to both the visual and sociocultural dynamics at play in Chinyee's work. The splash of red symbolizes not only vibrancy within the verdant backdrop but also the presence of a standout female artist in a male-dominated art world.
