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Artist/Maker
Yun-Fei Ji
(Chinese American, born 1963)
Date2014
MediumInk and watercolor on Xuan paper, mounted on silk
DimensionsSheet: 26 1/8 × 30 5/16 in. (66.4 × 77 cm)
Frame: 27 3/4 × 32 1/8 × 1 1/4 in. (70.5 × 81.6 × 3.2 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, William G. Roehrick ’34 Art Acquisition and Preservation Fund
Object number2016.3.2
Not on view
DescriptionBefore moving to the United States in 1986 to attend graduate school at the University of Arkansas, Yun-Fei Ji studied painting at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts. Initially, he fell into line with the Socialist Realism taught under China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–76), but later he became an opponent of the official style. Today, working in ink wash—a very traditional medium that evokes Song-dynasty scroll painting—Ji addresses contemporary concerns about migration, displacement, the loss of cultural heritage, and the destruction of the environment. The artist has explained, “The urbanization in China is developing very fast. . . . I am especially interested in this, because our time changes so fast [and] the environment has to adapt to fit the development of human society.” By embedding a contemporary message in a centuries-old tradition that others view with complacency, his art is subversive in its subtlety. The motif of a peddler selling a variety of goods, including shoes, plungers, and brooms, as seen in The Vendors and the Wind, recurs in a number of Ji’s works. Here, the headless mannequins and the disorienting placement of the peddler, floating above the ground, give the composition a surreal quality. They also suggest the untethering of people from their ways of life as many Chinese are displaced from their traditional villages and relocated to city centers either by the government or by economic factors. The Vendors and the Wind was featured in the Wellin Museum’s Spring 2016 exhibition Yun-Fei Ji: The Intimate Universe. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)
Collections
Additional Details
Exhibition History
2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 133, illus.);
2016-17
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College). "Yun-Fei Ji: The Intimate Universe," February 6 - July 2, 2016 (unnumbered cat., illus.). Traveled to: Honolulu, HI (Honolulu Museum of Art), September 29, 2016 - February 5, 2017.
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 133, illus.);
2016-17
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College). "Yun-Fei Ji: The Intimate Universe," February 6 - July 2, 2016 (unnumbered cat., illus.). Traveled to: Honolulu, HI (Honolulu Museum of Art), September 29, 2016 - February 5, 2017.
Provenance
2016: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by purchase from Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp.
Markings
Stamps
Published References
Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 288.
Tracy L. Adler, YUN-FEI JI: THE INTIMATE UNIVERSE (Clinton, NY: Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016), pp. 27, 163, illus. cover, plate 2, p. 17.
Tracy L. Adler, YUN-FEI JI: THE INTIMATE UNIVERSE (Clinton, NY: Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016), pp. 27, 163, illus. cover, plate 2, p. 17.
Inscribed
Chinese calligraphy at lower right composition in black ink.
Translation of text on right side, reads top to bottom [black text, unless otherwise noted]:
"Year
Month
Day [all lunar calendar]
Ji
Yun-Fei
Wrote this" [red text]
Translation of text on right side, reads top to bottom [black text, unless otherwise noted]:
"Year
Month
Day [all lunar calendar]
Ji
Yun-Fei
Wrote this" [red text]
Patricia Potter
Date: before 1925
Medium: Watercolor on paper
Object number: 1983.21
Danny Lyon
Date: 1965 (printed 2010)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2013.5.24
Yun-Fei Ji
Date: 2015
Medium: Ink and watercolor on Xuan paper, mounted on silk
Object number: 2016.3.1
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 14, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.260
Unknown artist
Date: 1875-1900
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: S2018.2.136
Elias Sime
Date: 2016
Medium: Reclaimed electronic components and insulated wire on panel
Object number: 2017.2
Unknown artist
Date: probably first half of 19th century
Medium: Gouache and gold over white ground on paper
Object number: 1986.26
Rob Fischer
Date: 2006
Medium: Reclaimed wood, with traces of paint, and steel
Object number: 2012.3.5
John Marin
Date: c. 1917 (dated 1916)
Medium: Watercolor and graphite on paper
Object number: 1962.4
Jeffrey Gibson
Date: 2015
Medium: Glass and plastic beads, tin cones, steel and brass studs, nylon fringe, and artificial sinew on repurposed wool army blanket, mounted on repurposed canvas punching bag with steel chain
Object number: 2016.5
Eugène Atget
Date: c. 1910, printed later
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 1982.11