Chen Yifei

Chen Yifei was a realist oil painter. Born in 1946 in Ningbo, China, Yifei graduated from Shanghai College of Art. He received his MFA from Hunter College, New York, as one of the first artists from China permitted to study in the US. 

Yifei initially began painting propaganda for the Chinese Communist regime however, following the Cultural Revolution, his subject matter switched to a more European style. He derived influence from fashion, cinema and Western portraits. 

Yifei found commercial success in the US, where he held many solo shows in New York, before returning to China in 1990. Yifei died in April, 2005.