PAN YULIANG 1895-1977 🇨🇳
Self Portrait, 1924
oil on canvas, 56cm x 41cm (22in x 16¼in).

Pan Yuliang gained renown as the first Chinese female painter to explore techniques and styles of the West. She was also the first female artist to enter the Shanghai School of Fine Arts in 1918, during which time she enrolled in the Department of Western Paintings under the support of School Director, Liu Haisu. Her teachers were Wang Jiyuan and Zhu Qizhan. In 1921, Pan won a government scholarship and studied overseas in Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where she and Xu Beihong came under the tutelage of Professor Lucieh Simon. 'Self Portrait' was painted in 1924 when Pan was in her second school year there.

In this work, she imbued Western oil painting with Chinese aesthetics, combining animated lines from the Chinese ink tradition and vibrant colours inspired by the Impressionists. Created in the 1920s during Pan's first study trip to France, Self Portrait is iconic and rare among her other self depictions. This work clearly reflects her personal aspirations as she portrayed herself holding a brush with a palette at one side, heightening her self-consciousness as an innovating female artist. This is markedly different from her other self portraits of the 1930s and 1940s, which often convey a sense of anxiety and sadness (fig.1). In 'Self Portrait', Pan's pose illustrates her strong character and assertive stance towards her work, despite sparking criticism in her country for her avant-garde renditions. More than an important self portrait, this work also makes a bold personal statement in that era.