Han Yuchen: The Radiance of Tibet

This exhibition introduces visitors to the work of Han Yuchen (b. 1954), a foremost Chinese realist painter, photographer, calligrapher and researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Professor Emeritus of the Belorussian Academy of Arts, Professor Emeritus of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and winner of numerous international awards.

Han Yuchen’s exhibition at the Russian Museum is no random event: Russian and Soviet influences on 20th-century Chinese painting are only too apparent. Contemporary Chinese painting has developed, in part, by incorporating the imagery and technical methods used in Russian art. Han Yuchen’s work shows a close affinity for the traditions and techniques of Russian realist painting. And yet, this affinity notwithstanding, his work is unique and stands on its own. Working in his chosen format of large-size narrative painting, the artist paints mostly genre scenes from the everyday life of modern Tibet and its people – monks, nomadic shepherds and farmers – in his own highly recognizable manner.

Han Yuchen’s work has received the worldwide recognition it deserves. His paintings Shepherdess and Along the Pilgrimage Route won the first prize and the bronze medal, respectively, at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 2013 and 2014. The artist also received the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award at the 12th Florence Biennale, an international exhibition of contemporary art and design, in 2019. He has had solo exhibitions at the National Museum of China, the National Art Museum of China, the Musée des Arts décoratifs (France), the Uccle Centre d’artin Brussels (Belgium), Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence (Italy), Palazzo Ducalein Genoa, Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome (Italy), the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Russia), and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

There are paintings by Han Yuchen in many museums and private collections around the world.