Where have Chen Yifei's studio paintings gone?
By Hu Cong (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-15 06:07

SHANGHAI: The legacy of renowned Shanghai artist Chen Yifei is in trouble - just four days after his death.

Artwork collectors swarm into Layefe Home located at Shanghai Oriental Plaza, April 11, to purchase some works by the late oil painter and visual artist Chen Yifei,who died Sunday from a gastric hemorrhage. Some speculate that there may be a rise in price for Chen's works as he suddenly passed away. [newsphoto]

Chen's wife, Song Meiying, reported yesterday morning that 13 porcelain paintings from his pottery studio have been stolen, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau revealed to reporters yesterday.

There are no accurate statistics on how much the lost works are worth, but the value may be quite high considering Chen's past glories.

One of Chen's masterpiece paintings featuring scenery in East China was auctioned in Hong Kong for HK$1.37 million (US$162,000) in 1991, then the highest price under any auctioneer's gavel for a contemporary Chinese painter's work.

Detectives are investigating the case and declined to provide further details. But discussions about the case were running hot in the neighourhood yesterday.

Oriental Venice: "Morning Light" 1995, is an oil painting created by Chen Yifei, which helps spread the name of Zhouzhuang on tourist itineraries.

"I think it was done by someone inside... how can someone else take the stuff out so easily?" said an old local man chatting with a crowd of onlookers near the studio.

But he avoided speaking more directly about media reports that Chen's families might be involved in disagreements over Chen's assets after his sudden death. "The police will have to make a conclusion," he said.

Local media have been told Chen's eldest son, Chen Lin, would continue his business. Chen also has another son, just 5, from his second wife Song Meiying, a former model.

The pottery studio, located along a quiet side street off Shanghai's Taikang Road, has been closed since Sunday, when Chen died of a stomach disorder - at 59.

The black wooden gate of the warehouse-turned-studio remained barred yesterday, but the holes and scratches on it indicate someone had pried it open.

Two police officers sat stationed opposite the door guarding the site. Asked when the studio would reopen, one officer said, "It's not likely (to reopen)."

The pottery studio was opened in 1999, when local government planners' ideas of developing the once factory-laden neighbourhood into an art street caught Chen's heart.

Chen also started making movies in 1993. He was admitted to hospital with gastro-enteritis last Wednesday while filming his new movie "The Barber." The movie's investor and Chen's family announced Hong Kong director Ng See-yuen, Chen's friend, will finish Chen's movie.

(China Daily 04/15/2005 page1)

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