Venus Today

#89031     50″ X 72″ 

▪ Titian: “Venus of Urbino”, 1538, Uffizi, Florence
▪ Gauguin: “Fatata te Miti (By the Sea)”, 1892. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
▪ Picasso: “Still Life”, 1918. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

The replacement of heavy Italian drapes by a shoji screen painted with a Mondrian (1872-1944) screen suggest that the Venus of Urbino has taken her couch to Japan. The Paul Gauguin Tahitian landscape with figures and the Pablo Picasso still life remind us of the frenzy these past few years that the Japanese have shown for buying the best works of these painters, when they could be found.

Apart from iconography, the four major elements of Chen’s painting are filled with lovely color games and interesting compositional structures.

– Lawrance Jeppson