Liu Ye
Banned Book No. 5 (Balthus Variation), 2019-2020
Acrylic on canvas mounted on wooden panel
31 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches (80 x 100 cm)
Liu Ye, Banned Book No. 2, 2008. Private Collection
Liu Ye, Banned Book No. 2, 2008. Private Collection
Liu Ye, Banned Book No. 3, 2010. Private Collection
Liu Ye, Banned Book No. 3, 2010. Private Collection
A study and reference images for Banned Book No. 5 (Balthus Variation), 2020
A study and reference images for Banned Book No. 5 (Balthus Variation), 2020
Balthus, The Blanchard Children, 1937, Musée national Picasso-Paris. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Balthus, The Blanchard Children, 1937, Musée national Picasso-Paris. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
In this secular religious painting by Rogier van der weyden, a contemplative Mary Magdalen meditates on the scriptures. The combination of the worldly and the spiritual co-mingling, and the refinement and attention to detail are both qualities which appeal to Liu Ye.
Rogier van der weyden, The Magdalen Reading, before 1438.
© The National Gallery, London / Art Resource, NY
A central idea of Brancusi’s sculptures has also become a through line of Liu Ye’s paintings: namely, the constant duality of abstraction and figuration—the “secret tension” of Liu Ye’s work since the 1990s.
Constantin Brancusi, Danaïde, c.1918
© Tate, London / Art Resource, NY
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Paris: The Olympia Press, 1955
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Paris: The Olympia Press, 1955
Books from Liu Ye's studio, 2020
Books from Liu Ye's studio, 2020
Photo: Shen Siyuan
Photo: Shen Siyuan