Jiawei Shen was born in China, where he grew up during the Cultural Revolution and began to gain recognition as an artist in the mid-1970s. Largely self taught at first, when he was able to undertake formal art training in Beijing he was significantly influenced by his teacher Shangyi, China’s most famous portraitist. He came to specialise in history paintings, and saw his works hung in top public collections in Beijing before moving to Australia in 1989. Here he has continued to paint full-time. One of his works was hung in the National Gallery’s Federation exhibition in 2000, and his portrait of Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Edmund Capon was the People’s Choice in the Salon des Refusés of the 2003 Archibald Prize. Shen’s painting of Tom Hughes was acquired by the NPG in 2005 and he was commissioned to paint Crown Princess Mary of Denmark for the NPG the same year. His portrait of L Gordon Darling AC CMG was acquired for the collection in 2006 and hangs in the Gallery's Gordon Darling Hall.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
© Gregory Weight/Copyright Agency, 2024
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Greg Weight on working with Jiawei Shen, and starting out as a photographer.
Gordon Darling talks about how Jiawei Shen came to paint his portrait.
