From Red Guard posters to a papal portrait: Artist who fled to Australia after Tiananmen Square massacre will paint for the Vatican - four decades after his work was distributed as propaganda by communist China
- Shen Jiawei was a celebrated propaganda artist in Maoist China
- He was commissioned for Pope Francis' first official portrait as pope
- After a successful unveiling he was asked to paint Cardinal George Pell
- Shen uses art to thank Australia for giving him a home after political unrest
Celebrated propaganda painter in Maoist China, Shen Jiawei, has recently added the Vatican to his list of clientele.
Starting his career during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, his most famous works depicting Chinese soldiers were transformed into propaganda posters which were distributed en masse all over the country.
Four decades on and a far cry from charging tourists $30 for a portrait in Sydney's Darling Harbour, Shen found himself painting one of the world's most influential men when he was commissioned to produce the first official portrait of Pope Francis.
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Highly regarded Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei sits next to his portrait of Cardinal Pell
More recently, the 66-year-old artist found himself on a Vatican balcony, using his gift to create a lifelike portrait of the Catholic Church's money man, Cardinal Pell. Commissioned by a Catholic university, the classic portrait features the Australian prelate looking over St Peter's Square.
After his history as a Chinese propaganda artist, Shen maintains he doesn't see his artwork for the Catholic Church in the same light
Shen's journey from favoured propaganda artist of the People's Liberation Army to papal portraitist is an unusual tale of talent and timing.
'For me, one door closed but another always opened,' Mr Jiawei said of his career in a recent phone interview from his studio in Bundeena, south of Sydney.
Shen was about to complete high school when Mai Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, a decade long campaign to restore ideological purity to China's anti-capitalist revolution.
Universities were shut down, along with Shen's aspirations of attending art school. Fully embracing the communist spirit of the times he joined the Red Guards and then the People's Liberation Army.
Caught in the maelstrom of the revolution his artistic talents were recognised and he because one of the many propaganda artists who glorified workers, farmers and soliders in the Socialist Realisim style seen in Soviet propaganda.
In a bid to depict soldiers as strong and heroic Shen's most famous work, 'Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland', was altered to fit regime standardsfor revolutionary art. Mr Jiawei then shot to fame in the 1970's and 1980's becoming one best known artists in China.
Shen takes pride in knowing his art rose to fame in a very challenging time where oil paintings were not easily obtained.
He says he didn't sell out to the idealised standards of propaganda art that most other Chinese artists copied. Instead, he says he relied on nature to guide his brush.
Shen takes pride in knowing his art rose to fame in a very challenging time where oil paintings were not easily obtained.
'This is why today if you look back at that time, in China, most artwork is different than mine,' he said. 'I'm proud of that.'
Shen maintains his propaganda days are over saying his new works of Pope Francis and Cardinal Pell are a part of normal art history.
'I stopped my propaganda work in the 1970s,' he said, adding, 'even church commission work, this is part of normal artwork, part of commission and part of history.'
Byron Hurst, Chairman of Hazelhurst Gallery, told Daily Mail Australia that Shen first caught the attention of Australian church officials with a 1994 portrait of Mary MacKillop, the 19th-century nun who ministered to the poor and in 2010 became Australia's first saint.
Mr Hurst said completing the painting meant a lot to the 'highly regarded international portrait artist' who had been given refugee status in Australia after The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
'For Jiawei, it was a way to say thank you to Australia for giving him a home'
'For Jiawei, it was a way to say thank you to Australia for giving him a home and of course it was an opportunity to pick up three other important commission with Greg Craven, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Cardinal Pell,' Mr Hurst told Daily Mail Australia.
Basing the portrait on photographs, Shen painted Francis with outstretched arms, a white dove about to land on his shoulder. He is surrounded by people Shen painted from the photos of crowds at papal audiences, slipping in an image of his daughter for fun.
There are several birds in the painting, homage to Francis' namesake, the nature-loving St. Francis of Assisi. 'When the pope approved this project and they sent me the photos, (they said) the pope wants a painting with people together,' Shen said.
Shen is very highly regarded in the art community and has completed works of other high profile Australian such as John Howard and Princess Mary.
The painting now hangs in a villa in the Vatican gardens that houses the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, which deals with Francis' pet projects on human trafficking, slavery and youth culture, among other issues.
Geoff Raby, Australia's former ambassador to China who has a print of Shen's 'Standing Guard' in his collection of propaganda art, said Shen's portrait career is a natural progression from the propaganda art and historical paintings that he is most famous for.
'He's painting subjects that he has philosophical connection to and sympathy with,' Raby said in a phone interview. But he added: 'He also has an eye to commercial reality.'
Shen is very highly regarded in the art community and has completed works of other high profile Australian such as John Howard and Princess Mary.
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