• Title
  At the Turn of the Century 1999: triptych / Jiawei '98
• Creator
  Jiawei Shen, 1948-
• Call number
  ML 1657/nos. 1-3
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1998
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Paintings
• Reference code
  9683870
• Physical Description
  3 paintings - each panel 213 x 183 cm - oil on canvas
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Shen Jiawei, also known as Jiawei Shen, artist, was born in China in 1948, gained recognition as a painter during the Cultural Revolution. Shen studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he became strongly influenced by his teacher Shangyi, China’s most famous portraitist. Shen became a specialist in history paintings, many of which he produced for public collections. He migrated to Sydney in 1989 and settled in Bundeena with his wife artist Lan Wang in 1997. In 1998 he was commissioned by Yap Lim Sen, former Chairman of Ipoh Ltd Australia, to paint this triptych for the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) in Sydney. Mr Yap Lim Sen is depicted in the middle panel as an important Australian philanthropist next to Mei Quong Tart and George Ernest Morrison. Shen is now a much sought-after portraitist, a regular Archibald finalist and has created work for clients such as the Vatican and Parliament House. He has painted commissions of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Tom Hughes KC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG for the National Portrait Gallery.
  
  References:
  "Jiawei Shen b. 1948". National Portrait Gallery. Accessed 30 January 2025. https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/jiawei-shen-1948
  Library acquisition file
• Collection history
  The paintings have been a part of the Ipoh collection at the QVB until it was sold several years ago. The middle panel was then hung in the offices of Ipoh in Malaysia until it was reunited in 2021 with the other panels at the artist’s studio in Bundeena, New South Wales.
• Scope and Content
  A triptych of three panels painted by Shen Jiawei, also known as Jiawei Shen, in the style of a history painting containing over 120 notable historical figures associated with famous political, economic, literary and art, social, military, sports and other events in Sydney and Australia between 1890 and 1999.
  
  1. Left panel: Nineties meet Nineties [cultural icons with Uluru, kangaroos, a plane and a balloon in the background].
  Includes Henry Lawson, Louise Lawson, Patrick White, Miles Franklin, Thomas William Roberts, Judy Cassab, Sidney Nolan with Kelly painting, Arthur Ernest Streeton, Ethel Sibyl Turner, Dame Mary Gilmore, Faith Bandler, Germaine Greer, Sally Morgan, Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley holding a paintbrush like a syringe, Emily Kngwarre, Ernie Dingo, Banjo Paterson at the piano inventing Waltzing Matilda, Daisy Bates with an Aboriginal woman and a crowd of Aboriginal children, William Yang with his camera, Elle McPherson, David Malouf, Tom Keneally, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Nellie Melba, Edmund Capon facing Jules Francois Archibald, Daisy Bates, Lawrence Hargrave, Fanny Cochrane Smith, King Murray Jack of the Wolgal NSW, Pat Dodson, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, John Newman, Christina McPherson, Fred Hollows and Dr Victor Chang.
  
  2. Middle panel: The Elite Hall [politicians, reformers, businessmen and philanthropists with the Queen Victoria Building window and Sydney Town Hall in the background].
  Includes Gough Whitlam, Margaret Whitlam, Paul Keating, Bob Carr, Sir Henry Parkes, Cheryl Kernow, Natasha Stott Despoja, Sir Edmund Barton, William Morris Hughes, John Christian Watson, John Howard, Pauline Hanson, Kim Beazley, Bob Hawke, Nicholas Frank Greiner, Malcolm Fraser, George Reid, Alfred Deakin, Frank Sartor, Sir Matthew Harris, Sir Erick Neal, Leon Carter, Doug Sutherland, Henry Tsang, George McRae, Eddie Mabo, Ian Sinclair, Mary McKillop, Francis Patrick Moran, Tim Costello, Vida Goldstein, Catherine Helen Spence, Mei Quong Tart, George Ernest Morrison, Yap Lim Sen, James Barrett, Chin Nam Tan, Datuk Tan Kim Yeow, Pat O'Shane, Dr John Yu, Sir Samuel Griffith, Henry Barnes Higgins, Ted Matthews, Joseph Neal Grace, Albert Edward Grace
  
  3. Right panel: Run to New Era [sporting heroes with Opera House and an Endeavour style sailing ship in the background].
  Includes Cathy Freeman with a two-sided flag, Sir Donald Bradman, Dawn Fraser, Harry Harboard 'Breaker' Morant, William Lane, Bart Cummings, Shane Gould, John Fahey, Edwin Flack, Kieren Perkins, Michael Klim, Dawn Fraser, Darren Beadman, Freddie Lane, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Mum Shirl Smith, Greg Norman, Cathy Freeman, Trooper Jon Church, George Gittoes, Saintly (winning horse of the Melbourne Cup in 1996), Mrs Quinlivan (widow of firefighter David Quinlivan)
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  In copyright:
  Copyright holder:: State Library of New South Wales
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Description source
  
  Title supplied by artist
• General note
  
  Frames were retained by artist
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Signed and dated by artist in Chinese characters 'Jiawei 98' in lower left corner of middle panel
• Subject
  Australia--History--20th century.
  Politicians--Australia--20th century.
  Authors, Australian--20th century.
  Athletes--Australia--20th century.
  Artists--Australia--20th century.
  Political activists--Australia.
  Businesspeople--Australia.
  Aboriginal Australians--Australia--Pictorial works.
  Chinese Australians.
  Sport - Athletics and running
  Sport - Tennis
  Politics and Government - Political action - Civil rights
  Art - Artists - Women
  Performing arts - Actors
  Queen Victoria Building (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE21240432

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