Artwork Description

Title: Piano Girl
Artist
Jiang Li

Date
2015

Medium:
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
21 1/4 x 25 1/2 in (54 x 65 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Piano Girl is a vibrant and whimsical oil painting that captures a stylized young woman playing piano amidst a swirling, richly colored composition of floral motifs, musical notes, and abstract textures. Jiang Li’s energetic brushstrokes and layered patterns animate the surface with a sense of rhythm and emotion, echoing the theme of musicality embedded within the work.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
A member of the second wave of the Yunnan School, Jiang Li merges traditional Chinese symbolism with expressive Western abstraction. His compositions are densely ornamented, often featuring flattened perspectives, luminous hues, and dreamlike female figures. In Piano Girl, influences of both classical Chinese decorative arts and European modernist figuration converge, revealing his training under Yunnan School founder Ting Shao Kuang.

3. Historical Context
Emerging after the Cultural Revolution, Jiang’s art is part of a larger movement that sought to recover personal expression and cultural richness after decades of suppression. Having emigrated to the U.S. in 1989, Jiang represents a generation of diasporic artists whose hybrid works reflect cultural memory, nostalgia, and freedom. Piano Girl embodies this synthesis through its exuberant aesthetic and celebration of inner joy.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is structurally sound with no signs of warping or damage, and the paint surface remains vibrant with no noted loss or cracking.

6. Artistic Significance
Jiang Li’s Piano Girl is emblematic of his visual language—one that celebrates life, heritage, and individuality. The painting offers a sensory feast and affirms the artist’s role in bridging cultural traditions through contemporary artistic practice. It is a highly collectible work from one of the most visually compelling voices of the Yunnan School diaspora.