THE BEGUILING AND VALUABLE PORTRAIT BY THE PIVOTAL CHINESE ARTIST WAS PURCHASED FOR A MERE $1,000
By Merritt Martin
Every piece of art has a tale to tell, and Heritage’s May 13 Modern & Contemporary Art Signature® Auction showcases works by some of the most recognizable artists of our time. But one work in particular has an especially captivating story behind it.
Chinese Modernist artist Shiy De-jinn’s Portrait of Col. Charles W. Delanoy, dated 1960, has a starting bid of $40,000 and could be valued much higher, but the colonel’s portrait began its journey to Heritage as a $1,000 estate-sale score.
In December 2024, Heritage’s Consignment Director of Asian Art, Charlene Wang, received a call from a man in Florida phoning on behalf of a friend who had purchased the painting at a military retirement community estate sale. “They had no background information – just some photos of a framed portrait of a gentleman, taken in poor lighting and at an odd angle in what looked like a warehouse,” Wang says. “The distortion made the figure appear disproportionate, and I nearly passed on it.”
Shiy De-jinn’s ‘Portrait of Col. Charles W. Delanoy,’ 1960. Oil on canvas. 39-1/4 x 28-3/4 inches (99.7 x 73.0 cm). Available in Heritage’s May 13 Modern & Contemporary Art Signature® Auction.
Fortunately for collectors and bidders in this auction – and lovers of tales perfect for PBS’ Antiques Roadshow – she did not pass on the opportunity. Her instincts, and those of the estate sale shopper, proved valuable. Quite literally. “Something about the painted man’s expression held my attention – a confident, glowing presence, with clear and determined eyes,” Wang recalls. While she hadn’t handled his works before, her research revealed that Shiy, also known as Xi Dejin, began painting in 1931, and the pioneer of the Modernist movement in Taiwan was also the first Chinese artist to be openly gay, a bold and controversial stance in a conservative society.
While a daring artist, Shiy created portraits also known for their sensitive portrayal of people, capturing subtle emotion, desire and loneliness within cosmopolitan spaces. In this work, the rosy-cheeked colonel smiles with a soft, sentimental gaze – an expression often seen in Shiy’s figures. This particular painting depicts a U.S. Air Force officer stationed in Taiwan, emphasizing both his elegance and spiritual presence within a specific historical context. But that didn’t make it easy to identify the subject of the painting or its authenticity.
“It wasn’t listed in the artist’s catalogs, and the Shiy De-jinn Foundation was no longer active,” Wang says. So she changed tack and began focusing on who was in the painting. Wang came across the record of another auction house’s sale of a Shiy portrait featuring a woman named Evelyn M. Delanoy. The description of the work mentioned her husband was stationed in Taiwan, where Mrs. Delanoy had commissioned her portrait by Shiy. It was the twin portrait of the Florida estate sale find. And thanks to an additional purchase made at the sale that was personalized with the couple’s last name, the sitter’s ID was confirmed as Col. Delanoy.
Something about the painted man’s expression held my attention – a confident, glowing presence, with clear and determined eyes.”
–Charlene Wang, Consignment Director of Asian Art at Heritage Auctions
Notably, a short time after he painted the Delanoys, Shiy was invited to America by the U.S. Department of State and held a solo exhibition there in 1963. Shiy subsequently studied in Paris and maintained friendships with other major artists such as Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and Zhang Daqian. His trajectory also echoed in Taiwan the prominent cultural shift via contemporary and socially progressive movements of the United States through artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol. Perhaps he’s not a household name, but his work is unquestionably pivotal.
We hear stories of great works lost to attics and Goodwill. But not this portrait, thanks to a shopper who paid full asking price simply because he liked the painting and said the sitter’s eyes “follow you everywhere you go.”
From answering the phone call to the process to authenticate, “all the pieces fell into place,” Wang says. “It was an extraordinary journey – from a distorted photo taken in a warehouse to uncovering the identity of a sitter and authenticating a masterwork. It’s a reminder that every painting has a story, and it may be worth it to follow the clues.”
MERRITT MARTIN is a contributor to Intelligent Collector.