Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese, RELEASE
7 May 2014
The first official portrait of Pope Francis by refugee Australian artist Jiawei Shen. Photography by Kitty Beale
Australia's acclaimed painter, former refugee Jiawei Shen of Bundeena NSW has made history as the artist chosen to paint the first official portrait of Pope Francis.
The life-size painting portrays the Holy Father against a multi-cultural backdrop of men women and children of all races, ages and cultures, their hands clasped in prayer. The painting, which is now the property of the Vatican Museum and was presented to Pope Francis during the recent Canonisations in Rome of St John Paul II and St John XXIII also features a dove with wings-spread about to alight on the Pontiff's shoulder. Other birds including an Australian parrot on the shoulder of a young girl pays tribute to traditional depictions of St Francis of Assisi, after whom Pope Francis took his name.
"When the Pope first saw the portrait, his first words were 'Paloma!' which in Spanish means dove," says Byron Hurst, a long time friend of Jiawei Shen. Byron is also visual arts teacher at De La Salle College, Cronulla as well as being a judge for the annual Clancy Prize and Chair of the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Art Centre at Gymea which is near the artist's home in Bundeena and where he has frequently exhibited his work.
Byron is also one of the key people involved in the commissioning of the portrait which was presented on behalf of Australia's Catholics. He was also responsible for helping organise shipping of the painting to Rome and negotiating the double complication of the strict laws governing not only the importation of art into Italy but into Vatican city as well.
Cardinal George Pell follows Pope Francis into the ceremony where the Holy Father saw the portrait painted of him by Jiawei Shen for the first time
"I suppose you could describe me as a facilitator as well as Catholic consultant for the artist," he says smiling.
The idea to commission an official portrait of the Holy Father to be given to him by Australia's faithful was a case of serendipity and chance meetings.
Staying on in Rome for further art study after completing the Path of Peter Pilgrimage from the Holy Land organised by Harvest Pilgrimages and the Archdiocese of Sydney's Catholic Education Office last year, Bryon was able to attend the Anzac Day Memorial Service at Rome's Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.
"Before leaving Australia I had been given a fair bit of material such as medals and cards by Catholic students to be blessed by the Holy Father and after the ceremony, I asked the Australian Ambassador to Rome, John McCarthy if he could help organise this," Bryon says.
Later when he went to pick up the medals and cards from the Embassy, the Ambassador invited him for afternoon tea. While the two were having tea, Byron noticed a print of the painting of Mary MacKillop inside a Cobb and Co coach hanging on the wall. He recognised it immediately as the one that had won a $25,000 competition organised by the NSW Government and the Church to mark the beatification of Australia's first saint in 1995.
Artist Jiawei Shen with Pope Francis in front of the portrait he painted of the Holy Father
"I told John the artist was a friend of mine," he says and told him how he had met him 10 years or so back through his involvement with the Hazelhurst Art Gallery and Art Centre. "This was when John told me that a portrait of the Holy Father by an Australian artist would be a wonderful way of commemorating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Australian Embassy to the Holy See as well as the 100th anniversary of the first appointment of a Papal Nuncio to Australia."
The two milestone anniversaries occurred last year but the gift from Australia's Catholics to the Holy Father and the negotiations with customs and paper work were not completed until earlier this year.
"The choice of the artist for the commission was important and not only is Shen a superb portraitist he is also a painter of history. For him history is extremely important as growing up in China he saw history wiped out by Mao and the Cultural Revolution," Byron explains.
Coopted into the Red Guard during the madness of China's cultural revolution, teenage Shen watched as churches were ransacked, all religions banned and businessmen and women and intellectuals imprisoned or forced to work in the fields. When the purge finally ended, Shen was able to return to his first love which was painting. Self taught as an artist because Mao had closed all the universities, he eventually managed to train at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts and make a name for himself as one of China's leading history painters. But the downfall of the Gang of Four saw his work destroyed and in yet another purge, his life was now also in danger.
Self portrait of the artist by Jiawei Shen the former Red Guard who found refuge in Australia and who credits St John Paul II with changing his life
Arriving in Australia as a refugee in 1989 with just $45 in pocket, he managed to survive by sketching tourists at Darling Harbour which earned him enough to pay for English lessons, a small one room rental, but little else.
"But in 1995 all that changed when he won the competition to mark the Beatification of Mary MacKillop and met Pope John Paul II who presented him with a Papal medal," says Byron.
Since then Jiawei Shen has become one of the nation's most admired artists. His paintings have been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York as well as in galleries across Australia. In addition his painting of the Australian-born Princess Mary of Denmark is part of the National Portrait Gallery's permanent collection and his portrait of John Howard can be seen on permanent display in the Members Hall at Parliament House.
What is remarkable however is that when Shen was commissioned to paint Pope Francis, he refused to accept any fee for his work.
"I think this was a way of saying thank you to Australia for giving him refuge and a home and a country to call his own. I also think it was a way of thanking St John Paul II whom he says changed his life," Byron says.
A few years ago Shen had his first chance to travel to Rome and first opportunity to see the work of Michelangelo, da Vinci and the other great masters. But on landing his first port of call was to St Peter's Basilica, not to admire or study the artworks but to sit beside the tomb of St John Paul II.
Australian Ambassador John McCarthy presents Sr Maria Casey to Pope Francis watched by Byron Hurst
"He told me he sat there and cried, thinking about how Pope John Paul II had changed his life," says Byron.
Shen's second visit to Rome came last month when he flew with the Australian contingent to be part of the historic canonisations of St John Paul II and St John XXIII. This was also the time Cardinal George Pell, who had stored the portrait of Pope Francis in Cathedral House in Sydney until all the paperwork for Italy and the Vatican to agree to import of the art work was completed.
"Cardinal Pell is well known as a lover of art and an authority on art, and he was very much involved from the start and I am sure was instrumental in obtaining permission from the Holy Father for the portrait to be painted," he says.
Jiawei Shen's painting of Mary Mackillop to mark her Beatification in 1995 changed his life and his fortunes
His Eminence, who is now based in Rome as Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy of the Holy See and the Vatican, also played a key role together with Ambassador John McCarthy arranging for the Pope to attend a special presentation ceremony of the portrait and to meet the artist himself.
The ceremony was held in the Apostolic Palace where the Holy Father blessed the portrait and then said: "What I want you all to do is pray for us."
The ceremony was held in the Apostolic Palace where the Holy Father blessed the portrait and then said: "What I want you all to do is pray for us."
"I felt he was asking not only all those there but Australia and Australia's Catholics to keep him in their prayers and believe this was a plea that came very much from his heart," Byron says.
That evening a special Mass was celebrated at the Mary Mother of the Family Chapel in the grounds of the Vatican by Cardinal Pell along with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.
After this a large reception was held for Rome's diplomatic and arts community, President of the Australian Senate John Hogg, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Sydney Bishop Peter Comensoli, Bishop Bosco Puthur of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy, Ambassador McCarthy, Business Manager for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Danny Casey, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Monsignor John Usher, Sister Maria Casey RSJ former postulator for the Cause of St Mary MacKillop, and artist and art patron, Australian-born Princess Nike Arrighi Borghese .
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
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