Mignonette Yin Cheng
Born in Amoy, China, in 1933, Mignonette received her initial training at the Russian Art Academy in Shanghai and Chao Shao-An Studio in Hong Kong. In 1958, Mignonette received a full scholarship to attend Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. One year later, she completed her thesis and a solo exhibition, Chinese Painting and Western Emblems: A Comparative Study, and received a Master of Fine Art degree. She was a professor emerita of painting at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design, having taught there for more than 30 years.
Known as a master of East & West watercolor techniques,, Cheng also produced striking oil, gouache, and wax-emulsion collage pieces. "She encapsulates Cézanne’s minimalizing of details into geometric forms, reducing the colors on her palette, as he did, while creating a luminosity through a modulation of tones within each primary color. Hours and hours were spent considering and applying layers and layers of different shades; linear and color contrasts giving an impression of distance and depth. ," writes Elaine Riley in her insightful and detailed essay published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She passed away in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2009. Her work is represented in numerous private and public collections, such as Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri; Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan; and Proctor & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio.
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