Lei Yixin
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Lei Yixin (born 1954) is a Chinese sculptor. Lei designed the ''Stone of Hope'', the statue of
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
at the King Memorial near the United States National Mall.


Childhood and education

Lei was born to a family of scholars in
Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...
, Hunan, China. Lei was one of millions of "
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
educated youth" sent to the countryside during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
. As a way to develop a skill other than farming during the seven years he spent toiling in the fields, Lei started drawing. His diary became his
scrapbook Scrapbook may refer to: * Scrapbooking, the process of making a scrapbook Software * Scrapbook, an early (1970s) information storage and retrieval system developed at the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom * Scrapbook (Mac OS), ...
, with a few lines of comments of his drawings. When Lei applied to college, he submitted the diary as his
portfolio Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...
. Lei was among the first class of students after the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
to be able to go to art school in 1978; he graduated in 1982.


Career

Lei first found work in a publishing company as a draughtsman, but was spotted by a local government official, who asked and encouraged him to build monuments. Lei won top prizes in national competitions three consecutive years, and was recognized as a master sculptor, which came with a lifetime
stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...
from the Chinese government. He has sculpted some 150 public monuments, including statues of
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
. Some of his works are in China's National Art Gallery collection. Lei came to the attention of the American public when he was named artist-of-record and commissioned to sculpt the centerpiece for the proposed monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The announcement of Lei spurred an international protest spearheaded by Gilbert Young and Lea-Winfrey Young, co-founders of the organization "King Is Ours", a multi-racial and multi-cultural organization formed to protest the decisions made by the King Memorial Project Foundation which included choosing Lei without due process. According to
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, it was only by chance that memorial organizers found Lei when they visited an international granite-carving festival in the American state of Minnesota. Lei was "discovered" under a tree, taking a nap after he was pointed out to the King Memorial Project Foundation committee with the words, "you should talk to that guy over there," pointing to Lei. The tall sculpture at the International Stone Sculpture Conference drew attention to his work, yet Lei has revealed that the sculpture he created at the conference was the first he had ever carved on his own. Ed Jackson, the executive architect at the MLK Foundation, was immediately impressed by Lei's sculpture ''Contemplation'' at the "Minnesota Rocks! Symposium" in June 2006, and in 2007 Lei was named head sculptor for the ''Stone of Hope'' at the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial is a national memorial located in West Potomac Park next to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It covers and includes the ''Stone of Hope'', a granite statue of civil rights movement ...
. In April 2008 the U.S. Commission of Fine Art rejected Lei's design for the King Memorial Sculpture. In a letter dated 28 April, the commission wrote that Lei's presentation was an inappropriate expression of Dr. King, declaring King too "confrontational" in Lei's sculpture, and asking for a more "sympathetic" King. Some changes were made to Lei's design, and construction began. There were other controversies on the project which did not involve Lei, but were often connected to him, such as over the Chinese sourcing of granite for his sculpture and the choice of Chinese artisans who were employed to carve the stone, both of which were the decision of lead architect Ed Jackson. In addition, mistakes by the architects on the project forced Lei to make last-minute changes, such as replacing a pen in the hand of King with a scroll when a photo the architects had used as a model turned out to be reversed. Most controversially, the "drum major" quote by King was shortened for inclusion on Lei's sculpture; this occurred when the team of architects wanted Lei to reverse the placement of two planned quotes, after he had already been instructed to carve out space for them, and having done as instructed there was then not enough space for the quote in a new position unless it was shortened. Jackson made the decision to cut the quote down to size. Later criticism by poet Maya Angelou, ''The Washington Post'', and others caused a reassessment of that decision, and the entire quote was removed in August 2013. The completed work, a tall statue, was unveiled in August 2011 to mark the 48th anniversary of King's "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...
" speech. Due to
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, the official dedication was postponed until October 2011. Reviews of the finished sculpture were mixed. Some reviewers criticized the King statue on the basis of Lei's earlier work making representations of Mao Zedong, of which they disapproved. Other reviews focused on the way Lei depicted King. The stoic, unsmiling pose of King in Lei's sculpture has been criticized by some since the initial rejection of Lei's design, due to its perceived severe divergence from a popular media image of King as a unifying, hopeful leader and peace campaigner. However, other critics praised Lei's more risky depiction. African Americans in particular noted the avoidance of mythology in the "confrontational" expression of King, suggesting Lei showed King facing the challenges of the present rather than dwelling in nostalgia. Lei said, "you can see the hope, but his serious demeanor also indicated that he's thinking."Meet Lei Yixin the Chinese Artist Behind DCS New Martin Luther King Monument/


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lei, Yixin Living people 1954 births Chinese sculptors Artists from Changsha