# Huang Yan artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/huang-yan/
Profile generated: 2026-05-30T10:29:11.951Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Chinese
- Common media: photography, painting, multimedia

## About Huang Yan

Huang Yan (黄岩, born 1966) is a Chinese multimedia artist, photographer, and painter based in Beijing. He graduated from the Changchun Normal Academy in 1987 and has served as a lecturer at Changchun University. Working across photography, painting, and experimental formats, Huang Yan has developed a practice that intersects contemporary Chinese art with Taoist thought. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, confirming institutional recognition beyond the Chinese art market. Authority records at Getty ULAN, VIAF, and the RKD consistently identify him as a Chinese painter and photographer active from the late twentieth century onward. With over two hundred catalogued auction lots, Huang Yan's work appears regularly in the international secondary market.

## Common works and media

Huang Yan's practice encompasses photography, painting, and multimedia installations. Collectors may encounter photographic prints (including editioned works), paintings on canvas or paper, and conceptual or mixed-media pieces. His photographic work often engages with body, landscape, and cultural identity themes. Works may appear in contemporary art, Asian contemporary art, or photography auction categories. Provenance documentation and exhibition history are important factors for appraisal.

## Market and appraisal context

Huang Yan's auction footprint spans photography, painting, and multimedia works, with more than 200 catalogued lots recorded. Collectors evaluating his work should consider medium, dimensions, date of execution, provenance, and whether the piece is a unique work or part of an edition. Photography and editioned multiples tend to trade at different price levels than original paintings. MoMA institutional holdings provide a reference point for significance, though realized prices vary widely by medium and market conditions. As with many contemporary Chinese artists, auction results should be compared against lots of similar format, period, and exhibition history.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from library-authority and museum sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. For Huang Yan, identity data is grounded in Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, Wikidata, and MoMA collection records. Market context draws from catalogued auction activity and institutional collection records when available.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3141851
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Yan_(artist)
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500379696
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/39164332/
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/350860
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/34222
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007112423