{{Short description|Chinese-Brazilian model and artist}} '''Christine Yufon''' (January 18, 1923 – January 7, 2024) was a Chinese-French-Brazilian model, businesswoman, and artist.
== Biography == Christine Yufon was born in [[Beijing]] in 1923.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-01-07 |title=Christine Yufon morre aos 100 anos |url=https://elle.com.br/moda/christine-yufon-morre-aos-100-anos |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=ELLE Brasil |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Reis |first=Ivan |date=2024-01-10 |title=Christine Yufon: morreu artista que marcou a moda brasileira |url=https://www.revistalofficiel.com.br/moda/christine-yufon-conheca-o-legado-fashion-da-artista |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=L'Officiel Brasil |language=pt}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Linhares |first=Alice |date=December 2014 |title=Além da Beleza Que o Outro Enxerga |url=https://issuu.com/03552/docs/revista_f_-_ed_14_web |access-date=2025-01-14 |work=F: Cultura de Moda |language=pt}}</ref> As a child, she studied at an [[International school|American school]] in China.<ref name=":2" />
In 1947, she married the French engineer Georges Constant Collet.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2024-01-08 |title=Christine Yufon (1920 - 2024) - Morre aos 100 Christine Yufon, escultora e referência para os joalheiros no Brasil |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2024/01/morre-aos-100-christine-yufon-escultora-e-referencia-para-joalheiros-no-brasil.shtml |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=Folha de S.Paulo |language=pt-BR}}</ref> The couple lived in [[Shanghai]] until the city was taken over by the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communists]] in 1949, when they had to leave for [[Paris]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Mariotti |first=Augusto |date=2014-07-16 |title=Quase centenária Christine Yufon abre mostra com suas esculturas poderosas |url=https://ffw.uol.com.br/noticias/arte/quase-centenaria-e-musa-de-dudu-bertholini-christine-yufon-abre-mostra-com-suas-esculturas-poderosas/ |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=FFW |language=pt-BR}}</ref> Their property, including farmland and a cigarette factory, was seized by the new Chinese government, and she left behind her family's art collection.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
From France, Yufon migrated to Brazil in 1951, settling in the [[São Paulo]] neighborhood of [[Consolação (district of São Paulo)|Higienópolis]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2024-01-08 |title=Christine Yufon, artista chinesa radicada no Brasil, morre aos 100 anos |url=https://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/moda-e-beleza/noticia/2024/01/08/christine-yufon-artista-chinesa-radicada-no-brasil-morre-aos-100-anos.ghtml |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=G1 |language=pt-br}}</ref> It was there that her modeling career began, when the social columnist and future nightclub magnate {{Interlanguage link|Ricardo Amaral|pt}} convinced her participate in a grand ball in São Paulo.<ref name=":2" /> Yufon worked as a model for the old Casa Vogue and became a muse for the French designer [[Jacques Heim]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=DeSilva |first=Jéssica |date=2012-10-05 |title=Christine Yufon |url=https://revistatrip.uol.com.br/tpm/christine-yufon |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=Trip |language=pt-br}}</ref> She was one of Brazil's first Asian models.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=2024-01-08 |title=Morre Christine Yufon, primeira modelo asiática do Brasil, aos 100 anos |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/ela/gente/noticia/2024/01/08/morre-christine-yufon-primeira-modelo-asiatica-do-brasil-aos-100-anos.ghtml |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=O Globo |language=pt-br}}</ref> Then, in the 1960s, she founded her pioneering [[etiquette]] school, which taught posture, philosophy, and values to the general public as well as politicians, artists, and members of high society.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" />
In the 1970s, she worked with Angioleta Miroglio-Cattani to promote artists and jewelers through their gallery, Miroglio & Yufon.<ref name=":3" /> Over the years, she began to produce sculpture herself, which was exhibited in various venues including the [[São Paulo Museum of Art]] in the 1980s.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> Her work, in bronze, wood, and stone, was inspired by her youth in China.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /> At the invitation of the Chinese government, in the late 1980s, she presented her work in her homeland.<ref name=":0" /> Her sculptural practice evolved into producing pieces of jewelry and "wearable art."<ref name=":4" />
Yufon continued modeling in her later years, serving as a muse for the designer [[Dudu Bertholini]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> She died in São Paulo, at age 100, in 2024.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yufon, Christine}} [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:2024 deaths]] [[Category:People from Beijing]] [[Category:Chinese emigrants to Brazil]] [[Category:Brazilian businesswomen]] [[Category:Brazilian female models]] [[Category:Brazilian women sculptors]] [[Category:Brazilian women centenarians]]