Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Furnaces Flames are Really Red, Gao Quan, oil, 1964
The revolution-
ary war and the figure
of Mao Zedong were
also common sources
of inspiration. The
direct political content
was made more ap-
parent by the focus on
heroic themes and the
emphasis on depicting
the implementation of Mao Zedong Reporting on the Rectification in Yanan, Luo Gongliu, oil, 1951
Party policies.
Sculpture, using Soviet socialist
realism style became common. The surge
of construction of public spaces (like the
enlargement of Tiananmen Square flanked
by the Great Hall of the People and the
Revolutionary History Museum) created a
demand for massive public sculptures of
peoples heroes and massive statues of
Chair Mao were placed in front of most
public buildings. Not since the arrival of
Buddhism a millennium and a half earlier had
Chinese sculpture been so directly affected
by foreign examples, although now the style
mimicked Soviet style and was charged with
political symbolism.
Mao statue
Folk Arts and
Popular Tradition
However, even at the height of Soviet
influence certain native art styles, especially
those with a popular flavor, remained in favor.
Woodblock prints, used for patriotic and
social protest art in the 1930s and common
during the Yanan period (1936-1949),
remained popular too. After 1949, themes of
suffering, oppression, and imperialist invasion
were replaced with the political change
and socialist construction. The emotional
power of art depicting the common peoples
rebellion against the tyranny of the old society
common in pre-1949 art gave way to rather
banal political propaganda depicting the
collectivization of agriculture and industrial
construction. Traditional Spring Festival
art (nianhua) is an example of folk art that
was mass produced but now depicted the Youth, Xin Bo, woodblock, 1961
abundance of
socialism. Papercuts
were praised as
folk art and most
remained quite
traditional in style
and subject matter,
but also depicted
new political
themes.
Traditional Papercut
Joint Defense by the People and the ArmyAn Iron Bastion, Peoples Fine Arts Publishing House, 1969
Some folk art was produced but it generally portrayed
clear revolutionary themes and was devoid of depictions
of folk customs and religion as in the original peasant art.
The art of the Cultural Revolution was largely self- Liu Jinlan, One Child is Good, papercut ca. 1978
explanatory and intended to make an unmistakable
political point in the most obvious way so that illiterate
peasants could immediately grasp the message.
Ideological Art reached its apex during the Cultural
Revolution and since
the late 1970s China
has been finding it way
back to more traditional
styles, unique styles
of modern art with
Chinese characteristics,
and modern western-
style art.
Carry Out the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Peoples Fine Arts Publishing House, 1973