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Art
and China's Revolution, currently at Asia Society, is of
particular interest because it is one of the first shows to
exhibit the work of leading Chinese artists from 1949 to the end
of the 1970's. This period encompasses the Chinese Cultural
Revolution (1966 to 1976) when Mao Zedong unleashed a period of
repression especially cruel to artists.
During
this time, art schools were shuttered and artists publicly
humiliated and sometimes tortured. Older Chinese artists
trained in traditional Chinese techniques such as calligraphy and
ink painting were sent to the countryside to be
'reeducated.' While some professed to enjoy themselves
as they communed with their peasant compatriots, for many
reeducation amounted to little more than forced labor.
Using
Soviet Social Realism as a template, the Maoist government
encouraged socially relevant work and urged artists to abandon the
techniques of the past which they associated with bourgeois
decadence. The paintings and posters depicting Mao,
including Tang Xiaohe's Strive Forward in Wind and Tides
(1971) and Chen Yanning's Chairman Mao Inspects the Guangdong
Countryside (1972), both oil-on-canvas, closely resemble
Soviet revolutionary works in their composition and use of bold
colors. In the Chinese paradigm, Mao has replaced Lenin as
the focal point.
In
spite of the numerous restrictions imposed by the Maoist
government, some artists continued to create works about
non-revolutionary subjects in secret. The No Name Group
was a group of artists who believed in 'art for art's sake' and
painted still lives, landscapes, and portraits. In order to
evade possible sanctions, they created small paintings that could
easily be hidden or carried away should they have to make quick
escapes. Li Shen's exquisite Golden Lotus Pond
(1975-78 ) with its mustard yellow lotus leaves and dark olive
weeping foliage, measures a mere 9 5/8 by 7 3/8 inches. Ma
Kelu's 1975 Morning Snow, rich in shades of white that
verge on light blue, depicts a serene winter scene.
It
is especially encouraging that some of the artists exhibited in Art
and China's Revolution such as Xu Bing and Zhang Hongtu, both
of whom endured the rigors of reeducation, have gone on to
international success in the contemporary art world.
See:
Art
and China's Revolution is at Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New
York City, September 5 - January 11
Tags:
art
china
color
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Ma Kelu
Morning Snow (1975)
Zhang Hongtu
Untitled (Peasant) (1972) |
