Cross-Border Chinese Avant-Garde Art 1979-2004

Author: Lu Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features:
1. The introduction of "Cultural Revolution Art" at the beginning of this book is because the new art creation that emerged after 1979 was actually a reaction against it. Subsequently, it triggered a series of new art phenomena. Without understanding this fundamental premise, we would find the changes in later art creation inexplicable. The Chinese "Cultural Revolution" began with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's "May 16 Notice" and ended with the overthrow of the "Gang of Four." The specific timeframe was from 1966 to 1976. It should be emphasized that the "Cultural Revolution Art" emphasized in this book does not refer to all art creations that emerged during this period, but rather refers to art creations that specifically served the mainstream ideology under specific political pressure and clearly expressed the political intentions of the "Cultural Revolution." This means that every work belonging to the category of "Cultural Revolution Art," whether in the choice of subject matter, the creation of images, or even the use of artistic techniques, can be found to have theoretical justification in the political documents and party newspaper commentaries of the time. Overall, the political function of "Cultural Revolution Art" is reflected in the following two aspects:
First, it fiercely criticized various "class enemies"—including "capitalist roaders," "landlords,,counter-revolutionaries, and right-wingers," and "reactionary academic authorities" who had infiltrated the Party, government, and military;
Second, it enthusiastically praised the heroes of the proletariat—since revolutionary leaders were the heroes among heroes, they were often infinitely deified. For the sake of convenience in narration, I refer to the former as "criticism-type" "Cultural Revolution Art" and the latter as "praise-type" "Cultural Revolution Art." Compared to the latter, "criticism-type" "Cultural Revolution Art" appeared more frequently in the early and mid-phases of the movement and primarily used large-character posters in streets and units, small newspapers, and folk publications as its main platforms. The artistic forms primarily adopted were cartoons, propaganda posters, and woodcuts, characterized by being highly popular and mass-oriented. On the other hand, "praise-type" "Cultural Revolution Art" mainly appeared in various political exhibitions organized by the rebel organizations and revolutionary committees at all levels. Especially after 1972, under the unified command of the State Council's Cultural Group, relevant departments in various regions organized a large number of art creations that catered to political needs to participate in four major national art exhibitions. This led to "praise-type" "Cultural Revolution Art" gradually outnumbering "criticism-type" "Cultural Revolution Art." At the same time, "Cultural Revolution Art" also gradually moved toward standardization and professionalism. This was clearly related to the political need to end the state of anarchy after the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and to emphasize unified leadership. It should be emphasized that "Cultural Revolution Art" did not just fall from the sky. In fact, its emergence was closely related to the increasingly "left-wing" political climate that had developed since the 1950s and to the gradually emerging art creation models during this period. However, to specifically implement the spirit of the State Council's Cultural Group and the "Shanghai Symposium Summary," it placed greater emphasis on serving the immediate political needs, that is, clearly defining art creation as falling within the category of absolute revolutionization and policy orientation.