A Chinese Communist Socialist-Realist charcoal sketch of a young man, dated 1969

Description

A striking young Chinese man, probably in his early 20s, looks off towards the viewer's far right. His gaze appears resolute, and almos has a solid sense of pride like the faces in many Chinese Communist posters of the time. The shading on his face is detailed and his short haircut is still fashionable today. He is wearing both a shirt and a collared workers' jacket. This characterful study was probably executed during a life study class at an art school. Although not signed by the artist, it is dated in Arabic numerals at the bottom - 69.2.8 - dating it to either the second of August or the eighth of February 1969. That year saw a seven month war between the Chinese and the Soviets, following the split between China and the Soviet Union.

Paper 37.2cm high, 26.5cm wide

Art in Revolutionary China
As early as 1942, Chairman Mao Zedong’s ‘Talks on Literature and Art’ ordered that arts were to “serve the people” and, for at least the next four decades, the Chinese Communist Party and Maoist ideology totally controlled the arts. As such, art had to educate the population and celebrate and illustrate the ideals of Communism. Art became almost entirely figural and idealised, showing happy, healthy and industrious workers and soldiers going about their work, crowds enthusiastically supporting Mao, and bountiful crops and industries. All were idealised illustrations of the wealth and successes of Communist China, and ‘enforced’ celebrations of the emancipation of the proletariat.
Not only did this art differ greatly from what was produced in Imperial China for centuries in terms of theme, but it also differed in terms of style. This change of direction required education and re-education, and many art students and established artists were sent to the Soviet Union, or Eastern Bloc countries, to learn how to draw in a Soviet-Realist manner. Some Soviet artists were also brought to China to train artists in the ‘new’ style at educational institutions. Even after relations between China and the Soviet Union cooled in the late 1950s, and the death of Mao in 1976, the style continued to be the only way forward for a comfortable life as an artist. The period also saw a boom in the production of colourful, stylised posters in this new style, which were an affordable way of displaying and disseminating the art and its message across the country. This original drawing from the 1960s or ‘70s is part of that movement in the history of art - a fascinating, powerful and visual snapshot of the time.

Condition
As photographed. Some scuffing and signs of age as to be expected, glued to a mountboard at the top corners.

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