An examination of the significance of Soviet Socialist Realist art and practice in the Asia Pacific region. Alison Carroll Student Number: 196621690 ORCID Number: 0000-0001-8068-2694 Thesis Submission for Doctor of Philosophy degree October 2016 This thesis is submitted in total fulfilment of the degree. School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne Supervisors: Associate Professor Alison Inglis (University of Melbourne) Professor Anthony Milner (University of Melbourne and Australian National University) 1 An examination of the significance of Soviet Socialist Realist art and practice in the Asia Pacific region. Table of contents: 2 Abstract 4 Declaration 5 Acknowledgements 6 List of illustrations 7 Preface 20 Introduction: Western art historical practice and recent Asian art; some alternative ways of thinking. 22 1. Art and politics: Soviet Socialist Realism and art history in the Asia Pacific region. 46 2. Policy and practice: The significance of the new policies and practices created in the Soviet Union in the direction for art in Asia. 70 1. Political leaders on art 70 2. Arts leaders on politics 77 3. The Soviet practice of art in Asia: organisation 80 4. The Soviet practice of art in Asia: ideological innovations 95 5. The transmission of information from West to East 103 3. The Art: The influence of Soviet Socialist Realism on the art of the Asia Pacific region, 1917-1975. 113 1. Social realism in the Asia Pacific region 114 2. Socialist Realism in the Asia Pacific region 1. Russia and China: (a) Socialist in content 121 Russia and China: (b) Realist in style 131 2. Vietnam 135 3. Japan 140 4. Southeast Asia 141 (a) Malaya/Singapore 141 (b) Indonesia 143 (c) The Philippines 146 2 5. Australia 146 3. Soviet influence further explored 147 1. Other Soviet art in the Asia Pacific region 147 2. The ideology of egalitarianism 152 4. The contemporary response: the 1970s to recent times. 155 1. China (and Vietnam and other Communist states) 159 2. Indonesia 170 3. The Philippines (and Thailand and South Korea) 182 4. Australia 192 5. The Local: The adoption and adaption of Socialist Realism in the Asia Pacific region. 202 1. Local history 203 2. Cultural attitudes 207 3. Local traditions 217 Conclusion 229 Bibliography 234 Appendix: The most significant exgternal outside influence on the art of the Asia Pacific region? 269 1. Internal Asian influences 269 2. External influences 1. The European Academy and its style 270 2. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, et al – the isms 274 3. The Latino influence 278 4. American Abstract art 280 (a) The Philippines, Australia and South Vietnam – the non-Islamic acolytes 283 (b) Islamic Pakistan, Malaysia – and Indonesia 289 (c) Japan and Korea 294 Index of Artists 298 3 Abstract The aim of this research has been to investigate the impact of Soviet Socialist Realist art and practice in the Asia Pacific region. It has resulted in a number of findings. The first is that Soviet innovation in the practice of art has influenced the organisation of visual art in the region to a degree not previously acknowledged. This Soviet arts organisational focus is analysed through a number of effective and enduring strategies, as well as through a number of ideological innovations. The thesis compares the implementation of these practices throughout the Asia Pacific region. The second finding is that the Soviets, and, later, the Soviet-inspired Chinese, had significant impact on the art produced throughout the Asia Pacific region from the early years of the twentieth century until today, again previously unacknowledged across such a broad temporal and spatial span. The Soviet influence on art in China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia in the period after the late 1960s is argued to be of particular significance for the outcomes in those places and in contemporary art more broadly. Comparisons of particular artworks are made, as well as a distinction been social realism, focused on the suffering of the disadvantaged, and Socialist Realism, a triumphant glorification of the ‘workers, farmers and soldiers’. An analysis of the local adaption of Soviet art in the outcomes in each place is given, deemed critical for the success of this ideology and style. The question throughout this analysis is why, if this influence is so extensive and significant, has it not been acknowledged as part of ‘global’ art history? The ideological and geo-political struggle of the Cold War between Communism and capitalism, experienced over the century, is central. Soviet Socialist Realism was a target of Western art historians, and when the ideology and style was adopted further East, these positions extended there as well. The thesis analyses the literal and metaphorical interweaving of image and text, as well as the interweaving of art and politics. It is what has been written about this art by people who wanted so much to come from it, and the way their words seep into the images themselves, that adds to the richness of the area. 4 Declaration This is to certify that: 1. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface. 2. due acknowledgment has been made in the text of all other material used. 3. the thesis is circa 100,000 words in length exclusive of tables, maps, bibliography and appendices. Alison Carroll 17 October 2016 5 Acknowledgements Many people have been involved in the development of the ideas in this text, over a long period and in many places. I thank them for their generous and provocative discussions and insights. More recently a number of individuals have helped me with information, opinion, and critique: I thank them here: Alisa Bunbury Susan Lowish Dadang Christanto Chips Mackinolty Ade Darmawan Jenny McGregor Peter Eckersall Peter McPhee Lucie Folan Deborah Mills David Forrest James Mollison Julia Fraser Roger Nelson Mary Ginsberg Ann Newmarch Charles Green Mark Nicholls Catherine Gough-Brady Ann Richter Salima Hashmi Claire Roberts Pat Hoffie Shen Jiawei Geoff Hogg Judith Staines Virginia Hooker Anthony White Andrea Hull Andrew Wootton Peter Inkel Henry Wootton Albina Legostaeva Yu Jin Seng Yue Li I thank the University of Melbourne for enabling this period of deeper research. I particularly thank my supervisors Anthony Milner for his enthusiasm for art, and Alison Inglis for her enthusiasm for the crafted sentence. 6 List of illustrations: Introduction and Chapter 1: 1.1. Aleksandr M. Gerasimov (1881-1963), Lenin on the Tribune, 1929, oil on canvas, 288 x 177. Coll: Historical Museum, Moscow. 1.2. Pablo Baens Santos (b.1943), Manifesto, 1985-7, oil on canvas, 159.6 x 256.3 cm. Coll: National Gallery Singapore. 1.3. S. Sudjojono (1913-86), Perusing a Poster, 1956, oil on canvas, 109 x 140 cm. Dr. Oei Hong Djien Collection, Jakarta. 1.4. Aleksandr A. Deineka (1899-1969), Before Descent into the Mine, 1925, oil on canvas, 247 x 210 cm. Coll: The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (photo: A. Wootton, 2015). 1.5. Dong Xiwen (1914-73), The Grand Ceremony of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, 1953-90, oil on canvas, 230 x 405 cm. Coll: National Museum of China, Beijing (photo: A. Carroll, 2014). 1.6. Art and Propaganda’ display case, Time & Memory; British Art of the First World War, Imperial War Museum, London 2014 (photo: A. Wootton). 1.7. Natalia S. Goncharova (1881-1962), Chinese Still Life, 1909, oil on canvas, 139.5 x 104 cm. Coll: The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Chapter 2: 2.1. Prime Ministerial Visit to China, 1973, masthead of the Whitlam Institute, Sydney, 2015 (see http://www.whitlam.org/gough_whitlam/china, accessed 10 October 2015). 2.2. Hendra Gunawan in Moscow (see http://archive.ivaa- online.org/khazanahs/detail/2476, accessed 2 January 2016). 2.3. W.A. Smith, A Tramwayman Talks on Russia, 1935. Melbourne: Tramways Union, 18.5 x 12.5 cm. Coll: Monash University Rare Books, Melbourne. 2.4. Selection of official art publications 1975-91, purchased in Hanoi by the author. 2.5. Various PKI booklets. Coll: Monash University Rare Books, Melbourne. Upper left: Kepada Partai, 1965, Jakarta, 21 x 13 cm; upper right: D.N. Aidit Kaum Tani Mengganjang Selan2 Desa, 1964, Jakarta, 21 x 14 cm; lower left: Untuk Demokrasi, Tanah, Produksi dan Irian Barat, 1962, 18 x 13.2 cm; lower right: D.N. Aidit Lenin dan Indonesia, 1960, Jakarta, 18 x 13 cm, and Marxisme: ilmu dan amalnja, 1962, Jakarta, 15 x 11 cm. 2.6. Cover, PKI 40 Tahun, 1920-1960, 1960. Jakarta: Institute of the History of the CPI, of the Agitations and Propaganda Department of the C.C. [central committee] C.P.I., 22.5 x 32 cm. Coll: Monash University Rare Books, Melbourne. 2.7. PKI 40 Tahun, 1920-1960: 13, 22.5 x 32 cm. Coll: Monash University Rare Books, Melbourne. Note the image of Lenin on the presidium. 7 2.8. Nikolai S. Troshin (1897-1990) (graphic designer), ‘The giant and the builder,’ Cover of USSR in Construction (SSSR Na Stroike), 1932, no.1 English edition. Coll: National Library of Australia, Canberra. 2.9. Covers, Proletariat, Melbourne University Labour Club, 1932, 1933, 1935. Upper left (28 x 22 cm) issue includes articles on ‘Women in the Soviet Union’ and ‘Soviet Songs’. Upper right cover (28 x 21.5 cm) is by Jack Maughan (1897-1980). Lower right edition (24.5 x 19 cm) encourages readership of USSR in Construction and John Reed. Coll: Monash University Rare Books, Melbourne (photo: A. Carroll). 2.10. Boris V. Ioganson (1893-1973) and four brigade members, Lenin’s Speech at the IIIrd Congress of the KomSoMol, 1950, oil on canvas, 350 x 493 cm.