Unstable Heroes: A Study of the Representation of the Male Figure in Chinese Cultural Revolution Oil Paintings Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Doctorate of Philosophy Degree in the History of Art Laura W. Fan August 2013 School of Theory, College of Fine Arts University of New South Wales Table of Contents List of Illustrations Introduction 1‐25 Chapter One: Forced Heroes 26‐97 Chapter Two: Fallen Heroes 98‐137 Chapter Three: Model Heroes 138‐210 Chapter Four: Cultural Heroes 211‐244 Conclusion 245‐261 Bibliography 262‐274 Acknowledgements Many thanks are in order. First of all, to Dr. Fae Brauer, my thesis advisor who urged me to pursue the more difficult topic and has been a steadfast source of support in this rocky journey. Tackling this subject has been challenging, not least because so much new information emerges every quarter, necessitating chapter revisions at speed. Nevertheless, a valuable side‐effect has been to broaden my own perspective and enhance my ability to perceive events from many different angles – whether in China or in the rest of the world. Thanks for this are due both to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) faculty including Dr. Ian Howard, Dr. Michael Essen, Dr. Leong Chan, and Dr. Alan Krell, and to my surrogate family in Beijing. The UNSW faculty have been encouraging and helpful in facilitating my interactions with Chinese and other academic institutions. My surrogate family in Beijing, which shall remain nameless, helped me to see the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath with more subtlety that I could ever have attained on my own. Introducing me to the former Red Guards, ex‐military personnel, peasant families and artists amongst their friends helped me to understand why the Cultural Revolution generated such powerful loyalty and momentous actions. These conversations were often fraught, but also moving and sometimes fun. Unexpected insights emerged from conversation over casual meals and organic gardening sessions. Those two years living in Beijing were amongst the most formative times that I have yet experienced. Equilibrium was often restored at the Beijing and Shanghai tables of the incomparable Michelle Garnaut, restauranteur and book‐lover extraordinaire. Her introductions to fascinating people and good books made the long hours trudging in snow to yet another closed and unheated archive significantly more bearable. Dr. Alfreda Murck provided a wonderful sense of balance and connection with an international art historical community. After months negotiating Beijing bureaucracy, a chat with Dr. Murck would often suffice to restore a sense of purpose and gentle curiosity. Moreover, her nuanced, detailed and fascinating comments as external examiner made the revision process one of discovery. Dramatic and unexpected flashes of insight often emerged when Bruce Doar returned to Beijing. His constant interest in my dissertation topic was very welcome and the long lunches that accompanied our chats helped me to see issues from a different angle. Back in Malaysia, many thanks to Tunku Intan Safinaz for extensive logistical support and encouragement as well as frequent meals and innumerable cups of tea. My family provided personal historical ballast and expectations of completion. Reflecting on the difficulties my maternal grandfather experienced in ensuring Chinese universities stayed open during enemy occupation, and my parents’ difficulties in pursuing their education, ensured that any problems that I encountered could be faced with a certain degree of realism. Thanks are especially due to Claire Barnes who provided a wonderful sense of perspective and balance. Most importantly, her curiosity, encouragement and help in reading the dissertation have been invaluable. Although she has not lived to see this, I am humbled by and grateful to my aunt who survived twenty years in a Chinese labour camp. Upon her rehabilitation, she returned to work teaching English alongside her accusers. The memory of her tenacity and emotional complexity urged me to try to understand the experiences to which she was not prepared to give voice. For My Parents, Drs. Pow Foong and Carol C. Fan List of Illustrations 1.10 Chinese­Soviet Friendship Will Last 10,000 Springs! May the Sino­Soviet Friendship Go On Forever!, Shanghai People’s Fine Art Publishing House, 1959, propaganda poster, Collection of Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre 1.11 Luo Gongliu, Chairman Mao at Yan’an Announcing the Rectification Reforms at a Cadre Meeting, 1951, oil painting, Collection of the National Museum of China 1.12 Yang Zhiguang and Ou Yang, Impassioned Writing, 1973, Chinese ink on paper, Collection of National Art Museum of China 1.13 Cai Liang, Sons of Poor Peasants, 1964, oil on canvas, Collection of National Art Museum of China 1.14 Zheng Shengtian, Zhou Ruiwen, and Xu Junxuan, Man’s Whole World is Mutable, Seas Become Mulberry Fields: Chairman Mao Inspects Areas South and North of the Yangtze River, 1968, oil on canvas, Collection of Wang Mingxian 1.15 Ou Yang, It’s Good to Take Exercise from a Young Age, Beijing, People’s Sports Publishing House, 1976, propaganda poster, University of Westminster’s Chinese Poster Collection 1.16 Hou Bo, Chairman Mao at Beidaihe, 1954, photograph 1.17 Li Zhensheng, Red Guards at Harbin’s University of Industry writing big‐ character posters, August‐September 1967 1.18 Liu Chunhua, Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan, 1967, oil on canvas, Collection of China Construction Bank 1.19 Liu Chunhua, Drawing Study for Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan, 1967, charcoal on paper, Collection of Liu Chunhua 1.20 Li Zhensheng, detail of Chinese swimmers in the Songhua river, Harbin celebrating their leaders 1966 swim in the Yangtze River, 1968, photograph 1.21. Advance Victoriously While Following Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary Line in Literature and the Arts, 1968, propaganda poster, IISH‐Landsberger Collection 1.22 Advance Victoriously While Following Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary Line, 1971, propaganda poster from the IISH‐Landsberger Collection 1.23 Assorted Chairman Mao Badges from the British Museum Collection, catalogue numbers 118‐129 1.24 Wang Hui, Navigation in the Ocean Relies on the Gear­holder; Revolution Relies on Mao Zedong Thought, 1969, poster, Collection of Yan Shanchun 1.25 Shen Yaoding, Long Live the Victory of Chairman Mao’s Proletarian Revolution Line, 1969, Gouache on paper, Collection of T.Z, Chang 1.26 Lü Enyi, Dear Instructor, 1969, oil on canvas, Collection of the artist 1.27 Tang Xiaohe and Cheng Li, Advancing Through the Mighty Winds and Waves, 1971, oil on canvas, Collection of Hanart TZ Gallery 1.28 Chen Yanning, Chairman Mao Inspects the Guangdong Countryside, 1972, oil on canvas, Sigg Collection 1.29 Qin Wenmei (Shaanxi Cultural Bureau Art Creation Group pseudonym), Our Hearts Join with Chairman Mao, 1972 1.30 He Kongde, Gutian Congress, oil on canvas, 1972, Collection of the Chinese Military Museum 1.31 Hou Yimin, Chairman Mao with the Workers of Anyuan, 1976, oil painting 2.0 Hou Yimin, Comrade Liu Shaoqi and the Anyuan Miners, 1961, oil painting, Collection of the National Museum of China 2.1 Dong Xiwen, Founding Ceremony, 1953, oil painting, Collection of National Museum of China 2.2 Dong Xiwen, Founding Ceremony, after alteration with the images of Liu Shaoqi and Gao Gang removed, oil painting 2.3 The Promulgation Ceremony of the People’s Republic of China, 1 October 1949, photograph 2.4 Hou Yimin and Deng Shu, 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1952, commemorative print on paper 3.0 Shen Jiawei, Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland, 1973, oil on canvas, Collection of Long Art Museum 3.10 Wu Qiang Nian, Lei Feng, 1963, woodblock print on paper, Collection of Leifeng Museum in Fushun, Liaoning Province 3.11 Chen Yifei, Eulogy of the Yellow River, 1972, oil on canvas, Collection of Taikang Life Insurance 3.12 Shang Ding, Continuous Battles, 1974, oil on canvas 3.20 Study the Spirit of Daqing, 1965, propaganda poster, IISH‐Landsberger Foundation, Amsterdam 3.21 Liaoning Provincial Museum Propaganda Troupe’s Creative Group, Mining Copper at Hukou, 1972, oil on canvas 3.22 Zhao Zhitian, The Daqing Workers Have No Winter, 1973, Chinese‐ink on paper 3.23 Pan Jiajun, I am the Seagull, 1972, oil painting 3.30 Liu Zhide, The Old Party Secretary, 1973, mixed media, Collection of Huxian County Peasant Painting Museum 3.31 Shaanxi Provincial Fine Arts Creative Group, Bastion of Iron, 1972, oil painting, Collection of National Art Museum of China 4.0 Tang Xiaoming, The Eternal Battle, 1972, oil painting, Collection of the National Art Museum of China 4.1 Study the Revolutionary Spirit of Lu Xun, Become a Pathbreaker in the Criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius, 1974, propaganda poster, IISH‐ Landsberger Foundation, Amsterdam 5.0 Bayreuther Festspiele/Enriquo Nawrath, Stage Design for Siegfried, Spiegel Online, July 25, 2013, photograph Introduction: The Role of the Male Figure in Cultural Revolution Paintings The Cultural Revolution, that turbulent decade 1966‐76, arouses complex feelings amongst Chinese mainlanders. For many who grew up in the countryside, not much changed. However, for those who came from scholarly, military, official or creative backgrounds, their experiences were often dramatic and violent. Sometimes these experiences seemed positive, sometimes very negative. Much had to do with luck, or with the abilities of parents and family members to shift and tack with the direction of powerful political gusts. While I was gathering information for this research project in Beijing during 2010‐2011, my thesis topic was often the focus of heated discussion. Quite by chance, I lived in an old courtyard house with housemates who came from a Chinese military family and had been caught up as students in the Cultural Revolution. Oftentimes at dinner, their friends would drop by and invariably, one of the family would mention my dissertation topic.