“Propaganda posters are not only graphically powerful and aesthetically mesmerizing, but they also offer an important window into Chinese culture….”
Katharine Burnett, professor of Art History, UC Davis.
The long-lasting legacy of Chinese propaganda posters
How these historically relevant images turned into collectible items and a source of inspiration for contemporary artists
By Constanza Ontiveros Valdés
Chinese propaganda posters have come a long way. For years they were the staples of the Cultural Revolution’s ideals and mass control yet nowadays they are a powerful tool to understand Chinese history and have turned into collectible items showcased in art exhibitions across the globe. At the same time, Chinese and Western contemporary artists frequently transform and reinvent the distinctive aesthetic of these posters as a means to challenge the status quo. Let’s look at the main features of Chinese propaganda posters and explore how they are being revisited by collectors, museums and artists.
What are Chinese propaganda posters?
While posters existed and were popular beforehand in China, during the many years under Mao Zedong’s rule, which started in 1949, posters and other art forms were made to show off the greatness of China, Communism, and Mao. As Sarah Sprouse mentioned, during these years Chinese posters took inspiration from Soviet socialist realism, which depicted positive scenes or heroic portraits intended to reflect a utopic future. However, as described in an article from The Guardian, when viewing these colorful images permeated by the color red, one must remember the death toll of the Cultural Revolution has been estimated in millions and also came with the destruction of literature, art, and architecture. These scenes certainly hid tragedy and oppression behind them.
Side by side with their undisputable historical, sociological and cultural relevance, during the last few years, the popularity of Chinese propaganda posters as collectible items has increased and there is a growing number of exhibitions focusing on them. For example, the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Center holds a private collection, owned by Yang Peiming, of more than 300 Mao-era propaganda posters which, like the museum’s owner shared with NPR, are intended to help viewers understand China’s past. Yet another important collection of Chinese propaganda posters is owned by Shaomin Li, a Chinese dissident artist who once created posters to promote Mao’s ideals and whose collection was displayed in an exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Also, there is a big online market for these posters, with just one click one can buy an original or a reproduction.
How are artists reinterpreting the aesthetic of Chinese propaganda posters?
A good number of Chinese dissident artists and also of Western artists have been inspired by this aesthetic and have reinterpreted it as a means to bring awareness towards the oppression that China and other regions are still facing. For example, American contemporary artist and activist, Shepard Fairey created a screen print for the Brooklyn Museum’s 2014 retrospective of Ai Weiwei, one of China’s most popular dissident artists, which featured the artist’s portrait in shades of red (the signature color of propaganda posters) and which was made to pressure the government to give the artist his passport back.
On the other hand, Ai Weiwei by himself has also ventured into silkscreen printing through his series Year of the Ox (2021) released by Pace Prints. However, in this case, the artist took Andy Warhol’s style as inspiration for showcasing the theme of the heads of zodiac animals, which constituted a series of cultural artifacts stolen from China in the 19th century and which only have been partially returned to this country. This blend of styles and topics evidences how artists are influenced by a myriad of visual referents and contexts when creating socially charged artworks. That is to say not all dissident artists utilize Chinese art styles as inspiration but rather play with whatever referents speak to their vision.
With that being said, perhaps the Chinese dissident artist that most frequently recurs to poster making is Badiucao, a 35-year-old Chinese exile now based in Australia who on occasion includes the distinctive colors and composition of Chinese propaganda posters infusing his designs with a cartoon-like nature. Some of his recent posters, presented in an exhibition in Northern Italy, included a red background with cartoonish portraits of characters significant for Chinese contemporary history or were made as a way of denouncing China’s violation of human rights ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February. The posters, called Beijing 2022 Olympics, showed images related to the Olympics but included violent and oppressive acts, reported CNN.
Side by side with these artists, other Chinese dissident artists like performance and body art artist Sheng Qi, known for having cut off his pinkie finger as a protest for the Chinese government’s suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square rallies, have taken the style of propaganda posters as an inspiration for his powerful acrylic paintings depicting black and red scenes which denounce the oppression that the region has experienced in the past and present.
It is safe to say that Chinese propaganda posters have had long-lasting and far-reaching historical, sociological, and artistic implications and continue to inspire the work of many contemporary artists fighting for freedom within China and other regions, such as Thailand or Myanmar. It is refreshing to see how, in some instances, the same aesthetic that once was a synonym of oppression is now being reinterpreted as an effective tool of protest.
Images:
Ai Weiwei portrait by Shepard Fairey, 2014.
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/shepard-fairey-portrait-of-ai-weiwei-13
Ai Weiwei, Year of the Ox (2021), Pace Prints.
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/ai-weiwei-year-of-the-ox
Chinese dissident artist Badiucao poses next to his artwork series inspired by the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, on Nov 12, 2021. PHOTO: AFP.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinese-dissident-artist-defies-beijing-in-italian-show
Sheng Qi (1965), Red Mao, 2008, 240 x 180 cm, Acrylic on canvas
https://www.wiegersma.eu/artists/sheng-qi/red-mao
Feature Image Credit: The American Nuclear Bomb is Nothing but a Paper Tiger. Photograph: Robert Feliciano/Designer unknown