Painting History: China’s Revolution in a Global Context By Jiawe ...

The Cultural Revolution had ended some years back, but no groundbreaking works were emerging in history painting. There was a backlash against the repression of creative freedom, and large numbers of talented painters had turned to other styles. However, I was intent on specializing in history painting, and I began reading intensively and extensively to prepare myself to achieve that goal. At the time, my wife Wang Lan (b. 1953; artist) and I were living in Shenyang where I was a professional painter of the Liaoning Art Studio. I did not have my own studio, but as Lan was undertaking postgraduate studies at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts she had been allocated a studio with skylights. I took over her studio and started on my six-panel large-scale painting. When the leadership of my work unit heard that my painting would include all the important members of the 1930s CPC Central Committee, it was thought that the current CPC Politburo would have to be consulted. Fortunately, there was no interference or attempt to stop me, so I went ahead and decided on my own list of characters. In 1980, the CPC Central Committee issued an official document detailing some mistakes made by Mao Zedong, hence providing a less tense environment for me to work on my painting. There were designated forbidden areas, and persons deemed by CPC historians to be negative characters, like Lin Biao and Zhang Guotao, could not be painted in a positive way.²⁰ I decided to ignore the prohibitions but, to minimize the risk of having my painting stopped, I painted Lin Biao in profile while still locating him in the ranks of the generals, in fact, quite close to the central position. I also located Zhang Guotao at the right extremity of the painting, while still retaining the order of the Fourth Front Red Army.

At that time, the Cultural Revolution style of history painting still prevailed: Mao Zedong was portrayed as a demigod and was always taller than everyone else. I decided to change this, and placed him behind Zhou Enlai. Even though Mao remains at the center of the composition, he is treated as the equal of the other figures. I had read Zhang Guotao’s My Memoirs²¹ a few months earlier, while it was still banned, and it alluded to how Mao often smirked or had a wicked laugh.