Art in China in the 1960s and 1970s
(from 15th Apr 2011 until 15th Jan 2012)Explore woodblock prints and ink paintings from around the period of the Cultural Revolution in China.
Heroes and Heroines Are All Around
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Description
This print presents a harvest scene during the Cultural Revolution, when young intellectuals from cities settled in remote countryside to be ‘re-educated’ by farmers. The title is from a poem by Mao. Inspired by the prints of Chao Mei, the artist voluntarily applied to go to the Great Northern Wilderness region to be an agricultural worker. Zhang was trained in Western art during his study in the Middle School attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. From the late 1970s, Zhang’s prints gradually discarded the influence of propaganda and began to depict female figures with classical beauty.
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1970
- Artist/maker
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Zhang Chaoyang (born 1945) (printmaker)after Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao) (1893 - 1976) (author)
- Material and technique
- multi-block woodcut, printed with oil-based ink
- Dimensions
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mount 68.6 x 50.8 cm (height x width)
sheet 41.2 x 58.5 cm (height x width)
print 33.5 x 49 cm (height x width)
- Material index
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Purchased, 2007.
- Accession no.
- EA2007.90
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Further reading
Weimin He, and Shelagh Vainker, Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2007), no. 44 on p. 53, illus. p. 53
Past Exhibition
see (1)
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
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Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum
Beauty and freedom have been the goal of my aesthetic pursuit.
Zhang Chaoyang graduated from the Middle School attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, in 1964. The same year, inspired by Chao Mei’s (q.v.) prints, he voluntarily applied to go to the Great Northern Wilderness region and worked in 853 State Farm until the late 1980s, when he was appointed as a professional artist, and worked in the Heilongjiang Artists’ Association. His early woodcuts reflect his revolutionary passion, but from the late 1970s, his prints gradually discarded the influence of propaganda and began to depict female figures with classical beauty. Using water-soluble colour printing techniques, he created rich and subtle tones and made the woodcut comparable to painting. Recently he has used etching to depict nudes, a subject matter he underpins with symbolic meaning.
Notice
Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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