The Golden Age of History Painting of the People's Republic of China (1949–1966): Origins, Searches, Achievements

Abstract

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, paintings of the history genre were considered mainly as a tool for implementing state tasks. The golden age of Chinese history painting was between 1949 and 1966. During this period, the political demands of the authorities, whose primary focus was on the themes of the revolutionary struggle, the most important historical events and characters, contributed to the active development of history painting, which became one of the foundations of the fine arts of China. The characteristic features of the golden age of Chinese history painting were, on the one hand, the popularisation of painting as an art form and, on the other hand, the predominance of dominating positions of realism over the traditional styles of Chinese painting. It is noted that during this period, two main plots became widespread: scenes of socialist construction and historical events of the revolution. Since 1950, Chinese fine art had been under the powerful influence of Soviet art. The PRC borrowed the system of higher art education from the Soviet Union. Numerous Soviet publications on the history and theory of art, textbooks, and critical articles were translated into Chinese. Owing to large-scale exhibitions of Soviet art, Chinese masters began to study the works of Soviet socialist realism, which created the basis for the "creation of socialist art". Due to cultural exchange with the Soviet Union, the oil painting technique became widespread in China as well as a new creative method - realism, recognised as the main direction of Chinese painting. Considerable merit in the formation of new principles of Chinese painting belongs to the work of Soviet professors who taught Chinese artists in oil painting at the Central Institute of Fine Arts in Beijing. Among them, we especially note K.Maksimov, a famous Soviet artist and professor at the Moscow Surikov State Art Institute. In addition, in the USSR in 1952, the first group of Chinese students was sent to study at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture by order of the Chinese government. It should be noted that later, in their homeland, they headed the leading art universities in China. Thus, outstanding works of Chinese history painting on social and revolutionary themes appeared, which immediately began to be regarded as innovative, taking a dominant place in exhibitions and permanent expositions of new museums that were actively created during this period in the PRC. The spread of the theory of Soviet socialist realism accelerated the development of oil painting in the PRC. It contributed to the fact that realism became the main direction of painting in the second half of the 20th century.