Artist: Fu Baoshi
Date: 1958
Size: 138 x 69 cm
Technique: Paper
In 1957 Mao Zedong dedicated a poem to Li Shuyi (1901–1997), whose husband was killed fighting the Nationalists in 1933, about the time Mao’s first wife died. The poem, which likens the deceased to a poplar and a willow, imagines their ascent to the moon, where they are welcomed by the Moon Goddess and Wu Gang. The poem concludes with a celebration of the Nationalists’ eventual defeat, bringing forth tears of joy from the heavens. Fu Baoshi’s painting shows the legendary figures greeting the “good souls,” while down on earth red revolutionary flags dot a vast expanse. Flying willow leaves and falling rain fill the space between. The inclusion of Fu’s painting—with its traditional Chinese subject matter and technique—in the 1958–59 Art Exhibition from Socialist Countries in Moscow signaled China’s departure from strict Soviet-style, social-realist orthodoxy during a new era of de-Stalinization.
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