This
auction is for a rare original 1970 Chinese propaganda poster of a male character holding a pistol from one of the famed revolutionary operas or model operas, Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. The poster is stamped "Made in China" because it was intended for export to promote China in the west.
From Wiki: Revolutionary operas or model operas (Chinese: yangban xi, 样板戏) were a series of shows planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) by Jiang Qing, the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong. They were considered revolutionary and modern in terms of thematic and musical features when compared with traditional Chinese operas. Many of them were adapted to film.
This
is an original poster – it is not a reproduction.
The item comes from a significant, wide-ranging collection
of posters and other rare
collectibles of the era acquired 30 years ago from sources in
mainland China.
These posters
were produced
to be very much of the moment, printed by the government to
convey information to a then widely-illiterate public. Many
were intended to depict an idealized vision of the Communist
state.
They were not
intended to
be durable art. Like advertising, they were colorful,
pleasing, and meant to be replaced by new posters as they
came along. Therefore, many did not survive. It’s possible
this may
be one of the few remaining copies.
NOTES:
Objects in four corners of poster are magnets holding the
poster for photography. There is no yellowing on white
border - it's the limitations of our photography lighting. Also, if the photo appears slightly off-kilter, it's because of our photography limitations.
Shipping: Free
USPS Priority Mail; poster ships rolled in a sturdy
cardboard poster tube
Category: Arts & culture, Revolutionary model opera or ballet
Subject: Male character from Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
Size: 30 inches
x 21 inches (76 cm x 53 cm)
Year: 1970
Condition: Near-Excellent
Issues: Minor wrinkles lower-left corner; a few faint creases that will frame out; negligible age-foxing
From
the 2015 book, Chinese Propaganda Posters by Stefan R.
Landsberger:
(Through)
its long history, the Chinese political system used the
arts to propagate correct behavior and thought.
Literature, poetry, painting, stage plays, songs, and
other artistic expressions were produced to entertain, but
they also were given an important (educational) function:
they had to educate the people in what was considered
right and wrong at any one time.
...Once the People's
Republic was established in 1949, propaganda art continued
to be one of the major means to provide examples of
correct behavior. But it also gave a concrete expression
to many different policies, and to the many different
visions of the future the Chinese Communist Party had over
the years. In a country with as many illiterates as China
had in the 1940s and 1950s, this method of visualizing
abstract ideas and...educating the people worked
especially well. Propaganda posters, which were cheaply
and easily produced, became one of the most favored
vehicles for this type of communication.
...The most talented
artists were employed to visualize the political trends of
the moment in quite detailed fashion. Many of them had
worked on the commercial calendars that had been so
popular before the People's Republic was founded...Their
aim was to portray the future in the present, not only
showing "life as it really is," but also "life as it ought
to be."
...The content of the
posters was largely taken up with the topics of politics
and economic reconstruction that dominated China after
1949. Hyper-realistic, ageless, larger-than-life peasants,
soldiers,
workers, and youngsters in dynamic poses peopled the
images. They pledged allegiance to the Communist cause, or
obedience to Chairman
Mao Zedong, or were engaged in the glorious task of
rebuilding the nation.
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