Mao's paintings in Cultural Revolution and contemporary Chinese Art Term Paper

Mao's paintings in Cultural Revolution and contemporary Chinese Art - Term Paper Example The essay "Mao's paintings in Cultural Revolution and contemporary Chinese Art" discovers the Chinese contemporary Art and Mao's paintings in the context of Evaluation of Political Implication. This essay shall focus on the paintings of Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution of China and upon the matrix of the paintings by Zedong; a comparative study of the contemporary Chinese art shall enable to comprehend the different political messages inherent in the paintings evolving in different periods of Chinese history and cultural history. In order to compare the paintings of Mao during the Cultural Revolution in China with that of contemporary Chinese art, it is quintessential to understand the fact at the outset of the essay itself regarding the sources of the images of Mao Zedong in the Chinese art. If the span of leadership and influence of Mao Zedong is introspected from a close contour, it culminates into an inference that Zedong has reigned in the Chinese political regime for i n excess of a half century. This tenure is quite elaborate in nature; as a result the Chinese culture and art also underwent massive changes within the stipulated time frame. Not only did Chinese culture and society experience a massive change but also the Chinese art was not spared from the transformation the society was experiencing. In a very unprecedented manner, Chinese art experienced reforms that were related largely with its ideologies and presentations. Captivating the imprints of the revolutionary era., Chinese art evolved as one of the most celebrated and important facets of history of art in the world. Mao was dead but his physical death did not cease his eventual influence upon the people of China. Yan Shanchun correctly remarks in the essay, â€Å"The Image of Mao Zedong and Contemporary Chinese Art†, â€Å"Maoist’s thoughts on literature and art, and indeed his image, were the imperative factors in Chinese art movements in the entire later half of the t wentieth century† (Jiehong, 2007). It has been very rightly observed that most of the portraits of Mao Zedong have been sketched from the photographs of the great leader. The photographs of Mao since the initiation of the art of photography during the middle of the nineteenth century influenced the portraiture of Zedong. With the growing years, the influence of the soviet communist leaders on the cultural domain of China started gaining grounds. If the China’s political ideology is revised then it can be well observed that during the late 1950s the ideological foundation of China’s political philosophy found its base from the two elements; Marxism–Leninism evolved as a pure theory and the thought process of Mao Zedong acted as a practical ideology, a thought that was executed. And, in the similar fashion, the communist leaders were being worshipped in the houses and streets of Russia, the portrait of Mao Zedong started appearing in the walls, stations and important crossing across the country enabling a rage of personal cult worshipping in China (Chineseposters.net, 2013). Comparison While executing the introspection of the paintings of the great leader Mao Zedong during the years of Cultural Revolution and after the siege of the revolution which falls under the era of the contemporary Chinese art, a great variety in the size, transformation regarding the strategies of painting propagandas, and compositions