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The Watercolor Series 1977
This series of watercolors was produced in 1977 following a major flood in
Yan’an. As many as forty paintings were initially produced, but
today less than twenty are assumed to remain. The collection was later
discarded because it was conside red overly political and representative of
a period in Communist China’s history that was a “dark age” for
artistic expression. Song
Ruxin, one member of the group that painted the series, eventually recovered
the collection, but the majority of the paintings were destroyed due to water
damage.
Working alongside other members of the Yan’an Masses Art Studio, Jin
Zhilin directed the project. Produced in a style still resembling the “revolutionary
romanticism” of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the paintings use
bright colors and portray a close relationship between the masses, the Communist
Party, and the military. In most every painting are certain famous Yan’an
landmarks such as the pagoda that had become a symbol of the Communists’ revolutionary
headquarters from 1936 to 1949.
The objective of the project was to give encouragement to those affected by
the flood and encourage those involved in the cleanup efforts. In this
way the artists were devoting their talents to “serve the people,” a
Maoist dictum for artists set out by Mao in his speech at the Yan’an
Forum on Art and Literature” in 1942.
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