“They said the Maos won’t work,” Eric Shiner, director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, said in an interview in Hong Kong. “This is disappointing because his imagery is so mainstream in Chinese contemporary art.”

A person familiar with the show, who asked not to be named because of the political sensitivity of the issue, confirmed the Mao works had been rejected by the Ministry of Culture. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond to faxed questions seeking comment today.

[…] According to the Christie’s auction website, Warhol chose Mao as “the ultimate star”, using an image of him taken from the portrait photograph reproduced in the Chairman’s so-called Little Red Book.

“He wasn’t being disrespectful,” Shiner said.

Christies’ Beatriz Ordovas commented that the portraits did “playfully subvert” the original image, its subject, and the personality cult that surrounded him. “These works were considered rare examples of a more political Warhol. However, it is likely that Warhol was drawn to Mao not through any Cold War connotations, but through the image’s mass appeal.”

Christies’ notes on a recently auctioned print further explain Warhol’s choice of Mao as the portraits’ subject:

Against the background of the Cold War and Nixon’s visit to China, the figure of Mao was one of the most reproduced images in the world. The origin of Warhol’s choice of this picture has traced back to a conversation between Warhol and the dealer Brubo Bischoftberger who suggested the idea of producing a series of work depicting the most important figure of the twentieth century, initially suggesting Albert Einstein. Thinking about this proposition, the artist is said to have replied, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea. But I was just reading in Life magazine that the most famous person in the world today is Chairman Mao. Shouldn’t he be the most famous person, Bruno?’

At Foreign Policy, Joshua Keating noted that Warhol’s incitement of playful subversion among Chinese artists may have influenced the decision to reject the prints:

Warhol was not a particularly political artist and was more interested in Mao’s status as a cultural icon than his actions or ideas. But some of China’s more daring contemporary artists have obviously been inspired by him. Ai Weiwei’s painting of a Coca-Cola logo on a Han dynasty vase is an obvious Warhol homage. There’s also pop art influence the work of the Gao brothers, whose most famous works depict Chairman Mao in a variety of compromising positions, including “as a kneeling penitent, with giant breasts, a detachable head, and in one of their most famous works, as a firing squad of clones about to execute Jesus Christ. “

[…] So while Warhol may never have intended his prints as a criticism of the Chairman, the authorities may not want any more subversive artists getting ideas.

There have also been recent calls for the real Mao to be removed from display in Beijing. The suggestion came amid efforts to reshape traditional funeral preferences, an issue brought to a head by a deeply unpopular campaign of grave-flattening to reclaim farmland in Henan. From The Economist:

Officials say it was not Mao’s wish for his body to be put on permanent display in a purpose-built hall covering nearly three hectares in the middle of Beijing. Soon after coming to power in 1949 he was reportedly the first leader to commit himself to being cremated, a practice advocated by the Communists who wanted to put an end to grave-building that wasted precious land. But despite the winding down of the cult of Mao in the years after his death in 1976, the mausoleum has remained inviolate. Calls for its dismantling have been all but taboo. Queues of tourists (especially Chinese ones) still form outside, eager for a glimpse of Mao’s waxen corpse.

[…] But an appeal by one scholar, Yuan Gang of Peking University, […] suggested that Mao’s body be removed from its “lavish” memorial hall in Tiananmen Square, cremated, and the ashes delivered to his ancestral home in Shaoshan in the central province of Hunan. This, said Mr Yuan in an article republished on several websites run by official newspapers, would allow Mao to “rest in peace forever” and give a boost to the government’s efforts to change burial customs. But his proposal is as likely to be adopted as farmers are to end their ancient practice of erecting higgledy-piggledy mounds on their tiny plots of land. In August a Beijing official confirmed (to the horror of some) that the government was likely to apply for the mausoleum to be listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site.

The portraits were previously the subject of controversy in 2009, when Obama critics took issue with a Warholian Mao ornament on one of the White House Christmas trees.

Beijing Cream has posted video from Warhol’s 1982 visit to China. The current exhibition, 15 Minutes Eternal, is showing at the Hong Kong Museum of Art until March 31.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Andy Warhol, art exhibition, artists, Beijing, funerals, Hong Kong, Mao portrait, Mao Zedong, Ministry of Culture, Shanghai
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Dealing with the new left requires some balancing for the party. Unlike the political activists who often oppose the party on democratic or human-rights grounds, the new leftists act as defenders of the vision Mao once laid out for China: Rejecting them outright would risk exposing party leaders to sensitive questions around the very foundation the party is built on.

[…] Political analysts say scenes of blue-collar workers and students embracing Maoist imagery and slogans during officially tolerated anti-Japanese protests in a number of Chinese cities last month underscored leaders’ fears that support for the new left could spread. Many protesters said in interviews the demonstrations were also a way to express dissatisfaction with what they see as weak party leadership and Beijing’s inability to protect China’s interests.

See also ‘People’s Daily Urges Nationalist’s Arrest‘, on the fallout from new leftist Han Deqiang’s slapping of an elderly man for “disrespecting” Mao Zedong during an anti-Japanese protest last month, and more on the new left via CDT.

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Post tags: anti-Japan demonstrations 2012, Bo Xilai, corruption, leftists, Mao portrait, Mao Zedong, maoism, new left, wealth gap
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From the May 23, 1989 New York Times:

As the capital ends its third day of martial law, Beijing is finding itself crippled by shortages and disruptions of vital services. In the absence of an effective government in parts of the city, only student rule seems to have averted total collapse in the city.

Mail delivery has become sporadic and traffic jams abound. Most subway and bus service has been suspended. As a result, workers are forced to ride bicycles or walk, and they often arrive late to work, if they arrive at all.

There are desperate shortages of gasoline, electricity, vegetables, milk and eggs. Some key roads into the city are blocked by military convoys and citizens surrounding them, and the distribution network seems to have been further hampered by roadblocks and demonstrations throughout the city. ‘Very Hard to Do Business’

”It’s very hard to do business now,” said a diplomat here. ”When we invited some officials to lunch, they said they couldn’t drive here because once they got out of their compound their drivers would join the demonstrators. So we had to send a diplomatic car to fetch them.”

From an op-ed by AM Rosenthal from the same day’s New York Times:

The truth of what has happened in China is so startling that even now the world hardly takes it in. For a time, the Government of the world’s most populous country has lost its power to govern and control the nation. When that happens a Government is in effect overthrown until it shows it can resume control.

Since no other authority is available to step in, the Chinese Government will probably be able to pull together what remains of its influence and summon the power to direct the nation once more.

But the fact that there was a time in May 1989 when the Government of China was overthrown as the real controlling authority will become part of China’s history and is certain to affect China’s future.

From beijing.may89, taken on May 23, 1989:
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Read the rest of Shortages and Anarchy Begin to Cripple Beijing (111 words)

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1989 protests, Mao portrait
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Two protesters who helped splatter Mao Zedong’s portrait with red paint during the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement 20 years ago have been granted political asylum in the United States, informed sources said.

Former journalist and art critic Yu Dongyue was the last of three protesters jailed by Chinese authorities for defacing Mao’s portrait to be freed. He was released in February 2006 after serving 17 years behind bars.

His family says he still suffers from severe mental impairment following repeated beatings in Chishan Prison, Yuanjiang city, in the central province of Hunan.

See also from CDT: China Releases Last Tiananmen ‘Hooligan’

© dwang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1989 protests, asylum, Mao portrait, Tiananmen, yu dongyue, Yu Zhijian
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The suspect was identified as Gu Haiou, 35, an unemployed man from the far western Chinese city of Urumqi, capital of the restive Xinjiang autonomous region, home to ethnic Uighurs…

China, with its booming capitalist-style economy and rising level of personal freedom, has turned much of the austere communism of the Mao era on its head. But the image of Mao remains sacrosanct, and its defamation is a serious crime.

Read also interesting comments on the incident and reporting thereof on ESWN, Beijing Newspeak, and Xinjiang Watch blogs. From Xinjiang Watch:

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Read the rest of Man Held in Attempt to Set Fire to Mao Portrait in Beijing – Ching-Ching Ni (77 words)

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Post tags: Mao portrait, social unrest, Uyghurs
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(...)
Read the rest of Photo Series: Mao’s Portrait Replaced After Vandal Attack (0 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing, Mao portrait, photos, Tiananmen Square
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A vandal damaged the giant portrait of China’s late Chairman Mao Zedong that hangs over the Forbidden City on Saturday, prompting police to clear the area and adjacent Tiananmen Square, witnesses said.

Most of the picture was intact, but workers could be seen in a crane cleaning the lower left area of the huge portrait, which appeared damaged by soot after the vandal hurled a burning object at it. Police were swarming the area. [Full text]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mao portrait, Tiananmen Square
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One of the art works you won’t be seeing at the Beijing human rights exhibition is Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of an iconic guy, Chairman Mao. The painting found a new owner at a Christie’s auction:

Andy Warhol‘s sensational portrait of Mao Zedong, considered a landmark of 20th century art, was sold to Hong Kong collector and real estate developer Joseph Lau for US$16.4 million, plus a US$1 million commission, on Wednesday night in New York, Christie’s auction house said….[Full Text]

© Sophia Cao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: arts, Mao portrait
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According to China Daily, People walked around and even used their mobile phones to take photos of a huge portrait of Sun Yat-sen, who now is widely recognized as the nation’s modern founder. The portrait is part of festive installations in Tiananmen Square to mark the coming National Day which falls on October 1. [Another Photo]

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Post tags: Mao portrait, National Day, photos, Sun Yat-sen, Tiananmen Square
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It happens every year, under cover of darkness, in the waning days of September. The giant portrait of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Square ” he of the Mona Lisa gaze, flushed cheeks and trademark gray suit ” is spirited away and replaced by a new Mao. He looks just like the old Mao.

So little is known about the making (or rather, remaking) of this iconic image, it might as well have materialized out of thin air.

“This venture was considered by the party to be top secret,” said Wu Hung, an art historian at the University of Chicago. “It is not just a painting. It represents Mao himself. People were supposed to worship this image. They wanted to take the artistic and human elements out. Nobody is allowed to ask who did the image. It just magically appears.”

Who, then, is the phantom Leonardo da Vinci of Tiananmen Square? [Full Text]

© Mo Ming for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mao portrait, Mao Zedong, Tiananmen Square
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The auction of a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong was cancelled on Friday after the owner said he might donate it to a Chinese museum.

The painting, owned by a Chinese American, was expected to fetch 1-1.2 million yuan (US$120,000-150,000) at the upcoming auction in Beijing.

But the plan led to intense online criticism when it was revealed a week ago, with many people saying the portrait was a national treasure and should not be sold.

© Sophia Cao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: art market, Mao portrait
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In a decision that is stirring wide debate in Chinese Internet chat rooms, a Chinese-American collector plans to sell a renowned official portrait of Mao at auction in Beijing on June 3.

Some argue that the 1950 portrait, the model for a big painting of Mao in Tiananmen Square, should go to a national museum.

The owner has not been identified. The state-controlled Huachen Auction Company in Beijing has said the auction is open to anyone, and that the buyer would be allowed to take the painting outside the country. The auction house estimates that it will sell for at least $120,000.

See also “Chinese netizens oppose auction of Mao Zedong’s portrait” from People’s Daily (link).

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: art market, Internet activism, Mao portrait, Mao Zedong
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A portrait of China’s founding communist leader is getting the ultimate capitalist treatment.

The painting of Mao Zedong that was used as a model for portraits hung above Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in the 1950s and ’60s will be sold at auction June 3.

The painting is expected to bring $120,000-$150,000 at the sale, which is open to both Chinese and foreign bidders, said Mei Ligang, a spokesman for Beijing Huachen Auctions.

The 36-by-27-inch picture, known as a “mother copy,” was used by artists who painted Mao portraits that hung on the Tiananmen Gate, Mei said. He said the painting for sale never hung above the square, while copies that did have been lost.

See also Xinhua’s “Auction of Mao portrait sparks debate” (link); – Tiananmen Square Media Library’s Mao’s portrait, Mao’s videos; – Radio Free Asia’s “Mao Portrait Protester Freed, Travels to Canada” (link); – the New York Times’ ” Teacher Who Defaced Mao Portrait Gets Life” (link); PhotoSearch’s Mao portrait stock (link)

© Michael Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: auction, Beijing, Mao portrait, mother copy, Tiananmen Square
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