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Exhibition
Picturing Power:
Art and Propaganda in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
31.1.-28.2.2001 Universitätsmuseum Heidelberg
Chairman Mao Trusted Chairman Hua
Completely; The People and Army Warmly Endorse Him Too
Mao Zhuxi wuxian xinren Hua Zhuxi;
quanguo renmin relie yonghu Hua Zhuxi
Liu Renqing
1976, Beijing
After Mao’s death, artistic iconography
attempted to glorify his short-lived successor,
Chairman Hua. Hua Guofeng was a long-time
supporter of Mao and had given early positive
assessments of the Great Leap Forward in
1959. Promoted to the premiership after Zhou
Enlai’s death and briefly Mao’s
successor, he struggled with Deng Xiaoping for
power. He successfully arrested the Gang of
Four and, as the Cultural Revolution ended, he
became the focus of a shifting artistic
iconography. Depictions of Hua attempted to
glorify him and legitimize his term in power.
Note the vivid depiction of non-Han men and
women in regional dress, joining the
celebration.
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