Essays from the International

Academic Seminar to the Memory for the

11 0 Anniversary or LIN, FENGMIAN'S Birthday

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115 Lin Fengmian' s Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

Lin Fengmian' s Legacy DlJring the Cultural Revolution: The Case of Two Courageous Watercolors Katharine P. Burnett

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Lin Fengmian **JAD~ (1900-1991) is known for advocating the hybridization of

European modernist techniques and aesthetics with Chinese forms and topics. As the first

Director of the prestigious National West Lake Academy of Art (later named the National

Hangzhou Academy of Art) in Hangzhou from 1928-1937, Lin had a solid platform from

which to argue for this guiding principle. His instruction and approaches were highly

influential during the late 1920s through the 1940s. In the late twentieth century, his ideas were

called upon again at the China Academy of Art (successor to the National Hangzhou Academy

of Art) by students and professors as they sought to move past the socialist realist modes

that had dominated the art world during the Cultural Revolution. Through the art of his most

famous followers, Li Keran *PJ~ (1907-1989), Wu Guanzhong ~Ja9=J (1919-2010), Zao

Wou-ki iMXfbZ (Zhao Wuji, b. 1921), and Zhu Dequn *If;ff (b. 1920), Lin Fengmian' s

ideas, if not his idiosyncratic style, have continued into the twenty-first century.' What has not

yet been studied, however, is Lin's legacy during the Cultural Revolution. This paper aims

to do just that though the examination of a pair of watercolor paintings in the Propaganda Art

Poster Center, Shanghai. (Figs.l-2) In these unrecorded and previously unpublished works,

the anonymous artist courageously records an event from this difficult period of China' s

history using the European modernist aesthetics and techniques championed by Lin Fengmian.

Fig.!. [X] Chunyu, Down wi th the Four Olds, undated, Fig.2 [X] Chunyu, At the Gate, dated 1968, watercolor watercolor on paper, 40cmX 53cm.. Propaganda Art Poster on paper. 40cm X 53cm., Propaganda Art Postor Cenler. Center, Shanghai. Shanghai.

While the argument in this paper is tentatively offered, it is hoped that it will spur discussion

and greater understanding of this materia1.

It must be acknowledged that Lin Fengmian and the National West Lake Academy of

Art were not the only ones championing modernism and a new curricular approach during

the first half of the twemieth century. After all, several of Lin Fengmian' s peers had also

trained in the European modernist aesthetic in Europe and Japan during the early decades of

the twentieth century. Some, such as Liu Haisu ~IJ;iRJ~ (1896-1994) and Yan Wenliang Wi Jt;fm (1893-1988) even founded major art schools upon their return to China.2 And, because

the artist of the paintings under discussion here is anonymous-the paintings are unsigned and

stylistically not close enough to any established artist to invite a solid attribution-although

they do bear some general similarities in style and approach to watercolors by Li Yongsen

$g,:k** (1898-1998), such as Shanghai General Post Office, ca. 1950-1980 (Fig.3) itis

impossible to know if he or she ever studied with Lin Fengmian or even trained at the National

West Lake Academy of Art rather than at one of the other art schools operating at this time.

Based on stylistic analysis of the works, however, it is reasonable to suppose that the

artist did learn the basic message promoted by the Lin Fengmian curriculum regardless of the

source of this knowledge, be it Lin Fengmian himself, his instructors at the Academy, or for

that matter, instructors at other important art schools who also promoted the hybridization of

European and Chinese modes. In spite of this, because of Lin Fengmian' s commitment to

117 Lin Fengmian' S Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

the modernist idiom, the prominence of

this approach at the National West Lake

Academy of Art, and the importance of

the Academy itself during the first half

of the twentieth century, in this paper

Lin Fengmian is taken as the index for

hybridization during this time. To be clear,

it is Lin' s hybrid approach to modernist

painting rather than his formal style or his

academic relationship to this anonymous

artist that provides the link between the

watercolors under discussion and Lin

Fengmian.

The two paintings being considered here, Down with the Four Olds and At the Gate,

share the same theme. Down with the Four Olds announces its subject matter through interior

text, whereas in At the Gate, the narrative is implicit. The event is a day during the Red

Guards' campaign against the "Four 0 Ids. "

The campaign against the Four Olds was initiated in August 1966, with the beginning of

the Cultural Revolution. It reached its height in 1968, and ended informally in 1969, though

the Cultural Revolution continued until Mao' s death in 1976. As the Cultural Revolution

was traumatic for most everyone, just one year later, in 1977, the central committee of the

Communist Party publicly denounced the Cultural Revolution? With these two watercolor

paintings, the artist bears witness to events of the period and in so doing, censures its

campaign of terror.

As is well known, in 1966 Chairman Mao Zedong (=5~* 1893-1976) encouraged all

students to become Red Guards (Hongweibing U~~) and fight a revolution on the cultural

level, taking aim at what were termed the Four Olds (si jiu 1m IS), by which Mao meant

old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs. Although his own political targets were

individuals such as Liu Shaoqi (){IJY'-ru- 1898-1969) and other older, established Communist

fig.3 Li Yongsen, Shanghai General Post Office, ca. 1950­1980, watercolor on paper, 28. OcmX39. 5cm., Shanghai Art Museum. (Source: Shanghai: Art of the Ci ty, Michael Knight, ed., San francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2010, fig. 24.)

118

Party members whom Mao believed were thwarting his

efforts, Mao did not share this fact with the Red Guards,

who were encouraged to destroy anything representing

the Four Olds, including texts of classical and religious

learning, ancient architecture, artwork, antiques, and

individuals whose professions suggested expertise in any

of these areas.

Both paintings look to be from the hand of the same

Fig.4 [X] Chunyu, Down wi th the Four artist. Painted in watercolor on heavy watercolor paper,

Olds, detai I of painted seal. Propaganda Art Poster Center, Shanghai. (Not to

they share the same format, medium, dimensions, theme,

scale. ) palette, style, technique, and aesthetic. Because of these

factors and their common theme, they are likely also to share a close or same date.

Down with the Four Olds is without a signature, but is stamped at the lower right with an

awkwardly carved white-character seal. Upon closer inspection, it is evident that the archaic

style characters were actually painted onto the surface. (Fig.4) The first character (in the top

right corner) is in the place of a surname, and evades deciphering. The rest of the characters

read, Chunyu yin ;{f ~Itl f~. Therefore, the legend of the seal reads, "seal of [Xl Chunyu."

Although [Xl Chunyu cannot be identified at this time and appears to be an obscure though

talented artist, because the name "Chunyu" (Spring Rain) has a feminine cast, the artist is

recognized here as a woman, and in this paper, [Xl Chunyu is attributed as the artist of these

works.

The other painting, At the Gate, is without a seal or signature. It has suffered much water

damage, and two large areas in the lower right appear to have been washed off. Perhaps they

once carried an inscription making the artist' s identity and thoughts even more explicit, and

were removed to protect her from political reprisal. This painting does, however, bear a simple

inscription in the lower left comer recording the number 68, presumably indicating the year

1968.

Although' 68 is written on At the Gate, it may be that this work was not painted until

the 1980s, when artists felt they had the freedom to choose their own topics and styles once

119 Lin Fengmian' s Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

again. Additionally, as it is recognized that artists generally did not sign or date their works

during the Cultural Revolution,4 it would be surprising for an artist to sign and date her work

during that time. Even more, it would be an act of extraordinary courage for her to paint in

the Western European expressionistic mode in which these watercolors are executed. After

all, these scenes are not done in the requisite socialist-realist style; they do not champion

Mao' s ideology and the actions of the Red Guards. They are not ~ft:;t hong guang liang,

"red, bright, and shiny." And, to add even further support for the unlikelihood of a 1968

date for these works, it was in 1963, just a few years before the Cultural Revolution began,

that an exhibition by Lin Fengmian was heavily criticized in the prominent arts journal

Meishu; that critic Yu Feng' s praise of the exhibition was condemned; and that Meishu

fonnally apologized in print for publishing Mi Gu' s *~ article, "I Love Lin Fengmian' s

Paintings," 5 as Michael Sullivan has pointed out.6 The likelihood of anyone choosing to

follow or celebrate Lin Fengmian' s style or intellectual lead in 1968 is thereby reduced

greatly. Therefore, it may be that [Xl Chunyu recalled a specific event in 1968, painted it

from memory long after the fact, and wrote ' 68 on At the Gate to reclaim the moment.

Circumstantial evidence would seem to make a case for a later execution of the work.

Nevertheless, there also is such a thing as visual evidence, and the visual facts in these

paintings seem to argue otherwise. These paintings do not communicate a message of "This

is what happened then; look how horrible," but rather. "This is what is happening now.

Look!" The scenes are too carefully painted: the reds and greens juxtapose and blend too

meticulously, the sites too lovingly depicted for bile and bitterness to dominate. (Fig.5) The

mood in these paintings is neither angry nor nostalgic, but resigned. It seems that the artist,

having little choice but to yield to the tragedies unfolding before her eyes, nonetheless did not

~ • condone them. The immediacy of the representations suggests a sense of horror and urgency

felt by an observer haunted by the Red Guards' actions; one who deemed it incumbent at

long last to act despite great personal risk, and to record what she witnessed right then and

right there -- or more likely, with the day' s events seared into her memory, in the privacy of

her studio. It would be likely that that is where she recorded the events, and then put the works

'~ • quietly away.

120

Because what is happening in

these paintings must have occurred

when the terror of the period was at ils

height, and just before Mao was finally

able to reign in the mayhem performed

by the dedicated Red Guards in 1968.

The artist seems to have chosen the

understated aesthetic as the way in

which she could maintain her self­

esteem and sanity in the face of atrocity.

This could have given her as well a

sense of self-preservation despite her

acts of political disobedience. Because

of the sotto voce aesthetic, therefore, a

Fig.5 [x] Chunyu, Dow'll wi th tho Four Oids, detai 1. Propaganda close reading of the visual facts suggests Art Poster C nter, Shanghai. (Photograph provided by the author. ) that these paintings may well have been

made in the first years of the Four Olds

campaign, and that despite all rational and convincing arguments to the contrary, the year

inscribed on At the Gate, 1968, could actually be the year in which these two works were

painted after all.

In Down with the Four aids, the topic is announced to all who can read Chinese: 11"

fill [918 (dadao sijiu), Down with the Four aids, in a slogan forcefully painted twice in large,

stiff, red characters on both sides of the exterior wall of a gated compound. The uniform

inelegance of these characters suggests that they represent not only the convenience of a

stencil, but also a level of literacy of individuals barely schooled, suitable for use by the

youthful Red Guards whose education was interrupted by the closing of schools during

the Cultural Revolution. Only parts of each slogan appear in the painting, as they are

naturalistically cut off by the edge of the surface support. No maUer, the slogan is so familiar,

and no doubt chilling to those who Jived through the time, that one does not need the full

121 Lin Fengmian' s Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

four-character expression ([g1--=f, sigezi) intact to understand its meaning. Similarly, though

illegible, pasted on the left door of the gateway is a large white sheet of paper of the type the

PRe government posted announcing its most current policy, its authority enhanced by the

additional vertical colored official strip-signs (also illegible) on the door and nearby column

base, signs that no doubt amplify the larger document' s content.

The authority of the new policy is contrasted against another, older exhortation. This,

appearing in a traditional greeting to all who would enter the compound, and now, as an

ironic message to all who would read the painting, is a character carved on the stone spirit

wall standing just inside the doorway. It is the giant character :ffli (fu) for "Good Fortune,"

"Blessings," or "Happiness." This character was a commonplace in doorways and in the

latticework of windows and balustrades of elegant old structures. Although such stone inscriptions

could be written in any of the early Chinese scripts, this fu is written in cursive script (caoshu), a

script developed from the ancient master, Wang Xizhi CE~Z., 303-361). Therefore, it implicitly

suggests not only a familiarity with one of China' s noble ancient traditions, but also and

especially in contrast with the stenciled slogan of illiterate masses on the exterior walls, an

allegiance to the educated intellectual class felt by members of the establishment within.

And what of the establishment itself? Depicted in Down with the Four Olds is a walled

compound of a private estate or temple with what may be assumed is a centrally placed

gate. Its antiquity is suggested by the Ming or Qing Dynasty stone carvings flanking the

doorway. The damaged stone sculptures standing near the gate attest that items, which once

enhanced the importance of the site, have been destroyed. The frayed and shabby condition

of the wooden doors and interior eaves emphasizes that the glory days of this establishment

have passed. The newly labeled status of the compound as a signifier of the Four Olds only

reinforces its current run-down condition.

As for the other painting of this pair, At the Gate, no obvious "Down with the Four

Olds" signs appear; only two small vertical labels are pasted askew on the brick wall, and

another on the wooden doorway. These are similar to the ones in Down with the Four Olds.

Their inscriptions, much smaller in scale than the large slogan on the walls of Down with

the Four Olds, though illegible, no doubt reinforce the anti-Four Olds policy. Nevertheless,

122

the purpose of the Red Guards'

clearly indicated by the jumbled contents

of the prominently placed pick-up truck

parked outside the gate of a brick-walled

temple compound. Within the monastery, a

three-by-three bay bell or drum tower rises

serenely,7 its Ming Dynasty eaves rising up

gently at their ends. Filled past the brim, the

truck bed holds a large carved wooden table

with delicate fretwork, a carved wooden

clothes stand, and a sizable wooden chest for

Fig.6 [X] At the Gate, Propaganda Art valuables. Set off against the browns of theChunyu, detail. Poster Center, Shanghai. (Photograph prov ided by the au thor. ) furniture in the truck-and in the center of the

entire composition -- is also a large porcelain

incense burner, its large scale proclaiming the high-quality craftsmanship of its production, its

blue-and-white decorated sides not just implying but in this instance implicating the temple's

association with the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, and thus, that this temple once had imperial

patronage and elite status. (Fig.6)

And the Red Guards? Two stand quietly by the cab of the truck, their hands at their

sides or clasped behind the back. Their identity is anonymous, their faces without features,

though from the painting of their hair styles, one senses a boy and a girl. They wail.

Something is happening within. Another Red Guard stands in the doorway of the gate, even

less distinguishable than the other two. He (one presumes a male from his taller stance) faces

inward, and also stands motionless. Their positions suggest all wait knowingly, and give a

sense as well that they stand with the mixed emotions of the virtuousness that comes with

fulfilling their political responsibilities and the remorse at their acts of aggression.

In both paintings, the brushwork and coloration is understated and subtle. The soft colors

and controlled brushwork emphasize light effects and a quiet atmosphere. Simply presented.

as if with no judgment from the artist on the matters at hand, the scenes are gentle, lyrical.

123 Lin Fengmian' s Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

even pretty. Only the viewer' s knowledge of the tragedies taking place marks these paintings

as horrific.

So what have these two early Cultural Revolution period paintings to do with Lin

Fengmian? The short answer is: style and technique. As noted above, when Director of the

National West Lake Academy of Art, Lin Fengmian advocated a hybridization of European

styles with Chinese characteristics. These paintings evince a European style and Chinese

subject matter to be sure. The long answer, however, is more interesting.

Obviously, these paintings are made in a Western style, where "Western" stands for

cultures of Western Europe and the US. But "the West" has many styles, and the Chinese

artists in the twentieth century learned many of them, and from diverse sources. Therefore, the

question is, which style is used here? This question is important because style is frequently

coded with political meaning. What style is being summoned for these paintings?

Among the various Western styles available to the Chinese closed off from contact with

art movements in Western Europe and the US during the Cold War, one would reasonably

expect paintings made during the height of the Cultural Revolution to be in styles promoted

by Mao' s regime. At this time, Mao' s wife and adviser on cultural affairs, Jiang Qing rr. II (1914-1991), promoted paintings in the socialist-realist style of the Soviet Union, in which

a red palette predominates, subjects are joyful, compositions feature heroic representations

of workers, peasants, and soldiers, and themes celebrate Mao' s chairmanship and ideology.

An example of such work is Chairman Mao' s Heart Beats as One with the Hearts of the

Revolutionary Masses, ca. 1967 (Fig.7).

Yet, this pair of watercolors obviously was not done in the socialist-realist manner, a

style antithetical to the modernist and formalist art with an "art for art' s sake" attitude

championed by Lin Fengmian and others.~ Though naturalistic, the watercolors do not display

a cheerful and happy tone. Their depiction of the Red Guards is neither in dramatic and large

scale, nor is it joyful. Moreover, these paintings are not of one of the eight proscribed topics

that Jiang Qing approved artists to depict during these years. These factors tell us that the

anonymous artist of these watercolors disputed Jiang Qing' s ideals for art and culture.

Rather, these watercolor paintings with their lush yet subdued palette dominated by

124

rig.7 Anonymous, Chairman Mao's Hearl Beats as One with the Hearts of the Revolutionary Masses, ca. 1967, oil on canvas, location unknown. (Sour e: China Reconstructs. vol. xvi i. no. 2 (Feb. 1968), pp. 22-23.)

shades of gray, and blended brushwork of small patches of juxtaposed reds and greens speak

to another mode of European-style painting, a mode championed by Lin Fengmian and others.

Whereas Lin' s own paintings featured compositions of flying geese in bleak landscapes

(Fig.8), or ebullient Matisse and Modigliani-inspired figures (Fig.9), it is not Lin' s own style

that [X] Chunyu has incorporated, except perhaps his melancholy, but rather, Lin's ideas­

that though art be created for art' s sake, it would ultimately serve social causes.

[X] Chunyu has taken a relatively apolitical mode of painting initially created in an "art

for art' s sake" environment: European-style impressionism (the broken brush strokes.

blocks of neutral grays and browns that upon inspection reveal themselves to be lush stippling

of reds and greens. (Figs. 5 and 6). arbitrary cropping of the vista, the seemingly random

placement of the figures, deliberate casualness of the composition and expressionism (an

emotional dimension, though here, tragically stated), and made it political a la Lin Fengmian.

It seems she has accepted Lin's corollary to the "art for art's sake" dictum: "[A]

fter an artist produces a work, what is exhibited with this artwork will ultimately influence

society. What appears in art will impact reality." 9 Because these paintings are not in the

soviet-socialist mode, and the Red Guards' activities are not painted in the requisite joyful

and aggrandizing manner, it is apparent that the artist here is courageously though privately

confronting the state policy of Cultural Revolutionary period.

125 Lin Fengmian' 5 Legacy During the Cultural Revolution

Fig.8 Lin Fengmi an, Fly i ng Geese in Landscape, unda ted, ink and co 1or on Fig 9 Un Fengmi an, Nude, c. 1934, oi I paper, 69.2cmX 131. 3cm., Mactaggart Art Collection, University of Alberta, on canvas, 80. 7cmX63. Zcm, Hong EdIIonlon, Canada. Kong: Christie' s Auction Hous~

At the National West Lake Academy of Art, Lin Fengmian aimed to "introduce Western

art, organize Chinese art, harmonize Chinese and Western art, and create the art of our

time." 10 With his training in France and Germany in the early 19208 in the various modernist

art modes including French Postimpressionism and Fauvism, and especially under the tutelage

in Paris of Fernand Cormon (1845-1924), instructor to many including Henri de Toulouse­

Lautrec (1864-1901) and Vincent van Gogh (l853-1R90), Lin was in a position to make this

happen, "both through his example and through his hiring decisions." 11 Not only were

these styles taught at the Academy, but also Lin' s emphasis on the expression of subjective

feeling in art was respected. 12 Indeed, Lin Fengmian' s approach "dominated the Hangzhou

academy" even after he had left it in the 1940s.13 Although Lin Fengmian' s approach to

painting fell by the wayside during the 1950s-60s when the PRC promoted soviet-socialist

realism, [Xl Chunyu' s two watercolor paintings purposefully and courageously called upon

the models and attitudes championed by Lin Fengm.ian to show harmonized compositions of

Western modernism with Chinese characteristics and personal convictions.

If one accepts that 1968 is the date of these works, it is reasonable to deduce that the

artist was not a participant in the events recorded in these paintings, and therefore not a Red

Guard, but someone older than the members of that youthful group, with the life experience,

artistic training, intellectual independence, and maturity to withstand many of the pressures

126

of the time. This would have been an artist who loved her country, but recognized the atrocity

of cultural desecration. This suggests someone who was older than her teens or twenties

in 1968; perhaps someone who was of middle age or older. Moreover, since this set of

paintings is done in an impressionistic European style promoted by Lin Fengmian, it is

possible that [Xl Chunyu was a young adult at some point during the 1920s to 1940s when she

could have learned about the ideals and techniques of Lin Fengmian in the first place.

Even if one prefers a post Cultural Revolution date of the 1980s for these watercolors,

the sensitivity of the artist' s brush and the immediacy of the representations in these scenes

still demonstrate a personal connection to the events. To be sure, the technique and style

utilized point to an artist who learned the Lin Fengmian approach and used it to record events

experienced during the Cultural Revolution.

Endnotes

1. Julio F. Andrews and Kuiyi Shen, The Arts of Modern China, Berkeley: University of California

Press, forthcoming, Ch. 3, pp. 34-35.

2. Liu Haisu founded the Shanghai Art Academy (Shanghai Meizhuan L~jt-t, in 1912. Yon

Wen liang BJ()c tfE (1893-1988) founded the Suzhou Art Academy (Suzhou Meizhuan 1t1tl jt-t) in

1922. See Julio F. Andrews, Pointers and Politics in the People's Republic of China, 1949-1979,

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994, pp. 52-54.

3. Regarding the denouncement, see Andrews and Shen, Arts of Modern China, Ch. 10, p. 1.

4. Yang Peiming, email to the author, September 29, 2010.

5. Mi Gu -*~, "Wo ai Lin Fengmian de hua" ft't#JX\.llKirJ@i r "I Love Lin Fengmian's

paintings" J, Meishu «jt#)) , 5, 1961, pp. 50-52.

6. Michael Sullivan, Art and Artists of Twentieth-Century Chino, Berkeley: University of California

Press, 1996, p. 151.

7. Bell and drum towers tend to be built in small, three by three bay scale. Of all the structures

within a Buddhist compound, they ore generally placed closest to the entry gate.

8. Andrews and Shen, Arts of Modern China, Ch. 7, p. 7.

9. Shan Guolin (He Li, trans.), "Modern Art and Culture in Shanghai, 1840-1940", in Shanghai:

127 Lin Fengmian' s Legacy During the Cu ltura1 Revolution

Art of the City, Michael Knight, ed., Son Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2010, p. 51. Shan

quotes from Lin Fengmian' s "Yishu de yishu yu shehui de yishu," (Art for Art's Sake and Art

for Society's Sake), May 1927, reprinted in Lin Fengmian sanwen, Pei Chen, ed., Guangzhou: , Huacheng, 1999.

10. Andrews and Shen, Arts uf Mudern Chino, Ch. 3, p. 34.

11. Andrews and Shen, Arts of Modern C:hina, Ch. 3, pp. 34-35.

12. Shan, "Modern Art and Culture in Shanghai," p. 51.

13. Andrews and Shen, Arts of Modern Chino, Ch. 3, pp. 34-35.