#chinese photographs

Picture #1  Tiananmen, early 1900

Picture #2 Sun Yet Sen, 1929

Picture #3 Chaing Kai Shek, 1945

Picture #4 Original Mao, 1949

Picture #5 Current Mao

Picture #6 Abused Mao, 1989

Mao's Tiananmen Portrait

To understand this image we need to know that before this moment (of portraits) there was no such thing as a public political portrait.  That’s not to say there were no portraits, there were, just that their purpose was radically different.  Traditional paintings of the emperor were more imaginings.  later paintings of the actual emperor became more common with western techniques.  China last dynasty, the Qing have much more portraits but they were not ethnically Chinese so their attitude was also much different.

The first portrait to appear was Sun Yet Sen, commonly recognized as the father of modern China.  It was installed during his funeral period in 1925.  After the Republican Party reclaimed Beijing, Chaing Kai Shek portrait appeared in 1945.   Chaing’s portrait was replaced by Mao’s when the Republican government was overthrown.  It has remained for more than 50 years, even after his death and his mistakes being questioned.  There have been at least 5 different versions in chronological sequence.

The 1949 portrait was painted by Zhou Lingzhao who was well known artist and professor at the National Art Academy.   The government soon decided to replace it with a painting by an unknown whose life work would be the painting.  The anonymity of the painter means the autonomy of the painting: it became no longer a work created by an artist but an image that is always there and changes on its own. People don’t look at it with much interest, yet countless people are photographed in front of it everyday.   

This significance of the painting is most noticed when it is taken down for repair or replacement.  The square suddenly loses focus.  Mao is dead but his Tiananmen portrait  will continue to represent the country and communist leadership.