From black hands to the red sun

From black hands to the red sun

The posters of China’s Cultural Revolution

 1 – 27 March 2011

Oberta Room - La Nau

From Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 to 14 and from 16 to 20 h.

Sunday, from 10 to 14 h.

Organised by: Department for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Confucius Institute of Universitat de València and Centre of Contemporary Culture of Granada University

Produced by: General Foundation and Confucius Institute of Universitat de València

In cooperation with Bancaixa

Curators: Alicia Relinque Eleta and Francisco José Sánchez Montalbán 

www.uv.es/confucio 

The posters of China’s Cultural Revolution

Being part of the contemporary art heritage of the University of Granada, the posters of China’s Cultural Revolution make up a highly relevant and fine collection that encourages the dissemination of knowledge and sensitivity in different social and cultural manifestations.

Entitled «From black hands to the red sun. The posters of China’s Cultural Revolution», the collection has 59 pieces including original posters and other exhibits like books, badges, cups, bandoliers, etc. that illustrate with aesthetic values the graphic reality of the Chinese Revolution, giving us a valuable example of documentary, aesthetic and sentimental heritage.

American imperialism will be defeated; the peoples of the world shall be victorious

1968. Two-colour printing (red and black)

People of the world, come together! Let’s defeat American imperialism! Let’s defeat Soviet revisionism!

Xihua, 1968

Jointly organised by the Contemporary Art Collection of Granada University, the Confucius Institute and the Department for Arts, Culture and Heritage of Universitat de València, the exhibition will contribute to enriching and raising intellectual and aesthetic prospects in relation with the Cultural Revolution and its repercussion on the rest of societies.

The University of Valencia is proud of its rich poster collection, a fine example of artistic relevance, particularly with regard to a critical period in Spain's recent history: the Civil War. Indeed, at that time, artists devoted their work and effort to their social and political engagement, and used a type of art especially suitable for mass circulation.

President Mao is coming to our irrigation channel

Qin Wenmei, liu Wenxi. Art Popular Publishers, 1973. Four-colour printing

President Mao’s thinking shall always shine

Art Popular Publishers, 1973. Four-colour printing

A quarter of a century after the onset of the civil war, China’s Proletarian Revolution also resorted to poster art as a way of spreading the principles of the revolution and ennobling the leader, Mao Zedong. Very few aspects of Chinese society in the 1960s and 1970s were overlooked by graphic artists, as can be seen in this collection of 45 original prints: from the opera to the most controversial aspects of the revolution, like the re-education of intellectuals and youngsters, or the figure and presence of women at the time, the class struggle, patriotism and internationalism, etc.

Let's rebuild China like the old man who moved a mountain

Fine Arts Popular Publishers, 1971. Four-colour printing

Whichever the case, and apart from the undeniable social transcendence of these posters, the extraordinary aesthetic power of the posters exhibited must be praised. As could not have been in any other way, the artists’ proposals lie on compositional clarity being at the service of the understanding of the language, and on visual strength –a fundamental tool in getting the posters to be caught by the viewers' eyes and to be kept in their memory.

Exhibited at the Oberta room of La Nau Cultural Centre of Universitat de València, the exhibition has been made possible by the Confucius Institute of the university, a leading institution in the teaching of Chinese and the dissemination of China’s culture and art in our region.

The story of Lei Feng. Class revenge never falls into oblivion.

Stamp on back: Nursery school no. 10, Heping district, Tianjin

Let’s take the revolution to its very end. Building yourself as a person is making yourself this type of person

Fine Arts Popular Publishers, 1969. Four-colour printing