This is a selection of colorful propaganda artworks
and cultural artifacts from photographer Michael Wolf's
vast collection of Chinese propaganda posters. With his
smooth, warm, red face which radiated light in all
directions, Chairman Mao Zedong was a fixture in Chinese
propaganda posters produced between the birth of the
People's Republic in 1949 and the early 1980s. These
infamous posters were, in turn, central fixtures in
Chinese homes, railway stations, schools, journals,
magazines, and just about anywhere else where people
were likely to see them. Chairman Mao, portrayed as a
stoic superhero (a.k.a. the Great Teacher, the Great
Leader, the Great Helmsman, the Supreme Commander),
appeared in all kinds of situations (inspecting
factories, smoking a cigarette with peasant workers,
standing by the Yangzi River in a bathrobe, presiding
over the bow of a ship, or floating over a sea of red
flags), flanked by strong, healthy, ageless men and
''masculinized'' women and children wearing baggy,
sexless, drab clothing.The goal of each poster was to
show the Chinese people what sort of behavior was
considered morally correct and how great the future of
Communist China would be if everyone followed the same
path toward utopia by uniting together. Combining fact
and fiction in a way typical of propaganda art, these
posters exuded positive vibes and seemed to suggest that
Mao was an omnipresent force that would accompany China
to happiness and greatness. This book brings together a
selection of colorful propaganda artworks and cultural
artifacts from photographer Michael Wolf's vast
collection of Chinese propaganda posters, many of which
are now extremely rare. Michael Wolf has lived in Hong
Kong for eight years and works as a photographer for
Stern. He collects posters and photographs from the
period of the Cultural Revolution till today. |
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