-
Details
- Alternative title
- 要活下去 [Yao huo xiaqu]
- Place where the work was made
-
China
- Period
- People's Republic 1949 - → China
- Date
- 1985
- Media category
- Materials used
- woodcut
- Edition
- 2/5
- Dimensions
- 80.4 x 59.9 cm image; 81.7 x 60.1 cm sheet
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., in Chinese, pencil "Cheng Mian 1985 Nanjing".
- Credit
- Purchased 1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 511.1993
- Copyright
- © Cheng Mian
- Artist information
-
Cheng Mian
Works in the collection
- Share
-
-
About
Cheng Mians powerful Bloody Massacre series of traumatized figures is a powerful condemnation of the horrific Japanese massacre of Nanjing in 1937. In using the woodcut, Cheng unconsciously invokes the style of Kathe Kollwitz whose works were introduced into China in the 1930s by the great Lu Xun, as a model for Chinese artists seeking to make their own political and social comments.
Cheng Mian had been in Beijing, exiled from the Central Arts Academy to Nanjing(probably during the cultural revolution). He is better known as an oil painter, but in terms of his print oeuvre, this series is regarded as his greatest (although it was politically criticized). -
Places
Where the work was made
China
-
Exhibition history
Shown in 1 exhibition
The People's Progress 20th Century Chinese Woodcuts, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Oct 1996–15 Dec 1996
-
Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
-
Jackie Menzies, The People's Progress 20th Century Chinese Woodcuts, Sydney, 1996, 18.
-
-
Provenance
Cheng Mian, pre Aug 1993, China, purchased from the artist through Ruth Burgess by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Aug 1993.
