29th Feb, 2024 13:30
He Kongde
‘Gutian Meeting’
oil on canvas
1970
signed in Chinese and dated at lower right
1200 x 1830 mm
Provenance:
Estate of Mrs. Gloria O'Hara. Vancouver, Canada; Clars Auction Gallery, Oakland CA, 3-4 May 2008. In the genre of historical propaganda paintings during the Cultural Revolution, various historical moments have been captured and subjects of great significance were depicted to showcase and portray the glorious history of the People's Army. This present painting portrays Chairman Mao giving a speech of great importance at the Gutian Conference, or the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of the Red Army of the Communist Party, in Fujian Province in 1929. With slogans on the pillars: 'Long live the Chinese Communist Party', 'Against Pure Military Point of View', '9th Regiment of 4th Division, the Red Army of Chinese Communist Party', 'Develop Socialism' . The artist painted at least three versions of this composition, one of which was featured in the 1972 Chinese National Exhibition. The finished version of Gutian Meeting by He Kongde, is at the Chinese Revolution Museum, Beijing, published in China-Oil Painting in the Twentieth Century (Guangxi Fine Arts Publishing Co., January 2001), p. 164. Another version of this work was published in The Works of He Kongde's Oil Painting (Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing Co., July 2003), p.11 - with the figures of Zhu De and He Long behind Mao missing from the composition. Our painting is most likely a draft study of this latter version which adds a few more people in the background, but in ours He Kongde eliminates the figure behind Mao's arm, as in the Beijing Revolution Museum version.
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