Editing Chinese art (section)

===== The 17 Years =====
Chinese artists adopted [[social realism]] as a form of expression; it was a combination of revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism. Artwork was not valued on its own terms but was subservient to a political purpose. According to [[Mao Zedong]], art should be a "powerful weapon for uniting and educating the people, fighting and destroying the enemy". Praising political leaders and celebrating the achievements of socialism became the theme of all artwork. Western art forms, including [[Cubism]], [[Fauvism]], [[Abstract art|Abstraction]], and [[Expressionism]] were deemed superficial and were categorized as formalism.

The biggest blow to art was the [[Anti-Rightist Campaign]] of 1957. Artists who were labeled as rightists were stripped of their right to create and even their jobs, and worse, the social standing of the artists and their families was placed at the lowest level, causing great mental suffering.

Some influential paintings from this period are:
* [http://www.zgsshh.com/Works_body.asp?id=1156&qx=137 Li Keran, ''Reddening of Ten Thousand Mountains'' ({{zhi|c=李可染《万山红遍》}})]
* [http://www.artworld.cn/a/Collection/cnart/now/2011/0110/5870.html Huang Zhou, ''The Snowstorm'' ({{zhi|c=黄胄《洪荒风雪》}})]
* Dong Xiwen, ''[[The Founding Ceremony of the Nation]]'' ([[:zh:开国大典 (油画)|董希文《开国大典》]]) had gone through several revisions, due to the changing political situation.   Gao Gang was taken out when he went out of favor, [[Liu Shaoqi]] was replaced by [[Dong Biwu]] for a while, then the prototype was restored.