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1949-1953

After the victory of the Chinese Communist Party and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, artists were encouraged to celebrate the birth of the New China. Many posters of this early period reflect optimism and the prospect of a happier future.

Good numbers of artists working at this time had been active in producing earlier poster art supporting the anti-Japanese war or the Communists/Nationalists during the civil war. Modern woodblock prints became a major art form for political and revolutionary art.

Other artists, returning from their studies in Europe, brought with them their insights into modern western art. There was still more artistic freedom at this time, as most of the propaganda posters were being printed by privately owned plants in Shanghai.

1923-1949

During the Republican Period, Shanghai was a main centre for the production of mass media poster art. In the burgeoning metropolis, poster art was diverse, rich and often commercial, as can be seen in the Calendar posters.

From the late 1930s China was war-torn first by the Anti-Japanese War (1937- 1945) and subsequently the Civil War between the Communists and the Nationalists (1947-49) known as the Liberation War.

Accordingly, arts became increasingly involved in the turbulent currents of Chinese politics, with patriotism, nationalism, and social protests as the main themes. After the “Long March” the Communists built their base in Yanan (1936-1948), where new Marxist oriented guidelines for the production of arts were stipulated in Mao’s famous “Yanan Talks”: now the main function of the arts was “to serve the people”, which effectively meant party politics.