The founding of the Nation

开国大典
Kaiguo dadian
The founding of the Nation
1964, August
Renmin meishu chubanshe (人民美术出版社)
53x77 cm.
BG E13/960

The inauguration of the People's Republic, known in Chinese as Kaiguo dadian (开国大典), by Mao Zedong on Saturday 1 October 1949, the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen Gate) in Beijing. Pictured are, from left to right: Lin Boqu, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu (almost invisible), Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Chen Shutong (probably), Song Qingling, Guo Moruo, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, Mao Zedong. In this version of the painting, Gao Gang, who had been purged from the Party, was replaced by a potted chrysanthemum. For more information, see the page on Dong Xiwen
This is a print from the 22nd edition (October 1953).

Sources:

Julia F. Andrews, Painters and Politics in the People's Republic of China, 1949-1979 (Berkeley, etc.: University of California Press, 1994)

Chang-tai Hung, "Oil Paintings and Politics: Weaving a Heroic Tale of the Chinese Communist Revolution", Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 49, no. 4 (2007), pp. 783-814

39.907, 116.391

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