The Chinese Posters

The oldest poster from the exhibition dates from 1937 and was made at the time of the Second Chinese-Japanese war.

With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 the number of posters produced increased explosively, reaching its utmost height during the Cultural Revolution (1966-69). China deployed its very best artists in order to promote the communistic range of thought. Knowing that only a few of the 2,2 billion posters depicting Mao have been preserved, makes these posters even more special.

Certain military figures, farmers, workers and intellectuals presented on the posters served as paragons for the rest of the population. They often show a clear resemblance to movie stars: they have got a wide, confident and combative expression on their faces and have been portrayed looking as attractive as they possibly can. They were clearly meant to set a good example to the public.

As opposed to posters from the West, the texts on Chinese posters have been put on the outer borders of the images, urging the people to ‘Produce more, contribute more'.

The optimism expressed by these posters is striking, as is the endless energy - they are the results of a somewhat ‘brushed up' reality, in which enthusiasm, happiness and excitement over the future dominate.

http://chineseposters.net/

(parece que agora, nao mudou muito, continuam a querer dar a mesma imagem de perfeicao...)