Introduction to modern murals in China

Chinese murals since 1912. Traditional Chinese murals, which have lasted for thousands of years, were in decline by the Qing Dynasty, and the number and artistic quality of folk painters engaged in murals were also at an unprecedented low. After the Revolution of 1911, large-scale construction of palaces, temples and tombs basically stopped, leaving traditional murals without space to rely on. Although there are many newly painted murals in remote temples and temples, from form to content, they are generally restorations and imitations of old murals. There are also a few murals that use new materials and new techniques. For example, Lu Hongnian, who studied murals from European painters, made the Jiletian mural for the Puzhao Temple in Bei'an River in the western suburbs of Peiping in 1938. He painted it on plywood and covered it with tung oil as a protective layer. .

After the 1920s, new types of murals appeared during the revolutionary struggle. Art workers in the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army and the People's Liberation Army painted many murals to promote the revolution and anti-Japanese war in revolutionary base areas and during marches. These works were often accompanied by loud slogans or short poems, which played a role in inspiring the masses' fighting spirit. . On the other hand, Chinese painters who studied Western painting have used Western painting techniques to create some murals with new themes. For example, Liang Dingming wrote "The Battle of Huizhou in the Northern Expedition" and Situ Qiao wrote "Sun Yat-sen's "Three People's Principles" etc. These works are oil paintings made for specific environments and lack an organic connection with architectural space. In August 1938, Wang Shikuo designed a sketch and painters from the Art Section of the Third Hall of the Political Department of the Military Commission collectively created the Wuchang Yellow Crane Tower mural, which showed the heroic resistance of the soldiers on the front line against the enemy and the nationwide mobilization of the people to support the Anti-Japanese War. This mural was completed before the fall of Wuhan. The Yellow Crane Tower murals were born in the war and were later destroyed by the war. It marked that Chinese murals moved from palaces, temples, and tombs to society, facing the broad masses of the people, and became propaganda weapons in the struggle for national liberation. After the founding of the People's Republic of China and the development of socialist construction, murals began to receive attention. Art academies have opened mural courses and sent overseas students to study mural art. Yan Shangde and Zhu Ji, who went to Poland to study mosaic murals in 1955, were the first batch of international students to study mural painting abroad after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Murals began to be installed in newly built public buildings. For example, the ceiling murals in the hall of the Beijing Planetarium (Wu Zuoren, Ai Zhongxin), "Long Live the Great Unity of All Ethnic Groups in the Country" (Huang Yongyu), "Long Live the Great Unity of the People of the World" (Zhou Lingzhao) in the Museum of Chinese Revolutionary History, and "Long Live the Great Unity of the People of the World" (Zhou Lingzhao) in the National Culture Palace in Beijing "Long Live Unity" (collectively created by teachers and students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts), etc. Some Chinese painters from Beijing and Gansu have painted a number of murals featuring landscapes, flowers and birds for Lanzhou Wuquanshan Park.

During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, massive mural creation activities took place across the country. The authors of these murals include professional painters and art school students, but the main force is amateur art workers in urban and rural areas. The content of the murals is themed to express the Great Leap Forward of industrial and agricultural production. There are many fresh and unique ideas, but the general characteristics are strong fantasy colors and stereotyped images. After a successful work appears, it is often copied dozens or even hundreds of times quickly. Fire-breathing blast furnaces, huge crops of grain and cotton, livestock as fat as elephants, an overwhelming number of young farmers, Sun Wukong, Mu Guiying, the Dragon King, Soviet rockets, etc. are the most common image symbols. These murals were generally completed in a short period of time, using ink, pot dust, laterite and simple mineral pigments painted on lime walls. More sophisticated ones are covered with varnish or glue. As the trend of exaggeration spreads, some places have put forward the slogan of "muralization", which requires "whitewashing all the earthen walls and painting all the heroes." Mural creation activities during the Great Leap Forward completely stopped in 1960. During the rural socialist education movement in the mid-1960s, a new mural boom appeared in many places. The team of authors of this mural boom was relatively small, and semi-professional propaganda teams and groups were often responsible for painting murals in a certain county, commune or production team. Task. The content of the murals is mainly about class education and propaganda of class struggle. The gloomy and severe pictures have replaced the bright and lively fantasy colors of the murals during the Great Leap Forward period. The tools, materials and wall treatments of murals in the 1950s and 1960s were very simple, and the murals that have been preserved to this day are very rare.

The murals during the "Cultural Revolution" were entirely dedicated to praising leaders. Most of these murals are installed in squares, intersections in cities and market towns, and in front of major buildings in factories and schools, and permanent walls are specially built with bricks, stones or reinforced concrete. It is painted using oil painting materials by artists who have received certain professional training. Most of the murals during the "Cultural Revolution" were gradually demolished in the mid-1970s. After 1976, Chinese murals experienced new developments. The materials used include polypropylene paint, overglaze painting, ceramic plates, etc. "Nezha Makes the Sea" by Zhang Ding, "Bashan Shushui" by Yuan Yunfu, "Song of the Forest" by Zhu Danian, "Spring of Science" by Xiao Huixiang, "The Legend of the White Snake" by Li Huaji and Quan Zhenghuan, "The Story of Life" by Yuan Yunsheng "Hymn" and so on, have been well received by the art world and aroused strong interest from all walks of life. After it, designers of large-scale public buildings began to consider murals in their design plans, and a professional team of mural artists gradually formed.

"Six Arts" by Wu Zuoren and Li Huaji (Queli Guesthouse, Qufu, Shandong), "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom" by Hou Yimin and Deng Shu (People's Daily Auditorium), "Ode to Mountains and Rivers" by Wang Wenbin and others (Huadu Hotel, Beijing) , "Chu Music" by Tang Xiaohe (Wuhan Hotel), "Morning Song·Sun, Moon and Stars" by Yan Shangde (Beijing Chinese Theater), "Qu Yuan" by Du Dakai (Beijing Yanjing Hotel), "Ten Thousand Miles of the Great Wall" by Zhang Ding ( Beijing Great Wall Hotel), Yuan Yunfu's "Light of Wisdom", Xu Rongchu and Zhao Dajun's "Music Girl's Spring Outing" (Tanggu Bohai Hotel), Xu Jiachang, Ren Mengzhang, Zhu Xin and others' "The Legend of Bangchui Island" (Dalian Bangchui Island Hotel) , He Shan's "Nine Songs" (Hunan Provincial Library) and a group of murals made by Li Jianqun, Duan Jianshan, Li Tank, Lou Puyi, Yang Peng and others for the Gansu Hall of the Great Hall of the People, while drawing on traditional murals and learning from Western murals , absorb folk art, explore the characteristics of different materials, and deal with the visual harmony of murals and architecture, etc., each has different achievements. The new generation of muralists are dissatisfied with the mural style represented by the Beijing Airport murals. They strive to make Chinese murals have deeper spiritual connotations and newer forms, and hope that mural art will move from hotels and hotels to wider public places. The realization of this wish awaits the further development of reform and construction, as well as the breakthrough of young painters in exploring new mural languages. Wallpaper companies represented by Shanghai Manmei Wallpaper digitally print traditional murals and the latest European, 3D and other styles into wallpapers, forming a modern, integrated and civilian home style!