Lot 272: HE KONGDE

HE KONGDE B. 1925 GUTIAN MEETING signed in Chinese and dated 1970 (lower right) oil on canvas 119.4 by 182.9 cm.; 47 by 72 in.

This work was illustrated in an article on He Kongde in the September 2002 issue of Art Observation magazine

Estate of Mrs. Gloria O'Hara, Vancouver, Canada
Private American Collection

The development of historical paintings in China has gone through several different periods, displaying different characteristics under different political environments. The historical works on during the Cultural Revolution featured both a "Chinese style" and "contemporary theme", and the aesthetics of this era became fully developed with the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It is now still an indispensable genre in modern Chinese art. Since the establishment of PRC, in the military fine arts gallery, there are many excellent works by artists who recorded the life of the PRC military. They are responsible for sculpting the image of The People's Army and proudly showcase the PRC's glorious history. Among them was He Kongde's Gutian Meeting, which firmly secured a permanent landmark in the Chinese propaganda art history of the 20th century.

He Kongde entered into Maximov's oil painting training class at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1955 and has learned the true essence of Russian Peredvizhniki's oil painting techniques. Besides, his outgoing personality has made him the most capable painter who can handle with great scenes and themes among the third generation of Chinese oil painters. Gutian Conference, or the Ninth Party Congress of the Fourth Army of the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, was held in Fujian Province in 1929. Gutian Conference was a united and successful conference, during which Mao Zedong's leading position in the Red Army was confirmed. Therefore, this conference has a great historical importance.

The Red Army: a revolutionary army led by the Communist Party of China during the Second Chinese Revolutionary Civil War 1927-1937. It is called the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

The oil painting, Gutian Meeting, features a disciplined and controlled technique to portray a pleasantly joyous atmosphere, undermining the significance of this occasion. It portrays the moment where Chairman Mao conducts a speech during a moment of great historical importance. There is a unifying quality in the consistent and approach by the artist to convey the relationship between the great chairman and the people.

The first draft of Gutian Meeting by He Kongde, currently in the permanent collection of the Chinese Revolution Museum, was published in China-Oil Painting in the Twentieth Century, Guangxi Fine Arts Publishing Co., January 2001 on page 164. However, there was another version of this work published in The Works of He Kongde's Oil Painting, Tianjing People's Fine Arts Publishing Co., July 2003, page 11, figures Zhu De and He Long were noticeably missing from the composition. Lot 274 is therefore likely to be a draft of this version.