Author Archives: Daniel Goldman

Chinese Government Through the Lens of Ding Cong’s Political Cartoons

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The 20th century in China is dominated by political and government changes that was shaped from their prior history. Art was greatly effected by these changes, whether it was the subject of the paintings or drawings, or the style of art, or the techniques used in each work. These changes were both voluntary and involuntary, depending on who was the leader of the country throughout the 1900s. One artist that spoke out against the forced change was Ding Cong, and through his political drawings, his message of exposing government corruption, along with illuminating realities that China faced, was widely known.

Ding Cong, also known as Xiao Ding (Little Ding), created many drawings over his career that shed light on what the average Chinese citizen was experiencing, and after the Sino-Japanese War, many Chinese, including Ding himself, struggled to survive during a period of rampant inflation (Ristaino 2009, 60). A few of his drawings represented the incredible inflation, with some drawings referring to national and abroad problems associated with it. Ding extensively drew upon the rampant corruption, market chaos, uncontrolled inflation, and abject poverty and unemployment that plagued Chinese citizens in his drawings. His signature stylistic trait that most of his art had were contradictions in society – depicting rich and poor or abuser and abused – to portray a country in morale decline (Ristaino 2009, 62). One drawing, that was published on the cover of a popular Shanghai magazine Zhoubao (Weekly Magazine), called “The Perfect Citizen” (1945) highlights the different ways the Nationalist regime would censor the population. The figure has his brain opened for brainwashing, his ears plugged with bribes, his eyes shaded by sunglasses, and his lips locked together (Ristaino 2009, 63).

My theme will present works by Ding Cong that show the changing environment Chinese citizens faced throughout the civil war (1945-1949), the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957-1968) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). My hope is to arrange pieces in a way to show both differences and similarities between the time periods through Ding’s work.

Art of Resistance - Art History Publication Initiative

“The Perfect Citizen” (1945)

Ristaino, Marcia R. Chinas Intrepid Muse: the Cartoons and Art of Ding Cong. Warren, CT: Floating World Editions, 2009.

 

Informative Article – Ding Cong

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As I was researching this week I came across an academic article by Chang-Tai Hung called ‘The Fuming Image: Cartoons and Public Opinion in Late Republican China, 1945 to 1949’. Hung is a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and his article talked about several political artists in the late 1940s, including Ding Cong. Throughout the article, Hung highlighted each artist’s techniques, views, and opinions of Chinese politics, and how they combined to create strong pieces of art that served a purpose. He described that Ding’s strongest attribute was his ability to play on the contradictions of the Chinese government, and his drawings show the juxtaposition of rich and poor, oppressors and oppressed, and power abuser and victim. This article will help me understand the nuances of Ding’s works during the peak of his career, before he was censored and eventually exiled. Understanding what fuels an artist’s passion, in Ding’s case to draw these significant cartoons for the common people, is always helpful in learning about an artist.

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/179329.pdf?casa_token=-IYwS9yYKmcAAAAA:VDWkuBSVjDx6_isrrM3USA5OIobAfkUacfocgoywwdC3FTZSMV9Rk3pFtVRBumKnDECTWtiJtONn6CVtv8pBLQAt70ltcRc1xsOBRyQo3gii5qXNoYc

 

Hung, Chang-Tai. “The fuming image: Cartoons and public opinion in late republican China, 1945 to 1949.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 36, no. 1 (1994): 122-145.

Images of Today, Ding Cong

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Ding Cong, Images of Today, ink and opaque color on paper, 1944

In this painting, the medium used was a type of watercolor called gouache, which is similar to watercolor except for it is an opaque color that is thickened with a glue-like substance to give it a matte finish (Anderson, 2016). Key features of gouache is that the paint dries very quickly, and it allows artists to paint with great detail (Anderson, 2016). Above, the work is broken in half to fit the page, however it is one continuous canvas that is supposed to resemble a traditional scroll that Chinese artists used to paint on (Lullo, 2020). The content of this piece is a depiction of various individuals that are in their own “scene”, some are interacting with others, while some are alone. From top right to bottom left, there seems to be a general cycle of some academic people, spaced with some poor/injured people, followed by wealthy figures. The objective of this work is to shine a spotlight on what was then modern Chinese society, and this spotlight artistical is shown by having a white background with frames or “scenes” of figures that have seemingly been cut from whatever they were doing and placed into this painting. There is debate about the corruption of government during Chiang Kai-Shek’s rule through the 1940s, and while this painting does not directly represent this corruption, Ding does depict a very inequitable socioeconomic class structure of Chinese society. One key aspect that shows this is the woman with her child begging in the background for some food or money, while four wealthy men stand in front of her, paying her no attention. The ends of the piece show a man reading a book with his mouth covered, and a man walking with a newspaper in his mouth and a hand covering his eyes, and this could be interpreted as the truth about life in China being smothered by the government. One last thing to point out is the way each class is shown in relation to the viewer. The rich are prominently in the foreground, looking away from the viewer, while the poorer people show more of their faces, and are in the background. The man reading a book and the man holding his painting are facing the viewer, symbolizing the knowledge and truth of the corruptive government.

 

References:

Anderson, Madeline. “Watercolor and Gouache: What’s the Difference?” Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University, 18 Feb. 2016, blogs.chapman.edu/collections/2016/02/18/watercolor-and-gouache-whats-the-difference/.

Lullo, Sheri. Class presentation. 2020.

Ding Cong Introduction – Goldman

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Ding Cong (1916-2009) was a political cartoonist and son of Ding Song, a prominent member of Shanghai art circles, as well as a cartoonist himself. His father did not want him to become a cartoonist, for he thought the profession was too dangerous and not lucrative enough. Song even insisted that no brushes or paper were to be given to Cong, however Cong still found ways to create art (Hawks 2017, 17).

Ding Cong’s first noticed works were 24 illustrations for Lu Xen’s (1881-1936) famous short-story, “The True Story of Ah Q”, in 1943, when he was just 27 years old. Ding had a strong identification to Lu Xen’s work and his aspirations to usher in social change, and this was apparent through his entire artistic career (Hawks 2017, 18).

In 1957, he was deemed a Rightist, and was banned from producing art, even privately, as well as being removed from his editor position at People’s Pictorial journal. Shortly after, he was separated from his wife and infant son, and exiled to a labor camp in northern China. He was rehabilitated in 1979, and by 1995, he enter his second peak in his art career. The smooth transition was credited to his continued production of art, even while exiled (Hawks 2017, 18).

 

Ah Q’s Execution, 1943

Hawks, Shelley Drake. The Art of Resistance : Painting by Candlelight in Mao’s China Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. p 17-18

Daniel Goldman Introduction

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Hi,

My name is Daniel Goldman, and I am a senior geology major from Larchmont, NY. Some activities I like to do include playing baseball (I played for my high school), watching any type of sport, and hiking/outdoor activities.

I have not taken very many courses pertaining to other cultures (a few anthropology courses over the past four years), however I really enjoy learning about both American and World History, so I am excited to learn more about Chinese culture through art, and connecting it to their twentieth century history.

Being a geology major has its perks, and I was lucky enough to go to a remote town in Alaska last summer to conduct my thesis research around a newly exposed glacial lake. The photo represents the average day there.