Rent Collection Courtyard

The Rent Collection Courtyard (Chinese: 收租院; pinyin: shōuzū yuàn) is a clay collection of 114 life-sized sculptures in located in the courtyard of the former home of rural landlord Liu Wencai in Dayi County, Sichuan created by Ye Yushan and a team of sculptors from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1965. It is a famous work of Socialist Realist sculpture showing an evil landlord collecting rent from poor peasants, it is one of the most powerful works of the cultural revolution.[1] Copies were made and put on display in Beijing after modification to make them more powerful as works of propaganda.[2]

In the 1999 Venice Biennale, the contemporary Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang referenced the sculpture in the performance piece Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard in which he hired artisans to recreate the sculpture.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China (5 ed.). pp. 307–308. ISBN 0-520-25569-0.
  2. ↑ Ellen Liang, The Winking Owl (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) p.62. ISBN 0-520-06097-0
  3. ↑ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_10_88/ai_66306816 Who Owns the People's Art?, Art in America

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, June 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.