163 Lin Gang (b. 1924) and Pang Tao (b. 1934)
Eventful Years
1979
oil on canvas
166 x 296 cm
Museum of the Chinese Revolution, Beijing
This collaborative painting was commissioned as part of the post-Cultural
Revolution reinstallation of the Museum of the Chinese Revolution. A process
in which leaders who were neglected during the Maoist period were given
proper credit for their accomplishments and sacrifices. This painting depicts
General Zhu De leading his troops through one of the most dangerous parts
of the Long March. It took the Red Army two years to walk from Jiangxi to
Shaanxi, where they established their new base in the fall of 1936, but
many died in the perilous grassy bog.
Lin Gang and Pang Tao, who are married, both served on the oil painting
faculty of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Lin Gang was trained between
1954 and 1960 at the Repin Art Academy in Leningrad. Pang Tao, the daughter
of Pang Xunqin, studied at the academies in Hangzhou and Beijing. This painting
replaces the red palette of the Cultural Revolution with a cool one suitable
to its tragic theme.