Page 279 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

J 17 Li K'o-jan (bom 1907), Village in
the Mountains. Hanging « roll Ink and
colour on piper. About i960.
arship, and the arts. Universities and art schools were closed,
museums shut their doors, there were no more art exhibitions,
and inJune 966 publication of all the art and archaeologyjournals
1
abruptly ceased. Almost everyone engaged in these activities was
criticised for "revisionist" attitudes, and many were publicly dis-
graced, sent as virtual slaves to farm or factory, or driven to sui-
cide. The impression formed abroad was that all scholarly and ar-
tistic activity had come to an end—an impression which the
Chinese authorities themselves did nothing to dispel. To remove
all traces of elitism in the arts, the centre of artistic activity was
shifted from the cities and art academies to factories and rural
communes, while trained artists were urged to identify them-
selves with the masses. Vast numbers of workers, peasants, and
soldiers took up the arts as amateurs, developing new styles and
Copy rig