Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture

CHENG CONGLIN

b. 1954, Wan county, Sichuan

Oil painter

Cheng Conglin specializes in contemporary history painting. He entered the Sichuan Academy of Art in 1978 where he soon emerged as an important interpreter of emerging social change. His 1968 X month X day (1968 nian X yue X ri xue, 1979) captured the absurdity of the struggle between Red Guard factions by renegotiating the conventions of the ‘three prominences’ (san tuchu): the defeated faction are given centre-stage, while the apprehension and mixed emotions of the surrounding figurants undermines the heroism of the central drama. The fanaticism of the Cultural Revolution is thus contained by the humanism of the observers.The huge painting, Summer Evening 1978—Beside Me I Felt the Yearning of a Nation (1978 nian xiaye—shenpang wo gandao minzu zai kewang, 177 cm × 415 cm, 1980), refers to the resumption of enrolment of university students by examination after the Cultural Revolution (see Cultural Revolution (education) and laosanjie). The hesitation, hopes and excitement of a generation are caught through the portrayal of hundreds of figures in different attitudes. Its composition was controversial at the time for lacking a central focus.

Cheng Conglin graduated in 1982, taught at the Sichuan Academy and continued his studies at the Central Academy. In 1984 he applied his mass portrait technique to a grim series of historical paintings about exploitation entitled 1844 China Coast Port (1844-nian Zhongguo yanhai kou’an). These, however, lacked the immediacy of his earlier works. His later subject matter, though also quite sombre in tone, dealt with tranquil scenes of countryside life and life among the ethnic minorities.