Modern & Contemporary Art Mao Decorated by Yu Youhan (born 1943, Shanghai) China, 1993 acrylic on canvas, 46 1/8 x 38 1/4 inches (117.2 x 97.2) cm Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, fractional and promised gift 2001.884

Depictions of Mao Zedong (1893-1976) dominated the figural arts of the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-76), and his visage persisted as a popular image in Chinese art into the twenty-first century. In America, images of Mao, Lenin, and Che Guevara by Andy Warhol (1928-87) transformed these political figures into Pop icons. Yu Youhan and other Chinese painters depicted Mao in their own version of pop art, referred to as political pop. By overlaying Mao’s familiar face with a decorative pattern, Yu neutralized the political impact of Mao’s portrait.


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