Visual Symbols of Power, Oppression, and Protest

1. Visual Symbols of Power, Oppression, and Protest

2. Since the earliest times, man has created visual symbols to gain or express power over his environment.

3. Whether in life or death, the Egyptian Pharaohs displayed their symbols of power.

4. Symbols of power among many cultures, like the Maya, were affected by geographical influences such as plant and animal life and mineral wealth.

5. The Aztec culture had many similar customs and symbols of power.

6. The Chinese Emperors had many symbols of their power—clothing design and color, furniture, armor, weapons, seals, knowledge and skills.

7. Likewise, members of the English monarchy, such as Henry VIII, displayed the clothing, scepters, and other items that signified their power and position.

8. Horses were a common symbol of power in European portraits.

9. Even our American Presidents had flags, weapons, and seals to represent their power.

10. A modern CEO has his own symbols of power.

11. And no matter what the time or place, the exercise of power meant that others were subject to that power, sometimes oppressively. • Zhao Yannian “Nightmare # 2” 1989, woodcut • The hand pushing down the head gives this piece a sense of both the physicality of the act and the emotional ramifications of the humiliation.

12. The Egyptians enslaved conquered people and put them to work building their monuments.

13. The Aztecs and Mayans killed or sacrificed their enemies.

14. Chinese rulers from Ghenghis Khan to PuYi maintained control of their power and territories by eliminating the opposition.

15. In both England and France invaders and citizens alike were beheaded for their religious beliefs.

16. American colonists participated in the slave trade from Africa and engaged in wars with Native American peoples, forcing them from their lands and hunting grounds.

17. Artists have used their skills to record these events or raise their own symbols of protest against these abuses of power. • Li Hua's Roar, China!, 1935 is poignant in its emotional directness. Sharp contrasts of black and white are used to emphasize conflict, and body movements are portrayed as purposeful and/or expressive of intense emotions.

18. Zhao Yannian is a major figure in the New Chinese Woodblock Movement (Creative Print Movement), founded in 1931 by the social critic, writer, and intellectual father of the Chinese revolution, Lu Xun (1881-1936). Inspired by the technique, style and subject matter of such European artists as Käthe Kollwitz and Frans Masereel, Zhao and other artists in the movement carved their own blocks and used their art to comment on current social and political events and to influence revolutionary politics.

19. Käthe Kollwitz - Germany, 1867-1945 • “Beim Dengeln” is a startling image of a peasant sharpening a scythe, with the clear implication that the tool could also serve as a weapon. • The image tells a story and presents an image that has universal recognition and appeal.

20. Images can portray both the brutality and the courage of the event.

21. Diego Rivera creates a contrast with past cultural convention by showing Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliana Zapata on a level with the horse he has seized from its former owner. • Zapata's quiet assumption of power won him respect rather than fear.

22. The most effective images are simple, clear, and contain the most universally recognized symbols. • They work best when they are publicly displayed, rather than having limited audience exposure.

23. An artist may rely on the “shock value” of using satirical versions of familiar or official cultural images in forbidden ways in their protest art. Lenin and Stalin, an example of the official art of socialist realism, 1950s, USSR. Komar & Melamid, Double Self Portrait as Lenin & Stalin, 1972. From Sots Art series. First Version. Destroyed in the “Bulldozer Exhibition” along with other Sots Art works.

24. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, attend the conference at Yalta. February 1945. (Photo credit: U.S. National Archives) Komar & Melamid, Yalta Conference, 1982, tempera and oil on canvas, 72”X48”.

25. Some artists may develop personal images that relate to the expression of their ideas. • Hong Zhang created a series of pictures on the gender revolution in China. • The first picture in the series represents the women of Hong’s grandmother’s generation. • “The cage represents the patriarchal society that kept women bound to the private space within the home. Grandmother also had bound feet, the practice that crushed the bones and deformed the feet of young girls so they can have the outward appearance of tiny delicate feet. The goal was to have a "Three Inch Golden Lotus" (sancun jinlian), but the actual result was unbelievable pain that lasted a lifetime. In this picture, grandmother is sewing a normal size pair of cotton shoes because her daughter was the first woman in her family to break the cycle of bound feet. The character on the dish is “food”.

26. Hong’s second image represents her mother’s generation. • “Unlike my grandmother, the cage door is open. Mother had more freedom as a women in the Communist Chinese society. Her feet were not bound and she had a number of career opportunities. Still, my mother did not have the freedom to say or do what she wanted. Her cage was the restrictions of the day and Maoist Thought, especially during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The Chinese character on the cup is (weibing or hongweibing); the Red Guard.

27. The final image in the series represents the artist’s generation. • “Compared to my grandmother and my mother's generations, Chinese society has progressed and the situation for young urban women in China has improved. The cage is open and I can sit on the outside. The Chinese character on the cup is fu meaning good fortune.Also notice that the feet are uncovered and slightly exaggerated (larger than normal).” • These images would be easily recognized inside China, but might not be as meaningful elsewhere where the viewer lacked the cultural background to interpret the iconography.

28. In America, we have our own highly recognized images of the changing image of women in society. • Norman Rockwell's iconic image of "Rosie the Riveter" was modeled on Michelangelo's “Isaiah”.Appearing for the first time on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1943, Rosie came to represent the growth in the power of American women brought about by war.This adaptation of Rosie for an American War Poster is typical of the theme – symbolizing, as it does, the sense of empowerment, freedom, emancipation and commitment.

29. Artists have used their skills to bring our attention to the social issues of their day. • Norman Rockwell gave us numerous poignant images of the fight against racial discrimination.

30. Stereotypical images of the “Negro Mammy” were replaced by images that showed quiet dignity and eventually blatant militancy.

31. Artists used classical art images as the model for new art styles and the changing views of the ideal of beauty.

32. Art can be a powerful instrument for change. • In speaking of most of the WPA sponsored art, Thomas Craven said, “They are using art as the tool for propagation of economic notions which, though distributed geographically, are far from universal in their application. No art can be enslaved to doctrine. Art in its proper manifestations, is a communicative instrument; but it communicates its own findings—not what is doled out to it, not what an economic theory imposes upon it, but its discoveries in any department of life.”

33. Diego Rivera, along with his compatriots David Alfaro Siquieros and José Clemente Orozco, broke the dependent links to European culture, helping to create authentic visual aesthetics for Mexico, with an emphasis on indigenism (or “indianism”), folk characters, historic epics, solidarity with the dispossessed, dramatization of class conflicts, mockery of the egotism and hypocrisy of those in power, and a celebration of the traditional rites and myths. These artists expressed the idealistic belief in the possibility of cultural change and the social responsibility of the artist.

34. Many artists would no doubt agree with Charles Wilbur White’s statement,“Paint is the only weapon I have with which to fight what I resent.”