A Masterpiece Takes 29 Years to Complete

“May 3, 1975” is an oil painting by Gu Pan, a Zhejiang-based artist. It took 29 years for the artist to complete it.

The oil painting came into being in 1977 as the result of a phone call from Zhu Qi, then secretary of the Zhejiang Artists Association, who was then selecting representative paintings by Zhejiang artists for an exhibition to be held in Beijing. Concerned that the province had not come up with any heavy-weight artwork over the past few years, Zhu called Gu Pan asking him if he had any good idea. As an artist, Gu had been working on portraits of party leaders. In fact, Gu had already had a big subject: Mao Zedong criticized the Gang of Four, which was one of the hottest topics of that time. Gu had created a sketch and presented it at a provincial art exhibition in 1977. It received good reviews. So Zhu Qi had the painting photographed and sent a photocopy of the picture to Beijing. Hua Junwu, an artist in charge of the Chinese Artists Association, wanted to see an oil painting based on the sketch. Gu Pan made an oil painting.

But the painting was dropped for two reasons. First, the public seemingly lost interest in such a theme. Second, the authenticity of the event was questioned. Some people asked if the meeting at which Mao blasted the clique really took place.

But Gu was not discouraged. He kept checking the facts. In 1998 he learned from a high-ranking army officer that the meeting did take place in 1975 and the gang of four was indeed criticized at the meeting. But Gu was not 100 percent sure. The final confirmation came in the form of a 2001 memoir on Deng Xiaoping by Deng’s youngest daughter. The second volume of the memoir confirms the facts Gu had been trying to verify for the past decades.

His passion was rekindled. He made a few sketches to study all the factors involved and consulted some experts for comment. In the summer of 2006, the final version of a 29-year-old idea finally blossomed into reality.

The painting portrays a historical moment when Mao sternly censured the gang of four for their serious mistakes. The meeting was important because it is widely recognized to have provided political justification for bringing down the gang of four. It was displayed at the West Lake Art Gallery in Hangzhou and then printed in Hong Kong. The oil painting is widely acclaimed for its artistry and its portrayal of an important political and historical moment.

It did not take Gu 29 years to create other paintings on influential historical figures. A graduate of oil painting from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (the predecessor of today’s China Academy of Art) in 1967, Gu in his early career created oil paintings depicting some most important historical moments of Mao Zedong. Other historical figures include Marx, Engels, Lu Xun, Sun Yat-sen and Cai Yuanpei also have appeared in his paintings or in artworks in collaboration with other artists.

A resourceful and versatile artist, Gu Pan has also dabbled in other art forms such as sketch, watercolor and traditional Chinese painting. A computer painting of his in partnership with an artist won a prize in 1998 at an American international art festival. Some of his best artworks also include prizewinning pictorials. He is also known for his innovative exploration in art theories.