"Mao" Series

Andy Warhol American (America; 1930-1987)
Mao Series (c. 1973)
Akron Art Museum, Ohio

Accompanying Song: Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd











Andy Warhol’s silk-screened portraits of Mao were a reaction to the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Mao’s totalitarian propaganda. After Mao Zedong's rise to power, Chinese art was radically changed. Paintings were encouraged to be red, bright, and shinny while images of Mao became more and more idealized ("Cult of Mao"). Buildings were also plastered with colossal posters of leader Mao. In response to such restrictions and propaganda, Warhol rendered his own version of the famous poster. In his own creation, Warhol used flamboyant brushstrokes and arbitrary colors on Mao’s clothing and complexion to resemble graffiti. Such techniques boldly stated its rejection to Chinese censorship on art. Furthermore, the series also serves as commentary on the similarity of the communist public posters to capitalist advertising media (Art Institute of Chicago). Warhol’s work wages its own revolt against artistic suppression while opening the eyes of the public to the dangers of propaganda.