L’Internationale

The society, culture and political scene of China changed rapidly from the 1950s and the country began to embrace the first group of artists to focus their attention on epic heroism. The aesthetic value of these works, including Wen Lipeng's L’Internationale, lies in their noble tragic spirit, something the Chinese art scene had lacked for quite some time.
When working on L’Internationale from 1962 to 1963, the artist gave equal importance to elements such as a turbulent mixture of emotions, an understanding of the historical circumstances and the form of artistic expression. His mastery of artistic form was the key to the whole work. He took the images of 7 martyrs from the peaks of Huangshan, and drew inspiration from the murals of the Mogao Caves to design the coloration of this painting. Wen boldly removed the details of the surrounding environment and the figures, and because of his daring this historical artistic creation represents a breakthrough. Wen’s L’Internationale and Zhan Jianjun’s Five Martyrs in Langyashan are 2 examples of the revolutionary historical paintings produced during the 50s and 60s in which various artistic techniques were successfully used to enhance the artwork as a whole. --Excerpt from Shui Tianzhong's work on Wen Lipeng.