Mutual exchange of art exhibitions between China and the Soviet Union in the mid-twentieth century

Bai Tsze Postgraduate student, Department of History of Art, St. Petersburg State University 199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Mendeleevskaya Liniya str., 5 bbbbbeoooo@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The international situation in the early days of the formation of the New China was mainly due to the political isolation of China from Western countries caused by the policy of the "cold War": practically only the socialist camp had various exchanges with China. In 1950, the new Chinese Government and the Soviet Union concluded the "Soviet-Chinese Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance", in this context, friendly relations between the two countries continued until the early 1960s. In the 1950s, the main form of artistic exchange between China and the Soviet Union was the holding of various mutual art exhibitions of each other.

The first official exhibition of the New China in the Soviet Union was the "Art Exhibition of the People's Republic of China", which was opened on October 1, 1950 at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The exhibits included works selected from the First All-China Art Exhibition in 1949, as well as some old paintings and decorative and applied art products ^{[1, p. 80]}. The opening ceremony was attended by about 4,000 people, including employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, diplomatic representatives from different countries, heads of the Moscow government, heroes of the Soviet Union, representatives of the working class, figures of literature and art, employees of the Chinese Embassy and various Chinese delegations. At the opening of the meeting, the chairman of the Committee for Arts Affairs at the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Polikarp Ivanovich Lebedev, Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union Wang Jiaxiang, President of the Academy of Arts of the USSR Alexander Mikhailovich Gerasimov ^[2] spoke. After the exhibits arrived in the Soviet Union, work was organized here to compile and print the Russian version of the catalog "Art Exhibition of the People's Republic of China". According to the Russian version of the catalog compiled and published in the Soviet Union, the works at the exhibition were divided into three categories: exhibits of Old China art, New China art and handicrafts, a total of 495 exhibits. These works of modern art, with the exception of a few works from the time of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 and the Liberation War, are mainly new works created in 1949 and 1950. With the exception of some works reflecting political phenomena and processes and praising the friendship between China and the Soviet Union, most of them were works depicting revolutionary history and glorifying socialist construction ^{[1, p. 78]}. For example, an actual theme for that time was reflected in the oil painting by the artist Dai Jie "Collecting signatures under the Stockholm Proclamation" (Fig. 1). The characters of these paintings are not placed in a typical historical scene, are not transmitted with the help of glare and bright colors, and the overall shape of the painting creates a sense of integrity due to the geometric compositional structure. Yan Han's oil painting "The Victorious Banner is hoisted on the peaks of the Motherland" is a work on revolutionary—historical and military themes (Fig. 2). The painting essentially depicted the determination and indomitable spirit of the Chinese Communist Party in the struggle for the Motherland, and was also propaganda of Soviet socialism. In 1951, the paintings were released as postcards in the Soviet Union.

Fig. 1. Dai Jie. Collection of signatures under the Stockholm Appeal, 1950

Fig. 2. Yan Han. The victory banner is hoisted on the peaks of the motherland, 1950

At the end of his visit to the Soviet Union in February 1950, Mao Zedong said: "The economic culture of the Soviet Union and a variety of important construction experience should become a model for the construction of a new China" ^{[3, p. 266]}. Thus, this exhibition at that time had another mission, which was to allow Soviet experts to explore the immature art of socialist realism in China at that time, so that Chinese artists could then learn from the relatively mature cultural and artistic experience of the Soviet Union. The preface written by Wang Ye-qiu to the Russian version of the catalog "Art Exhibition of the People's Republic of China" clearly states: "We look forward to the Soviet people and their leaders giving instructions and comments on our art exhibition and sharing with us the experience of mastering the method of socialist realism to help us more successfully master the new artistic culture" ^{[1, p. 82]}.

From December 5, 1950 to January 11, 1951, the exhibition was held at the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. It is important to emphasize that this was the first foreign exhibition organized by the State Hermitage Museum after the Great Patriotic War ^{[4, p. 75]}. On June 8, 1951, an exhibition of Chinese literature and art opened in Leningrad ^{[5, p. 135]}. In 1957, an exhibition dedicated exclusively to Chinese painting was held in the Soviet Union. From April 12 to May 15, 1957, the exhibition "Modern Chinese Painting "guohua", which included 114 paintings, was held at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Then it was transported to the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, where it was placed in the Romanov Gallery — from May 26 to June 23, 1957, 110,000 people visited it ^{[4, 77]}.

Although it was assumed that the exchange of art between China and the Soviet Union would be mutual, in reality, works of art brought from the Soviet Union to China can be called a powerful stream; works of art brought from China to the Soviet Union seem to be only a small stream ^{[6, p. 4]}.

In 1951, the Society of Soviet-Chinese Friendship, the Union of Chinese Artists and the Central Academy of Fine Arts of China organized an "Exhibition of Soviet Posters and Cartoons", which was opened on April 3, 1951. The exhibition was held in Beijing, at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. It was attended by then Vice President Li Jishen, Vice Premier Huang Yanpei, Deputy Minister of Culture Qian Junzhui and Soviet Ambassador to China Nikolai Vasilyevich Roshchin. Xu Beihong, Rector of the Central Academy of Arts, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, praising the advanced nature of Soviet art. Hua Junwu, Cai Zhohong, Wang Chaowen and other well-known experts wrote articles for the newspaper "People's Daily", which highlighted the artistic characteristics, themes and techniques of Soviet propaganda posters and satirical cartoons ^{[7, p. 144]}. This exhibition became the starting point for a large-scale display of Soviet art exhibitions in China, and besides, it was the first large-scale exhibition of Soviet painting officially held after the formation of the People's Republic of China, so it attracted a lot of public attention.

The leader of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, said in 1945: "The policy of xenophobia towards foreign cultures is wrong. We should try our best to absorb progressive foreign cultures, using them as a guide for the development of a new culture in China" ^{[8, p. 1031]}. As the leader of the socialist camp in the last century, the Soviet Union is a benchmark for China to learn from, whether it is nation-building or cultural and artistic development. From 1950 to 1960, exhibitions of Soviet art in China, held jointly by China and the Soviet Union, were very significant both in number and content, these exhibitions were large-scale and subsequently had a strong impact. At that time, "People's Daily" and the official magazine of the Union of Artists of China "Fine Art" used a larger number of issues and increased their volumes for messages on this topic.

In 1952, the Soviet Union proposed to fully demonstrate in China the socialist achievements of the Soviet Union in various fields, such as economics, culture, art, science and architecture. For this reason, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to build exhibition halls in Beijing and Shanghai on the Soviet model in order to learn from the experience of socialist construction of the Soviet Union. On October 15, 1953, the construction of the "Soviet Exhibition Hall" in Beijing began, which was completed in September 1954. The museum has distinctive architectural features, and the main structure is made in the Russian classical architectural style, embodying the "Soviet-Chinese friendship". After 1958, the "Soviet Exhibition Hall" (the author of the name of which was Mao Zedong) was renamed the "Beijing Exhibition Hall" ^{[9, p. 32]}. After the construction of the exhibition hall was completed, from October 2 to December 26, 1954, the first international exhibition of the People's Republic of China "Exhibitions of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR" was held. The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by the leaders of the Communist Party and the state of China Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi, as well as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and Soviet statesman Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan. Subsequently, the director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, A. I. Zamoshkin, was responsible for the display of fine art within the framework of the Beijing "Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR" ^{[10, p. 84]}.

On October 25, 1954, the exhibition was visited by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Lin Boqu, Dong Biwu, Peng Dehuai, Peng Zhen, Deng Xiaoping and other major leaders. Mao Zedong himself became the author of the inscription "The glorious successes of the Soviet Union in economic and cultural construction greatly inspired the Chinese people to build socialism, gave them the best example to follow" ^{[11, p. 739]}. This exhibition fully demonstrated the achievements of the economic and cultural construction of the Soviet Union and had a great educational impact on the socialist transformations and socialist construction in China. In this regard, the People's Daily published an editorial dedicated to the fact that the Chinese people received a bright socialist education from the Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR ^{[12, p. 29]}.

280 works of art presented at the exhibition include works in various forms, such as oil paintings, sculptures and engravings. Among them are more than 90 oil paintings of various subjects, many of which were awarded the Stalin Prize of the Soviet Union. This is a concentrated display of the highest award of Soviet oil painting. In December 1939, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided to establish the Stalin Prize to encourage scientific and technical inventions and literary and artistic creativity. The "laureate" works personified the ideals of the cultural policy of the Soviet state ^{[13, p. 152]}.

Revolutionary historical painting occupies an important place in Soviet oil painting. It is worth noting that Dmitry Arkadyevich Nalbandian's painting "The Great Friendship" presented at the "Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR" depicted a meeting between Mao Zedong and I. V. Stalin at the signing of the Soviet-Chinese treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance. The work became a kind of symbol of friendship between the peoples of China and the Soviet Union; the composition of this work began to be used as a template by Chinese artists on their canvases of a socialist-realist nature to reflect the close relations between revolutionary leaders.

Another painting by D. A. Nalbandian's creative group "Power to the Soviets, Peace to the Peoples" depicted the Second All–Russian Congress of Soviets on November 8, 1917 in the Smolny Palace, at which V. I. Lenin declared that all power was transferred to the Soviets, and issued a decree on peace. Soviet artists showed the majestic image of the revolutionary leader Lenin, the faith of the Soviet people in the cause of the socialist revolution.

Historical paintings reflecting the events of the Great Patriotic War are also one of the main themes of Soviet oil painting ^{[14, p. 104]}. Another painting - the winner of the Stalin Prize at the exhibition — "Glory to the Fallen Heroes" by Fyodor Semenovich Bogorodsky — depicts a hero who sacrificed himself for the sake of the country, thereby expressing the patriotism and heroism of the Soviet people. The long-term war could not destroy the integrity of the Russian nation, but on the contrary, tempered its steel will and fearless spirit, winning the respect of people all over the world.

The Great Patriotic War strengthened the sense of social responsibility of Soviet artists, and the theme of war and peace became the main theme in the works of Soviet painters at that time ^{[15, p. 172]}. Alexander Ivanovich Laktionov's painting "Letter from the Front" had a great influence in the Soviet Union at that time, in New China this work was also printed in large circulation and was widely distributed. This painting is a precious scene of tenderness during the war. In the rear of the war, a letter has finally arrived from the front, which the family of a front-line soldier has been waiting for day and night, and people hoping that the front-line soldiers fighting for their homeland will return safely from the front, gather together to read the letter. Fyodor Pavlovich Reshetnikov's painting "For Peace!" is a work expressing the theme of peace in the image of children. The painting depicts a group of French children who write the word paix (French: ‘peace’) on the wall of a house on a street corner, despite the danger, and in the distance, in deep alleys, police can be seen forcibly dispersing demonstrators. On the destroyed walls of buildings we see the disaster and damage caused by the Second World War, and at the same time the artist praises the bravery, determination and resourcefulness of children who are the hope of the future world.

The unity of political and artistic attitudes formed topical thematic trends and built a hierarchy of themes in art: historical-revolutionary, industrial, subjects on the theme of labor and the Soviet way of life ^{[16, p. 173]}. Many portraits that received the Stalin Prize were also an important part of the exhibits of the Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR. Depicting the Soviet Union, the artists were not only satisfied with the images of ordinary people, but also devoted themselves to depicting the active builders of communism, representatives of new types of characters cultivated by Soviet realism, images of the leaders of the Soviet Union — Lenin and Stalin. The exhibition featured paintings "Portrait of the oldest artists" by Alexander Mikhailovich Gerasimov, "At the Old Ural Factory" by Boris Vladimirovich Johanson, "Goalkeeper" by Sergei Alekseevich Grigoriev, "Morning of Our Motherland" by Fyodor Savvich Shurpin, "Walkers at V. I. Lenin" by Vladimir Alexandrovich Serov. It is worth noting that Shurpin's "Morning of Our Motherland" depicts the figure of Stalin in the rays of dawn. Against the background of electrification construction and the collective farm fertile lands of the Soviet Union, Stalin looks far ahead and embodies the image of a national leader who concentrated in himself the wonderful qualities of the creator of a happy socialist life. The behavior and style of the character, as well as his character and virtue are reflected in an ideal artistic performance ^{[17, p. 10]}. This image of portraits of national leaders became the subject of Chinese oil painting in the middle of the XX century. Given the international political situation of that time and the outbreak of the Korean War, the countries of the socialist camp needed unification. The newly created People's Republic of China also needed to show the new China, forming and portraying the image of the country's leaders in order to play the appropriate political role of uniting, inspiring and educating people ^{[18, p. 23]}.

For almost the entire next year, the Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR consistently held traveling exhibitions in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan and other places. The exhibition of economic and cultural Achievements of the USSR was held in China for 20 months, and it was visited by 11.25 million people ^{[19, p. 80]}. Only from the moment of opening on October 2, 1954 until its closure, which took place on December 26, during almost three months of stay in Beijing, the number of people who came from all over the country reached 2.76 million people. Many art departments and schools have organized visits. For a long time after the opening, the well-known works at the exhibition turned out to be a center of learning for the entire art world ^[20].

In 1954, the Fine Arts magazine made a special report on the Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR and highly appreciated its contribution to the development of Chinese art: This exhibition gives Chinese artists a very good opportunity to study the methods of socialism in art. Thanks to this opportunity, it will contribute to the further improvement and development of artistic creativity of the People's Republic of China ^{[21, p. 45]}. The magazine also published some articles related to the training and experience gained directly at the exhibition, including Ai Zhongxin's article "The Art of Oil Painting in the Soviet Union". In it, he drew attention to the fact that the art of the Soviet Union represents a new stage in the development of the art of all mankind; the art of oil painting, like other types of art, has achieved great success. The author praised Soviet painters for being able to convey various life problems and transfer the essence of life itself into paintings ^{[17, pp.7-8]}.

In addition to Soviet oil paintings, exhibitions of Russian classical oil paintings were also held in China. On August 4, 1957, the House of Soviet-Chinese Friendship (now the Shanghai Exhibition Center) in Shanghai hosted an "Exhibition of works by Eight famous Soviet Artists in the People's Republic of China." It was attended by M. V. Kupriyanov, P. I. Krylov, N. A. Sokolov, V. I. Mukhina, Yu. I. Pimenov, E. M. Rachev, N. V. Tomsky, V. A. Favorsky, 397 of their works were exhibited in total ^{[22, p. 262]}. On November 5, 1957, as part of the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in the Soviet Union, an exhibition of Russian painting of the XVIII–XX centuries opened in Beijing, marking the strengthening of Sino-Soviet friendship and further development of Sino-Soviet cultural exchange. Russian Russian oil paintings presented at the exhibition are all from the State Russian Museum in Leningrad, including 63 works by 45 Russian painters from the XVIII to the XX century ^{[23, p. 77]}. These priceless exhibits show the development of oil painting in Russia for almost a century and a half from the second half of the XVIII to the beginning of the XX century. At the beginning of the XVIII century, in order to further strengthen and centralize power, the Russian tsar Peter the Great carried out comprehensive economic and cultural reforms in backward feudal Russia, the artistic side of the reforms was reflected in the import of Western European art. As a result, Russian art gradually got rid of the shackles of religious themes, a large number of paintings with subjects from secular life appeared. The transition of art from the church to the palace is a common path of development of European art, and this change means the transition of art from feudal society to the new time ^{[24, p. 266]}. But in Russia at that time, as in all of Europe, an aristocratic culture prevailed, a culture that determined the inevitable class restrictions of artists' creativity. When artists depicted representatives of the nobility, they also managed to create a lot of exquisite works. The 18th century saw the heyday of portraiture.

According to the 1957 Chinese catalog, among these 45 painters were early portraits painted by three artists of the second half of the XVIII century: Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov, Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky and Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. Their artistic creations are similar in many ways, but still each of them has its own pronounced features, which are a vivid reflection of the thought and aesthetics of the heyday of Russian art.

Russian Russian artists carried out innovation and innovation on the basis of academic painting from the end of the XVIII to the beginning of the XIX century, and gradually a realistic direction was formed in Russian painting. The nineteenth century was a glorious era in the development of realistic art. The exhibition featured works by Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, Orest Adamovich Kiprensky, Ivan Nikolaevich Kramsky, Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge and other realist artists. The theme of the life of ordinary people began to come into the field of view of artists, the content of portrait painting expanded even more ^{[25, p. 151]}. At the exhibition, with the exception of the paintings "Rest on the way to Egypt" by Alexey Egorovich Egorov and "The Appearance of Christ to the People" by Alexander Andreevich Ivanov, which were based on biblical subjects, most of them were images of civil life or portraits of ordinary people. For example, "Reapers" by Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov, "Fishermen by the Shore" and "View of Naples" by Sylvester Feodosievich Shchedrin vividly depict village life. The work of Karl Pavlovich Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii" made a splash in society when it was completed. Although the painting still retains the style of Russian classical painting of that time, however, the theme of "the destruction of the old world" gives the work a realistic orientation. The subjects of this art direction come directly from life, and the reflection of life has become a general trend of Russian artistic creativity of the XIX century ^{[26, p. 250]}.

The XIX century was a period of development of realism and a century of brilliant achievements of Russian art. In the second half of the XIX century, the Russian literary critic, revolutionary democrat Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky raised the banner of critical realism ^{[27, p. 309]}. Against this background, the populist movement developed in the 1860s. The artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy left the conservative Academy of Arts and entered life, forming a Partnership of traveling Art Exhibitions ^{[28, p. 204]}. This artistic group gradually grew and turned into a powerful group of progressive artists. I. E. Repin, V. I. Surikov, I. I. Shishkin and others raised realism to an unprecedented height with their artistic activity. The realistic art of this period is mainly manifested in the expression of patriotism and democratic thought.

From the end of the XIX century to the beginning of the XX century in Russia there was a period of developed capitalism. During the period of the development of formalist art, represented by the abstractionism of V. V. Kandinsky, many artists still insisted on realistic creative ideas and concepts. Representative works at this exhibition are paintings "On the Volga" by A. E. Arkhipov, "Cossacks" and "Soldier" by V. I. Surikov, "Negress" and "Portrait of Surgeon Pirogov" by I. E. Repin, as well as works by other artists. At the end of the exhibition, two works by Valentin Alexandrovich Serov were presented: "Bathing a horse" and "Portrait of A. N. Turchaninov". V. A. Serov was a student of I. E. Repin, one of the most famous and talented painters of the late XIX – early XX century, and in terms of his creative abilities, he is not inferior to his teacher. Being a talented artist, V. A. Serov overcame all the difficulties associated with natural light and color expressiveness, and his paintings are filled with emotions and deeply lyrical. In the simple story "Bathing a Horse", he vividly expresses the brilliance of the sea in the rays of the summer sun, the freshness of the sea air and the feeling of vastness and openness of nature. Serov's talent extends to various forms of painting, such as still life, portrait and historical subjects, but first of all it was portraits that were his strong point. "Portrait of A. N. Turchaninov" is one of the masterpieces of the technique of artistic creativity characteristic of V. A. Serov. In the picture, the unique individuality of the characters is reflected in unique and vivid movements, in subtle, complex and diverse facial expressions.

The general public came from all over China, seeking to appreciate the original style of Russian oil painting, and many artists and teachers of art schools studied them on the spot and copied them. The Shanghai branch of the Union of Artists of China even held an art symposium on November 13 at the Shanghai Art Museum in order to further study and research the best practices of Soviet fine art.

The exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists of 1955-1957 was shown for one month in Beijing and one month in Shanghai from July to September 1958 in accordance with the program of implementation of the cultural agreement between the Soviet Union and China. From July 8 to July 21, the exhibition was inaugurated in the Forbidden City of Beijing. The exhibition, which exhibited 543 paintings, graphics, sculptures created by Soviet artists in 1955-1957, was extremely large-scale and comprehensive for that time. The exhibited works of art were selected from more than 8000 works presented at the "All-Union Art Exhibition" held in the Soviet Union in 1957 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the October Revolution. This exhibition can be considered as a step-by-step demonstration of the achievements of the Soviet Union in the development of fine art. The exhibition exhibited works by artists from all the republics of the Soviet Union, and not only the works of the older generation of Soviet artists, but also outstanding works by a large number of young artists. The subjects of the exhibits are also rich and diverse, including images of revolutionary figures and achievements of socialist construction, revolutionary-historical themes reflecting events related to the defense of the Motherland and the desire for peace, as well as some portraits and landscapes ^{[29, p. 3]}.

A special place in the exhibition is occupied by works on revolutionary-historical themes and on the theme of socialist construction. An important theme of Soviet oil painting is painting on revolutionary-historical themes, which mainly shows the great spirit of Soviet leaders and heroism shown by Soviet soldiers in the revolutionary struggle. "V. I. Lenin at the GOELRO map" L. A. Shmatko, "V. I. Lenin at the parade of Universal Education" D. A. Shmarinov, "V. I. Lenin in the the family of the worker" by M. I. Krivenko and "V. I. Lenin on the Podium" by V. B. Pinchuk — all these works not only truthfully depict the heroic deeds of the leader of the October Socialist Revolution, but also fully show the power and greatness of Lenin at all stages of the revolution. There are also some works based on the events of the Great Patriotic War, which also show the resolute will of the fighting heroes, such as "Stronger than Death" (plaster) by F. D. Fiveysky, "They are Immortal" by V. F. Zadorozhny. In the work "They are Immortal", a dark sky hangs over a snowy field. The tone of the painting in the work is calm and solemn, which sets off an unusually calm, serious and solemn appearance of a group of heroes who are about to be executed by the enemy. They do not wait helplessly for death, but on the contrary, demonstrate their determination to sacrifice their youth to the Motherland and become eternal life. "Awakening" by A. A. Mylnikov profoundly depicts a group of awakened youth from colonial countries, reflecting the artist's desire to resist imperialist aggression and call for world peace.

In addition, there were also many paintings depicting socialist construction, life and work of Soviet people, which gave the whole exhibition an optimistic mood. The artists sought to discover something new and beautiful in the image of the Soviet man of the new era and his life, this is the understanding of the principles of socialist realism by Soviet master artists based on their own feelings. In the painting A. A. Plastova "August of the collective farmer" depicts harvesting in Soviet collective farms. The painting uses bright colors that shade the joyful atmosphere of the harvest and glorify labor. G. S. Khanjyan's painting "On the Shore of Sevan" has pronounced Armenian features, and its characters have a healthy and blooming appearance. The painting "Cotton growers" by the Uzbek artist T. A. Oganesova also expresses the harmonious scene of labor, the result of which is a good harvest, in socialist construction. "Summer" by A. P. Bubnov and "Happy Holiday" by L. V. Kabachek depict the spirit of Soviet people living in the communist era and praise the new atmosphere of socialism.

In 1958, the editorial board of Fine Arts wrote an article entitled "Long live the Red Banner of Socialist Realism" to congratulate on the "Exhibition of Works by Artists of the Soviet Union (1955-1957)", and warmly praised the exhibition, stating that artists of the Soviet Union made an unprecedented contribution to progressive art around the world. The art of progressive realism of the Soviet Union occupies a unique place in world art, because it has always maintained a close connection with the people ^{[30, p. 1]}. It also directly reflects the fact that during the artistic exchanges caused by the political friendship between China and the Soviet Union at that time, Chinese artists used Soviet realistic art as a banner and a reference point for finding and developing an artistic career in the first time after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Due to the wide range of themes and a variety of styles of works presented at this exhibition, it became an effective way for Chinese viewers and artists to get acquainted with the socialist realistic oil painting of the USSR, as well as an artistic reference point for the development of Chinese oil painting in the XX century. At that time, in China, which was in the stage of socialist construction, the consciousness of artists began to be embodied in political thought. They believed that Soviet artists highly corresponded to the spirit of the people and created progressive works of art that colorfully reflect life.

Until the 1950s, it was difficult for Chinese artists to see original European oil paintings. In addition, in the then political context of defending the "line of class struggle", oil paintings by many Western European artists were condemned by the official ideology as having "capitalist" overtones. In such circumstances, if Chinese artists studied the Western European art of oil painting, it meant studying decadent and decadent art, which carried certain political risks. Although before 1949 some Chinese artists, in particular Xu Beihong, went to Europe to study the Western system of realistic painting, there was still some doubt about this artistic power in the country. Lin Fengmian's innovative artistic concepts, which included Western contemporary art, were also rejected by the official artistic ideology of China at that time. Chinese masters of oil painting during the period of the Republic of China for a long time did not systematically study Western art, moreover, the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War forced them to stop this art education and research. Therefore, the exhibitions and distribution of Soviet oil paintings in New China came in handy. For new Chinese artists who have not yet fully formed in the field of realistic oil painting, the main object of study of Chinese artists naturally becomes Soviet oil painting, approved by the new Chinese regime.

Thanks to the joint efforts of governments, art institutions and artists of the two countries, Soviet art gained popularity in China, laying a good theoretical basis for China's comprehensive study of Russian-Soviet realism and socialist realism painting. To this day, the grandiose artistic exchanges and friendly scenes of that time still remain warm memories of the older generation of artists of the two countries.