GU Yuan (1919–1996) Human Bridge Chinese Woodcut 1948 Reprint c.1952–57

Description

Gu Yuan Human Bridge Woodcut

This Gu Yuan Human Bridge Woodcut is a Chinese colour print of a composition originally created in 1948. The present example is a later printing dating from approximately 1952–1957. The scene depicts soldiers and civilians forming and crossing a makeshift human bridge under fire.

Chinese colour woodcut, originally created in 1948, this example being a later printing dating from approximately 1952–1957.

The dramatic composition depicts soldiers and civilians forming and crossing a makeshift “human bridge” under fire, rendered in Gu Yuan’s powerful and immediately recognizable woodcut style.

Gu Yuan (1919–1996) was one of the leading figures of twentieth-century Chinese woodblock printing. In 1938, he joined the Communist forces in Shaanxi and subsequently became closely associated with the development of modern Chinese revolutionary printmaking. He later served as President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Human Bridge is among the best-known compositions associated with Gu Yuan’s early revolutionary period.

Dimensions:
Sheet: 36 × 24.3 cm
Woodcut/image: 25 × 14.5 cm

A particularly powerful example of mid-twentieth-century Chinese woodblock printmaking.