The Rent Collection Courtyard (Chinese: 收租院; pinyin: shōuzū yuàn) is a clay collection of 114 life-sized sculptures in located in the courtyard of the former home of rural landlord Liu Wencai in Dayi County, Sichuan created by Ye Yushan and a team of sculptors from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1965. It is a famous work of Socialist Realist sculpture showing an evil landlord collecting rent from poor peasants, it is one of the most powerful works of the cultural revolution.[1] Copies were made and put on display in Beijing after modification to make them more powerful as works of propaganda.[2]
In the 1999 Venice Biennale, the contemporary Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang referenced the sculpture in the performance piece Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard in which he hired artisans to recreate the sculpture.[3][4]
References
edit- ^ Sullivan, Michael (2008). The Arts of China (5 ed.). pp. 307–308. ISBN 978-0-520-25569-2.
- ^ Liang, Ellen (1988). The Winking Owl. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-520-06097-0.
- ^ "Who Owns the People's Art?, Art in America". Archived from the original on 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^ "Morning Sun | Stages of History | Rent Collection Courtyard". www.morningsun.org. Archived from the original on 2011-12-18. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
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