A Sleepless Night

A woman studies late at night while her young daughter sleeps beside her. Agricultural tools and a sun hat are in the foreground, indicating that she is a farmer by day, but the books by Máo, Marx and Engels, and Lenin on the windowsill behind her demonstrate her commitment to Socialist thought. The certificates on the wall recognize her study and submission of essays like the one she is writing: "Severely Criticize the Fallacy that ‘Men are Superior to Women." The quote is from the ancient text the Yijing, attributed to Confucius, and the large poster visible outside of her window publicizes the "Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius" campaign of the period. Other details support the feminist theme of the painting: on the wall is a poster for the revolutionary opera Azalea Mountain 杜鹃山 featuring the revolutionary heroine Ke Xiang 柯湘; and the sleeping daughter’s toy is not a doll but a fighter jet, suggesting new opportunities for women.

Liú Zhīguì is one of the best known of the Huxian painters. He was born in Huxian, and in 1962 began to study painting with the Huxian Peasant Painting Group. He became an art teacher, an art editor with the Shaanxi Daily newspaper, and later vice-director of the Huxian Cultural Center.