Brushstrokes of Revolution: Realism, Expressionism, and Romanticism in haipai Art

This article explores how haipai artists in Shanghai responded to the pressures of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), negotiating the demands of state-mandated revolutionary themes while striving to maintain their distinctive artistic traditions. Under the intense scrutiny of political authorities, artists such as Fang Shicong, Chen Yifei, and Cai Jiangbai blended realism, expressionism, and romanticism to create works that promoted socialist ideology and collective heroism. By analysing key paintings—including Fang’s Encounter on the Road and Da Qing Oil Workers, as well as the collaborative Wedding on the Execution Ground: As Long as the Principle is True by Chen Yifei and Cai Jiangbai—this study reveals how composition, colour, and symbolism were employed to reinforce political messages yet subtly preserve the hallmarks of the haipai style. The article contends that, while haipai artists fulfilled the propagandist aims of the Cultural Revolution, they also succeeded in sustaining Shanghai’s cosmopolitan artistic legacy, producing works that were both ideologically charged and aesthetically refined.