Superb rare orig 1972 Chinese Cultural Revolution poster TEACH KIDS HANDWASHING

Description

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This auction is for an
extremely rare
Chinese propaganda poster
dated June 1972
.
It’s a charming educational poster in a children’s book illustration style. It was designed to teach kids hand washing and proper sanitation, likely for display in a school.
This is an original poster - it
is
not
a reproduction. The item comes from a significant, wide-ranging collection of posters and other rare collectibles of the era acquired
30 years ago from sources in mainland China.
These posters were produced to be very much of the moment, printed by the government to convey information to a widely-illiterate public. Many were intended to depict an idealized vision of the Communist state.
They were not intended
to be
durable art. Like advertising, they were colorful, pleasing, and intended to be replaced by new posters as they came along. Therefore, many did not survive.
It’s possible this may be one of the few remaining copies.
NOTE: Objects in four corners of poster are magnets holding the poster for photography.
Category: Educational
Subject: Children trained to wash hands and to learn sanitation
Size: 20-3/4” x 30”
Year: 1972
Condition: Overall good+ with minor issues; will frame up nicely!
Issues (see last photo): Typical age foxing; minor water spotting along left white border which can be framed out; 3" clear tape repair on back of poster, right side - hard to see from the front; two small stains on blue background; negligible crease (not a fold) about 6" from right edge - should frame out.
Shipping: Poster will be rolled in a sturdy cardboard poster tube and sent via insured U.S. Post
From the 2015 book,
Chinese Propaganda Posters
by Stefan R. Landsberger:
(Through) its long history, the Chinese political system used the arts to propagate correct behavior and thought. Literature, poetry, painting, stage plays, songs, and other artistic expressions were produced to entertain, but they also were given an important (educational) function: they had to educate the people in what was considered right and wrong at any one time.
...Once the People's Republic was established in 1949, propaganda art continued to be one of the major means to provide examples of correct behavior. But it also gave a concrete expression to many different policies, and to the many different visions of the future the Chinese Communist Party had over the years. In a country with as many illiterates as China had in the 1940s and 1950s, this method of visualizing abstract ideas and...educating the people worked especially well. Propaganda posters, which were cheaply and easily produced, became one of the most favored vehicles for this type of communication.
...The most talented artists were employed to visualize the political trends of the moment in quite detailed fashion. Many of them had worked on the commercial calendars that had been so popular before the People's Republic was founded...Their aim was to portray the future in the present, not only showing "life as it really is," but also "life as it ought to be."
...The content of the posters was largely taken up with the topics of politics and economic reconstruction that dominated China after 1949. Hyper-realistic, ageless, larger-than-life peasants, soldiers, workers, and youngsters in dynamic poses peopled the images. They pledged allegiance to the Communist cause, or obedience to Chairman Mao Zedong, or were engaged in the glorious task of rebuilding the nation.
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