Art

In its volumetric forms rendered through contrasting areas of light and dark, this print reflects Liqun’s background in Western-style painting. The subject matter of a new kind of femininity and motherhood, however, is revolutionary. While nursing her baby, the female soldier clad in a uniform listens intently to something outside the picture frame and takes notes. As the title indicates, she is absorbed in a broadcast speech in Yan’an, the Communist power base in northwest China.

Liqun began his artistic career at the China National Art Academy in Hangzhou in 1931. By 1940, he had found his way to Yan’an, where he became an instructor at the Lu Xun Institute of Literature and Art.

-The met