Features of artistic presentation of images of people's leaders in the context of the development of the system of realistic painting in China in the XX – early XXI century

The article shows how the attitude of Chinese artists towards the ideological content and methods of artistic presentation of the image of the people's leader has changed in the context of changes in approaches to realism. Two genres were chosen as the reference material: portrait and story painting, in which this image developed continuously and consistently throughout the time period under consideration. The study showed that the image of the leader in Chinese painting is closely related to realism, as it assumes a fairly accurate depiction of a person. The changes in the image of the leader were the results of the transformation of the attitude of artists towards approaches and methods of artistic expression. Using the example of the work of Chinese masters, continuous and deep reflections on the relationship between art, people and society are traced. The research is based on elements of a cultural approach and hermeneutical method combined with descriptive and comparative methods used to analyze the ideological content of works and elements of the figurative system of Chinese realistic painting. Interdisciplinary, historical, cultural and sociocultural approaches were used, as well as special methods of art criticism, in particular the principles of iconographic and iconological analysis. The object of research is Chinese portrait and subject painting of the XX – early XXI century. The subject of the study is the process of forming and changing the ways of presentation and ideological content of the image of the leader in Chinese painting of the specified period, its elements and structure. The purpose of the study is to determine through the transformations that took place in the system of realistic painting in China their influence on the ways of artistic interpretation and depiction of the image of the leader in a portrait and thematic painting, including in the historical genre. This makes it possible to find out the influence of the power and positions of the authors on the artistic process, as well as to determine the interaction of the masters with the society that focuses on such images and forms a request for them, which makes it possible to make a balanced assessment of the art of this period.

the image of a leader, portrait, realism, story painting, Chinese art, contemporary art, artistic presentation, ideological content, social reality, globalization