After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (I)”
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This painting was inspired by the first of two poems by Mao on eradicating disease:
And if the cowherd who lives on a star
Asks about the god of plagues,
Tell him, happy or sad, the god is gone,
Washed away in the waters.
In Fu’s illustration, a desolate scene of calamity is relieved by the appearance of the mythical herdboy announcing the arrival of better times.
And if the cowherd who lives on a star
Asks about the god of plagues,
Tell him, happy or sad, the god is gone,
Washed away in the waters.
In Fu’s illustration, a desolate scene of calamity is relieved by the appearance of the mythical herdboy announcing the arrival of better times.
Artwork Details
- Title: After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (I)”
- Artist: Fu Baoshi (Chinese, 1904–1965)
- Date: dated 1958
- Culture: China
- Medium: Album leaf, ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 13 3/8 x 19 11/16 in. (34 x 50 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Lent by Nanjing Museum
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art