Receiving the Classics: The Curation of Ink Painting Animation in the Early People’s Republic of China

This article is a discussion of curation as a state method for the selection of animated films. Four ink painting animations produced at the historically important Shanghai Animation Film Studio (SAFS) are discussed, Ink Painting Animation Films ( Shuimo donghuapian 水墨动画片, 1960), Little Swallow ( Xiaoyanzi /小燕子, 1960), Where Is Mama? ( Xiao kedou zhao mama /小蝌蚪找妈妈, 1960), and The Oxherd’s Flute ( Mudi /牧笛, 1963). The early 1950s and 60s were a key period for cultural reform in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), notably in the Fine Arts and Film. Ink painting animation was at once an identifiable Chinese form, an historically significant form for the newly emergent PRC nation, and a controversial form in a field that was quickly shifting to socialist realism. This article attempts to tease out the way ink painting animation films were curated by state and citizen players at the time to represent a true national painting/guohua/ 国画/ form that represented Chinese culture. For commentators, and perhaps for the animators themselves, ink painting animation represented the ultimate sinification of Western film technology and cel animation technique. Three ink painting animations were completed by 1960. However, by 1963, the fourth ink painting animation would be banned, and the animators suffered political criticism. By reading this last early ink painting animation within the context of its production, possible meanings point to a deliberate attempt on the part of the animators to suggest a critique of top-down cultural production. To this day, SAFS productions have been curated around a small number of works. This article asks: Are there more classics?