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M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong, © Ma Desheng
Ma Desheng 馬德升
Untitled 無題
1979, printed 2005
In this woodcut print, the head of Maxim Gorky, the Russian writer and pioneer of socialist realism in literature, is represented in three-quarter profile. A white border sets off his face and neck against the black background, and shadows accentuate his thick eyebrows, prominent nose, and large moustache. He looks into the distance, with his chin slightly raised, giving an impression of resolve. Black dominates the work, a characteristic of Ma Desheng’s prints, which stood in contrast to the bright colours of propaganda art produced during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) in China. Ma is a self-taught artist, and the style of his expressive prints was influenced by the woodcuts of Käthe Kollwitz and Edvard Munch. Many of his other prints depict the feelings of depression permeating Chinese society and were published in the underground literary journal Today. After moving to Paris in 1986, Ma resumed working in ink-wash painting, a medium he had first used in his early career in China.
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