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M+ Sigg Collection, Hong Kong, © Ma Desheng
Ma Desheng 馬德升
Untitled 無題
1979
A person’s face is visible in the bottom half of the black space that almost fills this woodcut print. The eyes look downwards, and the hair and body merge with the surrounding darkness, evoking a sense of withdrawal and tension. Ma Desheng’s liberal use of black is characteristic of his highly expressive prints and contrasts with the vibrant colours of propaganda art produced in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). A self-taught artist influenced by the woodcuts of Käthe Kollwitz and Edvard Munch, Ma was a founding member of the Stars Group, which championed the role of art as a means of self-expression in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 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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