In the 1940s, Wu Yinxian took numerous photographs of Mao Zedong, especially between 1942 and 1945. In 1942, the Yan’an reforms and Mao Zedong’s Talks on Art and Culture at the Yan’an Meeting has elevated the artistic language the artist used motivated by saving one’s country to a height of revolutionary aesthetics, thus demanding the artist to shift from self-conscience to obedience, while clarifying their object and function their art serves.

Boarding Farewell shot in 1945, depicts Mao Zedong waving his hands after he took off his hat prior to aboard the flight to the Chongqing Talks. This photograph looking up perspective set a model for the later portraits of the leader, and later became the classic image marking the turning point of this remarkable war period.

(Edited by Su Wenxiang, Xu Chongbao, Huang Si, 2015)