Wang Guodong (painter)

[1] In 1964, Wang was chosen to replace Zhang Zhenshi as the lead painter of the giant portrait of Mao Zedong hung on the Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) in Beijing.

[1] Although the job was considered one of the highest honours for a painter in China, Wang lived in obscurity as he was not allowed to put his name on the painting.

[2] During the Cultural Revolution, Wang was persecuted because of his "capitalist" family background and for painting Mao from an angle with only one visible ear.

Although Wang argued that the painting was based on a photo issued by the government from which he was not allowed to deviate, he was still publicly humiliated in a struggle session and was sent to work as a carpenter at a framing factory for two years.

Two of them, Liu Yang and Ge Xiaoguang, were chosen to paint Mao's portraits on Tiananmen,[4] which have remained identical to Wang's design.