Larger than life

Calendar painting's demise

Apart from Shanghai, calendar paintings were also very popular in Southeast Asian countries and Europe. Jiang Xianhui, editor of the book One Century of Shanghai Calendar Painting, noted that many traders would purchase hundreds of paintings in Shanghai before returning to their home countries.

Advertising materials were on the decline following the liberation of China in 1949 as the government launched a reform over the commercial advertising industry and calendar painting became a protected folk art that later evolved into an art form associated with Chinese New Year. In 1954, Shanghai established a special publication house to produce such paintings.

As the government sought to reflect the new values of the country, illustrations of farmers and workers replaced the iconic Shanghai lady in these Chinese New Year calendars. To better understand their new subjects, studios often organized excursions so that artists can practice sketching scenes of people hard at work, such as farmers raising healthy pigs.

The craft of calendar painting took a hit in the 1960s when the political climate prevented the development of art studios. The final blow to the art form came when photographic technology became popular in the 1980s.

Though calendar paintings have now become a historic artifact, the timeless beauty of those women are still etched into the minds of many people. He Xiaoliang, a Shanghai native, still vividly recalls the woman on the calendar from his childhood days in the early 1980s.

"Our old house was really dim and every piece of furniture looked a little sad in such light. The calendar that was hung in the living room was the only thing that stood out," he recalled.

"I can still remember the woman in the calendar. She was wearing white fur and red pants. She was the prettiest woman to me at that time."