Chinese Sketch Book

1975-1977. NA. Good. Fascinating sketchbook created by accomplished artist during the late Maoist era in China. 12mo. 17 by 12 cm. 131 pages with graphite and/or ink illustrations, and a few additional pages with text in Chinese characters, along with a small number of blank leaves. Sketches range from intermediate studies and/or partially done studies to more finished drawings fully satisfying for themselves. The subject matter is various, with human portraits the closest to being dominant, but also plenty of drawings of buildings, including factories, industrial and military equipment, and the like. There is one hagiographic portrait of Mao, and we are told, obligatory Mao quotes. Some of the other portraits and drawings seem to hew to what the Communist Party would have smiled upon with approval, including fierce men and women, a few with a rifle or machine gun slung around their shoulder, as well as the pictures of industrial infrastructure. Yet these themselves could be rendered with real skill and depth, and some other portraits have a more timeless quality, capturing something about the person's individuality that has nothing to do with politics. Anatomical studies of feet, hands, or studies of movement, with multiple images per page, are standard fare for sketchbooks by artists everywhere; here they are rendered with obvious competence. Condition: no cover. Some soiling of exterior pages. Slight cock to the album's spine. Minor dogearing.