Study On The Cover Image Of Chinese Red Books From The Perspective Of Iconology

This paper takes the cover images of red books from 1949 to 1966 as the main research object,and takes iconology as the main research method.It investigates the visual characteristics and content connotations of the images of typical characters and typical scenes of the times in the cover images of red books during the seventeen years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China,and explores the social connotations and the meaning of the times expressed by the images through their formal representation.This paper is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1 mainly elaborates the research scope and image classification basis of red book covers,elaborates the research purpose and significance,literature review,main contents and research methods,key points,difficulties and innovations;Chapter 2 combs the overall development of iconology,emphatically explains Panofsky’s modern iconology,illustrates the applicability of iconology to the study of red book cover images,and the use of iconology in this paper.The third chapter focuses on the analysis of the image of the characters in the cover of red books,mainly from the four typical types of characters in the era of model images,peasant images,soldier images and worker images to proceed with the interpretation of iconology.The fourth chapter focuses on the analysis of the scene images in the cover of red books,mainly on the two major types of iconology: revolutionary war scenes and production and construction scenes with high political relevance in the "seventeenth year" era.The fifth chapter summarizes the visual representation of the cover image of red books from 1949 to 1966,summarizes its theme types,excavates the historical value and era connotation behind the image,and expounds the reference significance of the study of the cover image of red books for contemporary art.This paper argues that the cover images of red books from 1949 to 1966 have strong thematic,political,contemporary and distinct realistic styles.The cover images show the themes of the times,such as shaping the characters of the times,narrating the revolutionary history and eulogizing the real life,reflects the comprehensive implementation in the process of the socialism of China,is the visual expression of political ideology at that time,expresses the political legitimacy demands of the new regime,and reflects the ruling party’s overall grasp of cultural leadership.Red book cover image participates in the construction of image history and national memory of New China with its strong political tendency visual language.