Many breathtaking specters have descended upon the Bates campus in recent years, but few can top the apparition of Chairman Mao cloaked in his legendary, larger-than-life jacket.

We are told that this piece of public art was the creation of a sculptor both famous and influential in his home country of the People’s Republic of China. But what makes an artist famous and influential in that country? And on which side of that fame and influence do he, the artist, and Bates, his host, stand?

The question is tantalizing because Chairman Mao was once a political and ideological sworn enemy of the College’s homeland and because his historical significance is still being fought over passionately. The “public” of this art we have on hand is indeed “political.”

Or perhaps I am missing something. Perhaps Chairman Mao has transcended political and ideological divides the world over, now that his country has become downright capitalist. Perhaps it’s just the folly of morons stuck in the political, ideological, and precapitalist past to argue fine points. If we forget about Tibet and the Dalai Lama, the College may even receive a gift of an endowed Chairman Mao chair in a well-placed department.

After all, Chairman Mao was not such a thoroughgoing revolutionary in his lifetime. In the biography Mao: The Unknown Story, we learn that in Yan’an, the famous Chinese Communist hideout, the local cotton was rough and uncomfortable, “so softer cotton was imported for senior cadres. Mao, outwardly, dressed the same as the rest, but his underwear was made of fine material…. The maid did not qualify for any underwear or socks at all, and kept getting colds as a result.”

Does our own Mao jacket include his underwear made of fine material? It’s been frightfully cold lately.

The reaction on campus that I like most came from our own students. Two women stood in front of the jacket and pondered its identity. After some deliberation, they decided it looked like a Chanel suit.

Bravo! Though I have never heard of cotton Chanel suits, perhaps the rusty metal jacket nestled against Pettengill Hall really does represent Communist Mao’s warm, fine outfit, suitable even for his capitalist offspring. Therein must lay the political correctness of this particular objet d’art..

By Atsuko Hirai

Atsuko Hirai, the Kazushige Hirasawa Professor of History, joined the Bates faculty in 1988.

Campus reaction to Mao Jacket is a variant of what was expressed in the anonymous note that lay beside the sculpture until destroyed by rain: “Why is this man honored who killed so many of our men. Shame on our college.”

My guess is that if the piece were by a contemporary American sculptor, displayed a Western suit coat, and was titled George W. Bush, the near-universal reaction would be that representing the president as a rigid hollow metal shell was an act of savage critique.

Yet this work by contemporary Chinese artist Sui Jianguo has repeatedly been taken to be glorifying Mao in particular and communist rule in general, as if there could only be one Chinese thought pattern, irrevocably rooted in Marxism. My own suspicion is that, at this moment, it would be easier to find American artists praising George W. Bush without ironic intent than it would be to find Chinese artists wholeheartedly praising Mao Zedong.

Not surprisingly, it’s easier to perceive ambiguity in art that comes out of one’s own cultural background. Foreign political art, in particular, tends to be seen in terms of one’s own limited understanding of other people’s complications. When the sculpture stood in New York City, a critic asked angrily how it was different from displaying the jacket of a Waffen-SS officer, with the implication that such a display would be instantly stopped.

But what if the Nazi uniform sculpture bore the name of Anselm Kiefer, famous for a career built out of dark broodings on Germany’s poisonous modern history? Would that convert the sculpture into a horrific memorial warning, or would its straightforward representation still be inherently glorifying?

When Jasper Johns’ flag paintings are exhibited overseas, should they be equipped with warning labels reading, “May Not Be Simplistic Patriotic Statement,” to help out foreign viewers?

In the end, I’m inclined to think that if any significant percentage of the Bates student body actually looks hard at a piece of sculpture and develops personal opinions about it, that’s all good news.

By Dennis Grafflin

Professor of History Dennis Grafflin, the first permanent appointment in non-Western history, came to Bates in 1981.

View of the sculpture looking down Alumni Walk

From Paul: Hey all. Taking a quick break from finals studying to let you know about some very cool art here at Bates.  The Bates College Museum of Art and its director Mark Bessire, spearheaded a project to bring an amazing sculpture here to Bates. The ‘Lagacy Mantle (Mao Jacket)’, created by world-renown Chinese artist Sui Jianguo was brought here early this month and is on loan to Bates for a year. The sculpture is truly incredible. It is made of metal, stands 10 feet high and weighs roughly 4 tons. Bessire, the man who helped bring the statue to campus, said that having the sculpture here is an, “extraordinary opportunity for Bates to have one of the iconic symbols of Chinese contemporary art by one of the most influential artists in the world today”.

When I first saw the Mao Jacket I had no idea what to think. I snapped some pictures so you can decide for yourself. Also, check out this article from the Bates website. It is much more in depth and has some AWESOME pictures of moving the huge sculpture (from a flatbed truck, through the air between Pettengill and Lane Hall, into its resting spot along Alumni Walk).

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Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen

Alumni Walk gets its first public art

Following its autumn-long appearance on Park Avenue in Manhattan, a 10-foot eponymous Mao jacket was installed on Bates’ own busy thoroughfare, Alumni Walk, on Dec. 5.

On loan to Bates for a year, the approximately 4-ton metal sculpture, formally named Legacy Mantle (Mao Jacket), is by contemporary Chinese Artist Sui Jianguo.

Mark Bessire, director of the Bates College Museum of Art, says that he first spied the sculpture in Beijing as he was organizing the museum’s Stairway to Heaven exhibition. He wanted Sui’s piece in that exhibition, but shipping the sculpture from China to Lewiston would’ve busted his budget.

Instead, the jacket initially came to the U.S. as part of Art and China’s Revolution, an exhibition by the Asia Society and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

From Sept. 7 through mid-November, the suit sat on the Park Avenue median at 70th Street.

According to Melissa Chiu, museum director at the Asia Society, “the iconic Mao jacket symbolizes Mao’s legacy and may be viewed as both nostalgic and critical, mirroring the views of the artist and many Chinese of his generation.”

Given the Bates Museum of Art’s reputation for championing contemporary Chinese art (other recent major exhibitions include Documenting China and From Middle Kingdom to Biological Millennium by Wenda Gu), Bessire says he “immediately” approached the Bates Committee on Public Art about bringing Mao Jacket to campus.

From that point, the sculpture’s path to Bates was guided by the College’s Public Art Policy (see page 7 for “temporary installations”).

Bessire hopes the work will “continue the conversation about Chinese history and the expanding influence of China and Chinese culture,” noting that Mao Jacket is an “extraordinary opportunity for Bates to have one of the iconic symbols of Chinese contemporary art by one of the most influential artists in the world today.”

The scuplture arrived early Wednesday morning on a flatbed trailer hauled by a Peterbilt tractor. In two stages, a 120-ton Grove all-terrain crane hoisted the piece from the parking lot behind Lane Hall up to Alumni Walk.

At one point, the huge icon of Communist rule looked like some strange bell as it dangled in the air between Lane and Pettengill halls against the vivid blue sky. “Surreal,” said Bessire.

The sculpture sits outside Pettengill Hall, across from Dana Chemistry.

Afterwards, Bessire relaxed on a bench next to the jacket and talked with people about the sculpture. “I got many responses,” he says. “Some loved it, some were confused and some did not like it. But everybody was certainly thinking about what is public art and what role it has on the Bates campus.”

In the coming weeks, Bessire will offer a lecture about the sculpture and about public art at Bates.