Posts tagged with "painting"



12. September 2023
Late 1930s postcard from a series on Manchurian Life titled "Advertisement Painting". From the MOFBA collection.
This 1930s postcard from our collection reminds us of the lost profession of billboard painter, signwriter or “wall dogs” as its practitioners were often colloquially called. Commercial advertising has a long history in China and in the West but as an industry only emerged several centuries after the invention of Woodblock printing in China in the 9th century, and of the printing press by Gutenberg in around 1436. These technologies eventually allowed for the mass production of flyers,...
08. July 2023
1928 Chinese calendar poster for Beacon (海燈牌) cigarettes from A. Lopato & Sons (老巴奪父子) in Harbin. It wishes a Happy New Year (恭贺新禧), was illustrated by famous artist Xiezhiguang (谢之光) and printed by the Commercial Press. From the MOFBA collection.
This intriguing 1928 calendar poster, advertising the „Beacon” cigarette brand, was not only created by the most versatile Chinese commercial artist of the 20th century, but also leads us to explore the story of the first and largest foreign-founded tobacco manufacturer in China.
14. August 2022
1930s Silk hosiery box with film-noir style cover illustration. From the MOFBA collection
A stunning illustration on this vintage box by the Chinese “Healthy” Pure Silk Hosiery brand (健美牌). The voyeuristic perspective and dramatic interaction of light and shadow is reminiscent of American realist painter Edward Hoppers art. Even more intriguingly though, the lady’s thin long eyebrows and her short hairstyle with romantic waves undoubtedly dates the image to the 1930s, while the low-key black and white setting in an inner-city apartment with Venetian blinds is much more...
22. July 2022
Harper's Weekly September 15, 1900 A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF SHANGHAI. From the MOFBA collection
Probably our favorite panorama of Old Shanghai from our collection: an illustration from Harpers Weekly, September 12, 1900. Also an amazing reminder on how developed both the Bund on the Puxi side, as well as the Pudong side were already at that time. From a viewpoint most likely on top of the American Cigarette Company Co factory, on the Pudong side, we can see the building of the British Cigarette Company Ltd to the left (BAT was only established in 1902), on the right the Pootung Hotel, the...
11. October 2021
An edited and enhanced version of this article was published on Historic Shanghai. If you are based in Shanghai we highly recommend their historic walking tours.