Mr. Straiges's set fuses socialist realism with Chagall-accented surrealism to more persuasive (and relevant) effect.

WSJ: Brecht After the Idol-Smashing | Caucasian Chalk Circle | Classic Stage Company | The Misanthrope | Court Theatre | By Terry Teachout

While Fu promoted guohua as the avenue toward an authentic Chinese visual language, the opposing camp championed European media and Socialist Realism.

WSJ: Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi | A Message in the Landscapes | By Lee Lawrence

Despite being critiqued as propaganda for its representations of life under Stalin's dictatorship, socialist realism has enjoyed a renaissance as those living in former Soviet countries seek artifacts from the previous era.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Before Russian Socialist Realism took over as the new dogma in the early 1950s, the language of Chinese propaganda art drew its inspiration from folk tradition, an inexhaustible reservoir for Chinese art throughout the centuries.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: China Art Gallery