Skip to main content
The Flag of the Agricultural Revolution - Image 1
The Flag of the Agricultural Revolution - Image 2
The Flag of the Agricultural Revolution - Image 3

Mel Chin, Vinalhaven Press, and others

The Flag of the Agricultural Revolution

1995

Thumbnail 1
Thumbnail 2
Thumbnail 3
Scroll

The Flag of the Agricultural Revolution

1995

Physical Qualities Color woodcut, Sheet: 633 x 855 mm. (24 15/16 x 33 11/16 in.) Image: 559 x 762 mm. (22 x 30 in.)
Credit Line Print & Drawing Society Fund, with proceeds derived from the 1997 Contemporary Print Fair
Object Number 1997.150
Made in response to the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), this work by conceptual artist Mel Chin reimagines the red and gold design of the Chinese Communist Party flag to evoke the student protestors of the pro-democracy movement. Here, Chin replaced the flag’s stars with silhouetted plant forms derived from 16th-century woodcuts in the Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica). Although these plants contain toxic properties, their place in the compendium attests to their capacity also for healing. “Poisonous weeds,” the term used for banned cultural works during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), is thus reclaimed in this print. Chin’s work commemorates those who condemned government corruption and called for democracy through collective resistance.
Contemporary Wing Rotations 2025

Signed: 2

Inscribed: LL, (graphite), '2/20'; LC, 'Flag of the Agricultural Revolution'; LR, ''96 (Chinese characters)'

Markings: none

Artist

Mel Chin

1950–2000

born Houston, TX 1951
Meet Mel →

Publisher

Vinalhaven Press

2000–2000

Meet Vinalhaven →

Printer

Randy Hemminghaus and Jonathan Higgins

2000–2000

Meet Randy →

Explore the Collection Further

Bethany Collins
The Flag with Thirty-Four Stars
2022
Kiyan Williams
How Do You Properly Fry An American Flag (Study)
2019
Lillian Bayley Hoover
Untitled (Surveyor's Flag)
2019
Henri Matisse and Roger Lacourière
What Silken Flag of the Balm of Immortal Glory (refused etching)
1929–1930
Henri Matisse and Roger Lacourière
What Silken Flag of the Balm of Immortal Glory (refused etching, cancelled)
1929–1930
Henri Matisse and Roger Lacourière
What Silken Flag of the Balm of Immortal Glory (refused etching, recto and verso)
1929–1930
Henri Matisse and Roger Lacourière
What Silken Flag of the Balm of Immortal Glory (published state, cancelled with remarques)
1929–1930
Jerome [Hieronymous] Wierix and Bernadino Passeri
Flagellatur Christus
1592
Cornelis Schut
Two Children, One with Flag, the Other with Drum
1616–1654
Hendrick Goltzius
The Flagellation
1596
Unknown Artist and Jacques Callot
The Flagellation
1630
Jan Harmensz. Muller, Lucas van Leyden, and others
The Flagellation
1609–1619