The "Open Door" Policy in China

probably 1934

David Low

Artist, British, 1891 - 1963

David Low

Attributed to

Drawn with pen and black ink, this political cartoon shows a soldier using a rifle with a bayonet hustling five men wearing suits and coattails out a door prominently marked “EXIT.” The soldier is about half the height of the other men, and his features are lined up along his rounded profile. One leg thrust straight out is labeled “JAP.” The men being pushed out the door are portly except for one, who is tall and lanky. That one, Uncle Sam, has a tall white top hat, a high collar, and vertically striped pants. Near the right edge of the cartoon, another short soldier stands with a sword held upright in front of a row of three men who stand in front of a stone wall. Those men are taller and wear tunic-like shirts and ankle-length pants. They are drawn with lips pulled back over prominent teeth, squinted eyes, and other features historically associated with East-Asian stereotypes. A pile of papers labeled “Foreign Influence” in quotation marks burns along the bottom edge of the composition, near the right corner. The wide-planked wooden door and blue uniforms are shaded lightly with blue chalk. The scene is enclosed with a think black outline. The artist wrote his name, “LOW,” in the bottom right corner and titled the work in the center margin under the cartoon, “THE ‘OPEN DOOR’ POLICY IN CHINA.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    brush and black ink with blue chalk over graphite

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (approximate): 34 x 47.4 cm (13 3/8 x 18 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.5727


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

LJR (Lugt Supp.1760b)

Associated Names

Bibliography

1939

  • National Gallery of Canada, Original Cartoons...by David Low. Ottawa, 1939: 10.

Inscriptions

lower right: Low; across bottom: THE "OPEN DOOR" POLICY IN CHINA; upper right verso label: JAMES BOURLET & SONS, Ltd.; lower right verso: 18 / 25-4-34 / 1056; center verso: 9282

Wikidata ID

Q64540820

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