By examining the Chinese reception of landscape art from abroad, this paper attempts to illuminate the entangled concerns of socialist ideal, national sovereignty and artistic lineage that shaped the canon formation in Socialist China. The 1950s and early 1960s witnessed active diplomatic and cultural exchanges between China and other socialist countries, of which art exhibitions, artists’ visits and art publications constituted an important part. Similar cultural exchanges occasionally extended to countries beyond the Eastern Bloc. This paper focuses on the once popular but now forgotten landscape painting exhibitions—ranging from a solo show of Vangjush Mio (1891-1959) to a large survey on British watercolor. The way by which these exhibitions were presented reveals nuances of China’s difficult pursuit of a socialist yet distinctively national style of landscape painting. The multilayered responses from Chinese artists, government officials, and general audience will be gleaned from news coverage, academic debates, visitors’ responses, and classified government documents. The Chinese reception of international landscape art reminds us that, prior to Cultural Revolution, the socialist China defined its officially endorsed styles and formed its canon of both Chinese and world art by considering, comparing, and evaluating a variety of foreign sources. By unearthing the lost legacy of influences such as Turner, the Barbizon School, and Impressionism, this paper calls attention to the international dimension of Chinese Socialist art and traces its continuity from the earlier attempts during the Republican era to define a national modern art with extended reference to world art.
Annual conference of the College Art Association, 2014
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