Modern Art for a Modern China

Wang analyses two key areas in the intellectual history of Republican China. The first is China’s art reform in the early decades of the 20th century. The second is the connection and intersection between colonialism, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, and their direct impact on the development of art and art practice in China.

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How did art reform fit into the many initiatives for social and cultural change that contributed to the New Cultural Movement that transformed the Chinese cultural landscape during the Republican period?

"Modern art for a modern China" was the rallying cry of Chinese intellectuals, many of whom were artists, critics, writers, poets and educators. Wang describes how these groups discussed and implanted changes in China’s conception and practice of art. She demonstrates how art reforms fit into the many initiatives for social and cultural change that contributed to the New Cultural Movement that transformed the Chinese cultural landscape during the Republican period. In doing so, she analyses two key areas in the intellectual history of Republican China: China’s art reform in the early decades of the twentieth century; and the connection and intersection between colonialism, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, including their direct impact on the development of art and art practice in China.

Modern Art for a Modern China is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of China’s twentieth-century intellectual history and art history.