Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Painting

In late imperial China, artists valued antiquity for constructing their historical and cultural identities. This book explores how antiquities were used in modern Chinese paintings to represent ethnic identity, questioning if they served as a deliberate tool for rewriting Chinese art history. It analyzes how modernity was translated and appropriated in Asia and the West at the turn of the 20th century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 09 February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The pursuit of antiquity held immense significance for scholarly artists in constructing their understanding of history and cultural identity during the late imperial era of China. By delving into the diverse trends within contemporary Chinese paintings, this book poses a thought-provoking question: to what extent have historical relics been employed to represent the ethnic identity of modern Chinese art? Through its exploration, this book seeks to answer whether the antiquarian movements ultimately served as a deliberate tool for rewriting Chinese art history in modern China.

In seeking to unravel the public significance of inventive private collecting activity, Appropriating Antiquity in Modern Chinese Painting employs a range of artistic creation modes to examine how the use of antiquities in early 20th-century Chinese art both generated and reinforced the imaginative connections between ancient civilization and modern lives during the late Qing dynasty. Furthermore, the book delves into the intricate relationships between these social and cultural transformations and the artistic exchanges occurring at the time between China, Japan, and the West. By successfully analyzing how modernity was translated and appropriated during the turn of the 20th century, across Asia and beyond, the book offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of cultural appropriation and transformation.

Weight: 838g
Dimension: 159 x 236 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501358371