The Production and Consumption of the Genre of Landscape Painting in Republican China

Description

The genre of landscape painting has long been placed by literati on top of the hierarchy of Chinese art after the Five Dynasties. In spite of the fact that landscape painting played a pivotal role in the artistic discourse in modern China—not to mention that an extensive body of textual and visual material related to the genre is available but has so far been overlooked–no scholarly studies have been conducted paying special attention to the development of the genre in general, and the production and consumption of the genre in particular. This project aims to fill in this gap by conducting an in-depth analysis of the social history of the genre, situating it within the greater social and cultural context of early twentieth-century China. It will investigate the transformation and development of the genre over the early half of the twentieth century, ranging from the intellectual debates on the aesthetic ideology of landscape painting to the inextricable link between the rise of tourism and the genre; the introduction of new historiography of Chinese painting in general and in landscape painting in particular; and the consumption of landscape painting in the art market. Based on an extensive collection of primary material—such as paintings, tabloids, magazines, newspapers, price-lists, manuscripts, diaries, travel guidebooks, and painting catalogues—the project will be well-grounded both empirically and theoretically. By adopting a sociological approach, it will explore and analyse the close relationship between landscape painting and the social development of modern Chinese society, making a contribution toward advancing our understanding of the changing values attached to the production and reception of the genre of landscape painting.