Writing Chinese art history in early twentieth-century China
Abstract
My dissertation argues that Chinese scholars of the 1920s and '30s (re)interpreted the traditions of Chinese art in order to build a modern field of Chinese art history. These scholars faced with challenges such as China's internal needs to develop, her indirect and direct encounters with Western art and Western ideas, and the influence of modern Japanese scholarship to write art history for a modern nation. This dissertation deals with published art historical texts and a few practices relating to art exhibitions in early twentieth century China. It focuses on a list of writers who have not been well-studied in English or any other European language before. It fills the gap to understand Chinese art and Chinese art circles of the early twentieth century. And it helps to draw attention to the turning point of Chinese art in the history.
