Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Painting - by Chia-Ling Yang (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The pursuit of antiquity was important for scholarly artists in constructing their knowledge of history and cultural identity in late imperial China. By examining versatile trends within paintings in modern China, this book questions the extent to which historical relics have been used to represent the ethnic identity of modern Chinese art. In doing so, this book asks: did the antiquarian movements ultimately serve as a deliberate tool for re-writing Chinese art history in modern China?

In searching for the public meaning of inventive private collecting activity, Appropriating Antiquity in Modern Chinese Painting draws on various modes of artistic creation to address how the use of antiquities in early 20th-century Chinese art both produced and reinforced the imaginative links between ancient civilization and modern lives in the late Qing dynasty. Further exploring how these social and cultural transformations were related to the artistic exchanges happening at the time between China, Japan and the West, the book successfully analyses how modernity was translated and appropriated at the turn of the 20th century, throughout Asia and further afield.

Review Quotes

Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Art is full of new information and important discussions that should have been properly investigated a long time ago. The author takes the readers on a journey into the rich world of jinshi painting which is set within a complicated international network as well as an intricate historical context. It is a must-read for those of us who study the art and history of China at the turn of the 20th century.
Nicole Chiang, Senior Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum, Hong Kong

Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Painting is an outstanding achievement in elucidating the transmediality and transcultural aspects of antiquarianism. Chia-Ling Yang, with her solid research and penetrating analysis of primary sources, brings to life key figures whose high-minded goals carried them through periods of turmoil.
Aida Yuen Wong, Nathan Cummings and Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Professor of Fine Arts and Professor in East Asian Studies, Brandeis University, USA

Appropriating Antiquity examines a wealth of new materials, showing how the fervent study of inscriptions on bronze and stone led to a re-evaluation of the history of Chinese calligraphy that also impacted on 19th and early 20th-century Chinese painting.
Roderick Whitfield, Percival David Professor, Emeritus, SOAS, University of London, UK

About the Author

Chia-Ling Yang is Professor of History of Art and Personal Chair of Chinese Art at The University of Edinburgh, UK. She received her PhD in Chinese Art from SOAS, University of London, UK. She has worked with the V&A and the British Museum on a range of exhibition projects.