Reporter | Lin Zi people
Edit | Yellow Moon
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In October 1860, after the "burning of the Yuanmingyuan", the British and French allies brought back to Europe the valuable booty they had looted, such as porcelain, jade, and silk. The greedy eyes of European soldiers did not dwell too long on an old landscape painting: no one bothered to take away the "Fountain Of The Fountain of the Hidden Valley", created by the Yuan dynasty painter Wang Meng and included in the catalogue compiled by the Qing dynasty court, leaving only the imprint of a military boot above its center. The painting was "invisible" to European audiences at the time—they had no concept of the so-called orthodox "Chinese paintings," and none of the important paintings in the royal collection flowed directly into the West as a result of the looting of the Yuanmingyuan. Just 40 years later, that has changed a lot. When the Eight-Power Coalition entered Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion, Gu Kaizhi's "Female History Proverbs" was taken out of the Qing Palace and sent to the British Museum, which became one of the museum's iconic Chinese collections. It can be seen that at this time, Western audiences have understood what "Chinese painting" is.
At the same time, under the great pressure and anxiety of the survival of the nation, Chinese's understanding of their own painting traditions has also changed. "Painting" is given the definite word "Chinese" to emphasize a certain unique aesthetic orientation and artistic practice. In Who's Looking at Chinese Painting, the British art historian Craig Clunas points out that "Chinese painting" was a concept created in the early 20th century by close integration within China, Japan, Europe, and North America. The term "Chinese painting" has become mainstream since the 1920s, and is intended to represent a form of painting unique to the Chinese nation. In Kruger's view, one of the unintended consequences is that while "Chinese painting" becomes "traditional", China is placed in a "cultural" position, "in the world outside the West, it becomes a member of a non-modern group that can define modernity in itself." For this reason, the duality of tradition and modernity, China and the West, Chinese tradition and Western modernity has long existed in people's understanding of modern Chinese painting.
One result of this is that to this day, Chinese painting seems to be somewhat out of place with contemporary art, and it is this stereotype that the largest collection exhibition since the establishment of the Powerlong Art Museum in Shanghai, "Pulse of Modernity: The Great Exhibition of Powerlong Art", attempts to break through. The exhibition, which opened on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the establishment of the museum, spans 100 years and traces the history of the resonance of The road to Chinese art modernization and the process of social modernization in China over the past century with more than 150 works from different countries and regions around the world. The works on display range from Qi Baishi's "The End of the World - Landscape and Water Album" created around 1931 to "Peak Circuit Turning" created by KAWS in 2020, spanning nearly 100 years.
Modern Pulse: Powerlong Art Exhibition, Flowing Image Exhibition, 2021 (Source: Courtesy of the organizer)
"Modern Pulse" is presented in more than 6,000 square meters of exhibition space, which is divided into six units: "Inner Modernity", "Universal World", "Flowing Image", "Vortex of Time", "Paradigm and Situation", and "Self-Nature and Empathy". Starting from "Inner Modernity", the audience took the lead in appreciating the works of the most popular artists in the world (several of them have held solo exhibitions in Shanghai in recent years, such as Cai Guoqiang, Yayoi Kusama, KAWS, Alex Katz, Tomoichi Matsuyama, etc.), along the spiral ramp of the "Vortex of Time" in Hall 1, the paintings on the wall flow back in time from contemporary art to Chinese modern art, guiding the audience into the two Chinese painting-themed units of the second floor exhibition hall, "Paradigms and Currents" and " Self-nature and empathy", including many works by Huang Binhong, Zhang Daqian, Wu Guanzhong, Huang Yongyu, Lin Fengmian and other famous artists.
The exhibition invited Zhang Zikang, director of the CAFA Art Museum, as the chief curator, who in turn invited the curator Sun Dongdong to be jointly responsible for the curatorial work. In an interview with Interface Culture (ID: Booksandfun), Sun Dongdong pointed out that the concept of Chinese painting involves the establishment of subjectivity, and in this regard he agrees with Kruger that Chinese painting is indeed a product of the emergence of the concept of cultural others and the nation-state. However, he believes that in the language of Chinese painting, "tradition" and "modernity" are not incompatible—"China's transformation includes a new recognition of tradition." Tradition is not separated from modernity, but is reabsorbed. ”
The Pulse of Modernity: Powerlong Art Exhibition, Vortex of Time Exhibition Area, 2021 (Image source: Provided by the organizers)
In his view, the "national style" and "national tide" that are sought after by young people may be an example of the strength of cultural identity - a certain eternal beauty of Chinese art can still resonate with people in contemporary society. At the same time, Sun Dongdong believes that Chinese painting, as a representative of Chinese culture, needs to maintain a certain openness in order to be passed on for a long time, "Only the more cultural information and the more exchanges with the world can show the true sense of cultural self-confidence." "This exhibition will show works from different eras and different countries in front of the audience, and it is also hoped that the audience can discover the commonality of human life," which is the charm of art to ordinary audiences. ”
Dialogue curator Sun Dongdong: The inner core of Chinese painting has always been the ideals and expectations of Chinese intellectuals for the country
Interface Culture: One of the things that impressed us when visiting the exhibition was that the "modern pulse" broke the usual exhibition category, for example, we usually think that Chinese painting and contemporary art works are not likely to be placed in the same exhibition. In the context of Chinese modern and contemporary art, modernity is a concept with an inherent tension. How is the concept of "modernity" understood and reconstructed in this exhibition?
Sun Dongdong: The development of time and modernity is uneven, and they are bound in a very complex relationship. For example, Shanghai surpassed most Chinese cities 100 years ago, and even surpassed Tokyo and Hong Kong at one point, becoming the "Pearl of the Orient". At that time, Shanghai must have been the most modern city in Asia. But according to the modernity of the revolutionary era, its cognition, narrative and transformation of Shanghai are completely different.
The Pulse of Modernity: Powerlong Art Exhibition, Inner Modern Exhibition, 2021 (Source: Courtesy of the organizer)
China is constantly changing its face in the process of moving toward modernity, but we always think that tradition belongs to the past, and the feeling is separated from modernity. Although many viewers may now lack understanding or even interest in Chinese painting, the immaterial things projected in Chinese painting have not been far away from the spiritual world we Chinese. As globalization continues to intensify, some people will be trapped in it, but others will try to answer the question of "what is China in the end", and cultural subjectivity is stimulated.
Regarding the value and significance of Chinese painting, on the one hand, we use the "Paradigm and Situation" unit in the exhibition to show how Chinese painting has changed with the times; on the other hand, the "Self-Nature and Empathy" unit reminds us that although the times are changing, our cultural identity is unchanged, and what we identify with needs to be considered.
Interface Culture: According to the British art historian Kruger, "Chinese painting" was a concept created in the early 20th century by a close combination within China, Japan, Europe and North America. As an unintended consequence, "Chinese" is equated with "traditional" (and therefore not modern), while "modern" is seen as an imitation (and therefore not Chinese). In this exhibition, how do we understand the concept of "Chinese painting"?
Sun Dongdong: The concept of Chinese painting involves the issue of subjectivity. In the past, Chinese painting was calligraphy and painting, and without others, there would be no specific reference. It is undeniable that the concept of Chinese painting is constructed. With the rise of the nation-state in the 19th century, independence became the internal driving force for modernity, and the concept of Chinese painting was the embodiment of such an external pressure Chinese anxiety. In contrast, oil painting was called "Western Painting" when it was first introduced to China, in order to distinguish it from the local Chinese painting tradition. But slowly we don't use the title of "Western painting", just call it oil painting, because China's modernization process has recognized and absorbed the culture of Western heterogeneity represented by oil painting, and we no longer look at this painting medium in a "Chinese-Western" way, but from the perspective of materials.
But why is Chinese painting still called Chinese painting? This has to do with what problems the modernization process of more than 100 years is trying to solve. The reason why we have never given up on the concept of Chinese painting is that although we are constantly moving towards modernity, the tension between the path of modernization that the West takes and our path is increasing. On the one hand, we emphasize differences, and on the other hand, we are also exploring a path that belongs to China, so some things will not easily remove the word "China".
The Pulse of Modernity: Powerlong Art Exhibition, Paradigms and Trends, 2021 (Source: Courtesy of the organizers)
I am also thinking about whether "China" and "modernity" can be unified, which may not be considered purely from the perspective of Chinese painting, but should examine what China's modernization process has left us. China's modernization transformation has not experienced the division of many other countries that have suffered colonial aggression, and although there are many historical accidents here, what is more important is China's strong cultural identity and internal cohesion. Even revolutionaries who have absorbed modern Western ideas have inherited many traditional Chinese ideas in the face of China's specific problems. That is to say, China's transformation includes a re-recognition of tradition, which is not separated from modernity, but is reabsorbed.
The debate between the west and the ancient and modern are All Chinese methods of facing the world and changes; sometimes we see more methods and means, but ignore the consciousness and concepts of the actors, which may lead to deviations in our understanding of tradition. To think that tradition is only a superficial stylistic change, to judge Chinese painting only on a material level, weakens the importance of spiritual inheritance—it permeates our blood, like a cultural gene.
Interface culture: In addition to the works of Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Zhang Daqian, Chang Yu, Lin Fengmian, Li Keyan and other major figures in Chinese art history, the two Chinese painting exhibition halls of this exhibition also exhibit some works created by the new generation of Chinese painting artists in recent years. According to your observation, what new characteristics have emerged from the inheritance of Chinese painting so far?
Sun Dongdong: There are three dimensions that appear in the exhibition. First, the modernization of Chinese painting is a process of "cultural decline", which goes to the people and society, no longer just the art of the elite class, but seeks a broader social foundation. Why is Qi Baishi mentioned repeatedly? He is a carpenter by birth, and he represents the taste of the people and the common appreciation of the people. But at the same time, his creation is intrinsically linked to the Ming Dynasty literati painting tradition such as the Bada Shanren.
The second is specialization. Before the introduction of modern art education to China, painting was not a specialized discipline. Wu Changshuo is a professional painter - although he is an intellectual with deep family roots, his identity is a professional painter, which is different from the literati painter in the general perception, which is actually a very modern standard.
The third is the influence of science on Chinese painting. The audience watched the exhibition on the spot and found that there were many paintings in the Republic of China period that looked particularly like photos, which must have been influenced by photographic technology, and this change of light and shadow could not be seen in traditional Chinese painting. Li Keyan's "Shaoshan" introduces photography into painting and uses the backlight effect to reflect the influence of photography. Li Kejian originally studied Western painting, and this connection between technique, photography and image continued until the practice of contemporary Chinese painting, and now some young artists have completely placed images on rice paper or silk in the form of Chinese paintings.
Xu Lei's "Blue and White Tree" (Source: Provided by the organizer)
There is a dialectical relationship in the development of Chinese painting so far, some people are constantly advancing, hoping to contemporarize Chinese painting, and some people continue to look back at tradition. Although we have seen the changes of the times, the inner core has always been the ideals and expectations of Chinese intellectuals for the country. For the Chinese painting section of the exhibition, I use lyrical theory to explain some clues in Chinese cultural identity—whether it is lyricism in the general sense or lyricism in revolutionary romanticism.
Interface Culture: In recent years, the "national style" has prevailed, and the interest of Young Chinese in traditional culture is increasing, including many people's interest in ancient Chinese art seems to be greater than their interest in Western contemporary art. What is your observation of this phenomenon?
Sun Dongdong: This situation does exist in the art museum, the audience's enthusiasm for the exhibition is increasing, and many young people or young parents will take their parents and children to see the exhibition. Our experience of modernity is becoming more and more abundant, and with more references, we may see some commonality in something that was originally thought to be fundamentally different, and then we will regain interest in our own traditions. This may be the charm of art. When we emphasize the epochality, we often ignore the eternity of art, which makes dialogue between the times possible. For the "national tide", we now feel more of a fashion trend, but is there an eternal beauty in it? It may be something we need to think about.
If we interpret this phenomenon from another perspective, we also see that with the prosperity of the country and the increasing public demand for spiritual culture, the value of art can stimulate the transcendent side of people's lives.
The Pulse of Modernity: Powerlong Art Exhibition, Universal World Exhibition, 2021 (Image source: Provided by the organizers)
(From November 19, 2021 to May 18, 2022, "Modern Pulse: Powerlong Art Exhibition" will be exhibited at the Powerlong Art Museum in Shanghai. ）