CUHK Research: Changing the world

Restating Chinese art history and global modernism Professor Chan meticulously presents art history to the public in a systematic and comprehensive manner. “Speaking of art history and its concepts such as visual modernism, people often see the west as the centre of discussion,” she says. “However, recently there is growing awareness of the importance of decentring the Eurocentric modernism. I hope to contribute to the discussion and bring this concept to a wider audience by restoring and spelling out the art history of China and Asia.” The interdisciplinary approach adopted by Professor Chan makes her research stand out. Her 2017 work The Making of a Modern Art World examines Shanghai’s artistic and social activities during the late Qing and Republican eras. It views art production from a sociological perspective that constitutes art institutions, magazines, exhibitions and the market, and addresses materials – like artists’ price lists – seldom discussed in standard modern Chinese art history. She adjusts and challenges prior conceptualisations of guohua (national painting), debunking how western perceptions of modernity affects the way people perceive art today. “The book explores the Republican Shanghai art world, looking into art from the perspectives of production, consumption and distribution. I hope to tell readers that art doesn’t merely involve artists, but also many other parties like agents, dealers and art scholars,” says Professor Chan. The professor is eager to promote Chinese and Asian art to the western world. In 2020, she published a journal article, “Picturing Mount Yandang: The Travel Albums and Landscape Aesthetics of Yu Jianhua” (1895-1979) in the Burlington Magazine , which primarily focuses on European art and has a history of over 100 years. The article presents how Chinese artists’ landscape perceptions were shaped by traditional aesthetics, paying attention to observing nuanced elements of the mountains, and distilling natural landscape into two categories, namely shan (mountain) and shui (water). It explores how a Chinese artist experienced and approached landscapes in the 1930s when European plein air sketching and modern tourism were being introduced. “I hope to bring the Chinese perspective of art to the international stage,” Professor Chan says. For her research, identifying and collecting modern Chinese artworks from collections around the world is challenging, especially as they were scattered during wars: “It is hard to obtain copyright permissions from the artists’ descendants as well.” Discussion of art history goes beyond theories. By digging into Chinese history, Professor Xu and Dr Tong from CUHK’s Art Museum are devoting much attention to unveil the mystery of Chinese gold techniques. 39