Lecture | China Seminar
Graduation Pieces: Studying at the Hangzhou National Art School, 1928–1937
- Date
- Wednesday 6 November 2024
- Time
- Serie
- LIAS China Seminar
- Address
-
University Library
Witte Singel 27
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- Vossius Room
Abstract
The Hangzhou National Art School (now China Academy of Art) was founded in 1928 as part of the modernization drive during the Nanjing decade. Classes were basically modelled on the French Beaux-Arts system, but with significant modifications to adapt to the situation in Republican China. Research so far has largely focused on the founders of the Art School, namely the young founding director Lin Fengmian (1900–1991) and minister of education Cai Yuanpei (1868–1940), and their programmatic writings. In this talk, I will instead focus on the students, the classes they took and their achievements in the years between the School’s founding and the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War. These are documented in yearbooks and graduation catalogues, and I will also reflect on my use of these sources as I discuss the information that we can gather on students of oil painting, ink painting, sculpture and their art-historical knowledge.
This event is sponsored by The Hulsewé-Wazniewski Foundation.