Art History, Narratology, and Twentieth-Century Chinese Art (Routledge Research in Art History)

This study constructs a framework of narratology for art history and rewrites the development of twentieth-century Chinese art from a narratological perspective. Theoretically and methodologically oriented, this is a self-reflective meta-art history studying the art historical narratives while narrating the story of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Thus, this book explores the three layers of narrative within the narratological framework: the first-hand fabula, the secondary narration, and the tertiary narrativization. With this tertiary narrativization, the reader-author presents three types of narrative: the grand narrative of the central thesis of this book, the middle-range narrative of the chapter theses, and case analyses supporting these theses. The focus of this tertiary narrativization is the interaction between Western influence on Chinese art and the Chinese response to this influence. The central thesis is that this interaction conditioned and shaped the development of Chinese art at every historical turning point in the twentieth century. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, critical theory, Chinese studies, and cultural studies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: A Meta-Art History Subject and Approach Periodizing Twentieth-Century Chinese Art The Anxiety of Cultural Identity Defusing the Intrinsic-Extrinsic Opposition The Narrative Model and the Narratological Framework References 1 Before 1949: Context and Modern Art The Importance of Context Historical Pre-Text and the Westernization Movement Cultural Con-Text and the New Culture Movement Internal Context With Two Layers The Beijing School The Shanghai School The Lingnan School The Central Text The Tertiary Narrativization Three Waves of Western Influence Four Avenues of Western Influence Four Generations of Chinese Responses The Great Divergence and the Two Sub-Splits Reframing the Sub-Split of Traditional-Style Art Focalizing the Sub-Split of Western-Style Art Conclusion References 2 Since 1949: Possible Author and Realist Art Theorizing the “Author-Text-Reader” Relationship Art Historians: From Empirical Authors to Model Authors The Possible Author Transformed From a Reader The Possible Author Rewriting On the “Red Art” of 1949–1966 Reinterpreting the Political Propaganda Art of 1966–1976 Narrative Identity, and the Continuation of Propaganda Art Realism Since 1978 and the Transformation of Narrative Identity Conclusion References 3 1979–1985: Textual Space and Historical Transformation Textuality and Spatiality: Theorizing the Textual Space The Lived Real World as the First Space: The Rise of Non-Realist Art The Misperceived World as the Second Space: The Case of Wu Guanzhong The Imagined World as the Second Space: Formalism Misperceived The Conceived World as the Third Space: The Event of the Stars Exhibitions The Textuality of the Third Space: Conceptuality in Formalist Art Conclusion: An Integral and Inclusive Textual Space in Art History References 4 1985–1989: Unfolding the Events of the Avant-Garde Movement Narrative Event and the Causal Context of the Avant-Garde Movement The Deleuzian Event and the Change in Avant-Garde Painting The Fold of the Event and the Event of Unfolding Unfolding the Double Transitions in a Triangle Fold Performance Art and the Grand Exhibition of “China/Avant-Garde” An Evental Writing and the Experimental Paintings Conclusion: The Great Confluence as an Evental Fold References 5 The 1990s: Postmodern Characterization Figure Painting and Marxist Theory About Characterization Postmodern Art and Three Types of Characters The Political Dimension in Fang Lijun’s Characterization Yue Minjun and the Intertextual Characterization Zhang Xiaogang’s Characters and the Reader’s Identification The Integral Reader and the Characters in Zhang Xiaogang’s Third-Phase Art Conclusion: The Integral Reader and Character Theories References 6 Towards a Conclusion: Conceptual Art Through to the 2020s First-Hand Fabula Secondary Narration Tertiary Narrativization Coda: The Spectacle Continues References Glossary: A List of Chinese Names and Terms Index