This edited volume will be the first book examining the art history of China’s socialist period from the perspective of modernism, modernity, and global interactions. The majority of chapters are based on newly available archival materials and fresh critical frameworks/concepts. By shifting the frame of interpretation from socialist realism to socialist modernity, this study reveals the plurality of the historical process of developing modernity in China, the autonomy of artistic agency, and the complexity of an art world conditioned, yet not completely confined, by its surrounding political and ideological apparatus. The unexpected global exchanges examined by many of the authors in this study and the divergent approaches, topics, and genres they present add new sources and insights to this research field, revealing an art history that is heterogeneous, pluralistic, and multi-layered. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, art and politics, and Chinese studies.

"This edited volume will be the first book examining the art history of China's socialist period from the perspective of modernism, modernity, and global interactions. The majority of chapters are based on newly available archival materials and fresh critical frameworks/concepts. By shifting the frame of interpretation from socialist realism to socialist modernity, this study reveals the plurality of the historical process of developing modernity in China, the autonomy of artistic agency, and the complexity of an art world conditioned, yet not completely confined, by its surrounding political and ideological apparatus. The unexpected global exchanges examined by many of the authors in this study and the divergent approaches, topics, and genres they present add new sources and insights to this research field, revealing an art history that is heterogeneous, pluralistic and multi-layered. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, art and politics, and Chinese studies"--

"This edited volume will be the first book examining the art history of China's socialist period from the perspective of modernism, modernity, and global interactions. The majority of chapters are based on newly available archival materials and fresh critical frameworks/concepts. By shifting the frame of interpretation from socialist realism to socialist modernity, this study reveals the plurality of the historical process of developing modernity in China, the autonomy of artistic agency, and the complexity of an art world conditioned, yet not completely confined, by its surrounding political and ideological apparatus. The unexpected global exchanges examined by many of the authors in this study and the divergent approaches, topics, and genres they present add new sources and insights to this research field, revealing an art history that is heterogeneous, pluralistic and multi-layered. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, art and politics, and Chinese studies"--

Drawing from Life explores revolutionary drawing and sketching in the early People’s Republic of China (1949–1965) in order to discover how artists created a national form of socialist realism. Tracing the development of seminal works by the major painters Xu Beihong, Wang Shikuo, Li Keran, Li Xiongcai, Dong Xiwen, and Fu Baoshi, author Christine I. Ho reconstructs how artists grappled with the representational politics of a nascent socialist art. The divergent approaches, styles, and genres presented in this study reveal an art world that is both heterogeneous and cosmopolitan. Through a history of artistic practices in pursuit of Maoist cultural ambitions—to forge new registers of experience, new structures of feeling, and new aesthetic communities—this original book argues that socialist Chinese art presents a critical, alternative vision for global modernism.

The main concern of this culture-historical study consists in the critical analysis of the evolution and development of Modern art in China following the demise of the Qing-dynasty (1911) up to the ideological dissociation of the People’s Republic from the Soviet Union during “the Great Leap Forward” (1958-62). Hereby, the focus will be put on illustrating different analytical approaches in order to understand the mechanisms of producing national culture and arts in China of the first half of the 20th century. Relating to the given topic of this analysis, the process of remodeling or modernizing Chinese national identity uttered the essential question of how artistic and cultural traditions should be perceived by the people in the future. The question remains if a specific (national) cultural identity can be created without the preservation of or self-reference to cultural heritages of the nation’s past. Following Communist ideological reasoning, the collective national identity of the Chinese society should be remodeled in the manners of Socialism. Cultural spheres created by arts and literature should, therefore, accelerate the people’s transition towards a ‘classless’ society. In its historical appearance, Mao's interpretation and perception of 'Socialism' had a lasting effect on defining or limiting the society’s collective (national) identity.

In the early 1990s artist Xu Bing stamped two pigs with respectively nonsensical Latin words and fake Chinese characters and allowed them to mate in an art gallery. The performance of ‘two creatures, devoid of human consciousness, yet carrying on their bodies the marks of human civilization’, engaging in the ‘most primal form of social intercourse’ confronted the public with the tension between nature and civilization. The work also addresses the tension between China and the West and therefore perfectly fits the core message of this book. Contemporary art in China takes place in a post-socialist (post-Mao) context, and at the same time a post-traditional one, searching for balance between aesthetic legacy and modernization. It also tries to find its position in the post-colonial globalized arena. This book explores the tension between individual artistic freedom and a dominant discourse of central Chinese government, between China’s cultural legacy and modernization, and between China and a global art world still dominated by a Western canon. As a case study it focuses on the artists who participated in the Venice Biennale in 1993, which was the first time contemporary art from mainland China was structurally invited to participate in a global art context. Jeanne Boden has a PhD in Oriental Languages and Cultures. Her research focuses on Eurocentrism, Sinocentrism and contemporary Chinese art. (jeanneboden.com) Cover picture: Xu Bing, A Case Study of Transference, 1993-94