Art and Chinese Modernity in Connection with Lyon, 1920s-1940s

Abstract

The twentieth century saw China undergo significant political, social and cultural transformations. Modernisation of art was an integral part of China’s national modernisation project. L’Ecole nationale de beaux-arts de Lyon provided training to at least 58 students from China from 1920 to 1942. Lyon’s connection with modern Chinese art history, however, has not been sufficiently examined. As part of a larger project that examines the process of China’s art modernisation at the beginning of the twentieth century, this paper explores the significance of Lyon as a location of cultural intersection through selected cases of Chinese art students in Lyon. By documenting and analysing the process through which those individual students undertook the challenges of acquiring European concepts and practice of art, this paper demonstrates how the ideal for a modernised Chinese art was modelled largely on French art schools, and how the Chinese implemented their newly acquired knowledge and skills through institutional measures and individual efforts.