Chinese Millets: native soil, the party–state, and art in contemporary China

Abstract

Ever since Jean-François Millet (1814–75) was introduced to China in the 1920s through translations, Chinese artists’ fascination with him has resulted more from his life story than from the poor reproductions of his artworks. Millet’s focus on the imagery of the peasantry and his purported identification with the peasant made him a unique figure in the rise of a discourse on native soil, which conflates peasants, the land, the Communist revolution, and a distinctive Chineseness in art. This discourse first took form during the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–45) and continues to thrive in China today. This article examines the growing list of artists—from the well-known masters Gu Yuan (1919–96) and Luo Zhongli (1948–) to lesser-known artists whose professional work was supported by state painting academies and teaching institutions—who have been named the “Chinese Millets.” I propose that “Millet” continues to be effective as a trope in the discussion and imagination of art in China today because his life story provides multiple thrusts—the rapport with peasants, the simplicity and nobility of an artist’s character, an unflinching insistence on one’s own style in opposition to more fashionable trends—in support of a vague conviction of the vitalist force of the native soil. This simultaneously eases Chinese artists’ anxiety over their distinction in the international contemporary art world and echoes the civilizational nationalism increasingly promoted by the party state. Foregrounding the persistent phenomenon of likening to Millet in art discourse in China, this study reveals the challenges and dilemmas of an art world that simultaneously strives to rise in the global order and manages to work with an authoritarian state that both promises generous patronage and demands cooperation.