Private Tutorial Art Schools in the Shanghai Market Economy

Abstract

Drawing on school archives and other primary sources, this article looks at a category of art schools in early twentieth-century Shanghai that has long been ignored in modern Chinese art history studies, namely the early private tutorial art schools. It focuses on the early history of the Shanghai Art School ( Shanghai meizhuan ) as a typical case. It argues that, in contrast to government schools, which represented national ideals and were involved in “the Chinese response to Western influence,” the beginning of early private tutorial art schools was a product of new market demand for commercial art. In the 1910s, they were extensively involved in Shanghai's commercial art scene and in its mass culture. In this unique way, they contributed to the modernization of culture in China.