Modernist Movements in Pre-War China By Kuiyi Shen Prepared for symposium on Urban Cultural Institutions in Early Twentieth Century China

During the 1920s and early 1930s, the imported technique of oil painting had an important impact on Chinese art, and its exploration supplied the purpose for many new groups of artists, exhibitions, and publications about European art. The impact on ideology, culture, and art that came with oil painting was much bigger than that of any technological change in China's recent art history. Modernism, which dominated European art world since the beginning of the century, unavoidably landed in China in the early 1930s when some young Chinese students stimulated by various schools of European Modernist art returned to their homeland after study abroad.

In the early 1930s, two modernist groups appeared in the Chinese art world, and their activities formed the first western style avant-garde movement in Chinese history. One group was the Julanshe, Storm Society, which was initiated by Pang Xunqin (1906-1985), returning from France, and Ni Yide (1901-1970), who studied in Japan, in Shanghai in 1931.(Fig.1) The group aimed to change traditional ideology with a brand-new genre of art, fighting against imitation and literal visual explanation. The ultimate goal of art, they believed, is "to create a crisscrossing world of colors, lines, and form." Their works borrowed from almost everything then popular in Europe: Fauvism, Cubism, Symbolism, Expressionism, Futurism, Abstractionism, and Surrealism. Because Ralph Croizier has done brilliant research on this group in his article entitled "Post-Impressionists in Pre-War Shanghai: The Juelanshe (Storm Society) and the Fate of Modernism in Republican China," this paper focuses on the other group, Zhonghua Duli Meishu Xiehui (Chinese Independent Art Association), which was initiated by a group of Cantonese artists, who studied in Japan, in Tokyo in 1934 and later reorganized in Guangzhou in 1935.

Zhonghua Duli Meishu Xiehui (Chinese Independent Art Association)
Zhonghua Duli Meishu Xiehui (Chinese Independent Art Association) was initiated in Tokyo in 1934 by a group of Chinese students. The founders of the group included Liang Xihong (1912-1982), Zhao Shou (1912- ), Li Zhongsheng , Li Dongping, Fang Rending, and Su Wonong. Some Japanese painters, such as Seno Masahiko, Kashimoto, and Akida also joined the group. In that year the association held an exhibition entitled "Ten Chinese Painters in Japan." The works displayed in the show were basically in the styles of Fauvism, Surrealism, and Cubism, which reflected the strong influences these painters received from their Japanese teachers and classmates.(1)

In the ten years from about 1925 to 1935, beyond Fauvism, which retained strong influence from the 1910s on, other European modernist movements such as Dadaism, Constructivism and Surrealism poured into Japan, and many avant-garde groups formed. In 1926, the 1930 Society was founded in Tokyo, and held its first exhibition at Japan-America Trust Building from May 15 to 24. Five artists, including Setomi Katsuzo(1895-?), Maeda Kanji (1896-1930), and Kinoshita Takanori (1894-1973), showed 180 Fauvist style paintings they had brought back from Europe.(2) It shocked most of the Yoga painters who worked in classical styles, and even painters of the Nika Society who followed Kuroda Seki's impressionist style. Subsequently, the 1930 Society held five annual exhibitions in Tokyo.(3) In 1930, some young members of the 1930 Society and Nika Society were dissatisfied with the situation in the art world, and felt that the systems of organizations hindered the development of new art and young artists. They were determined to hew out a new artistic path and form a new organization, which was intended to be independent from any other old societies. The new organization was named "The Independent Art Association." They claimed in their manifesto that they "are not satisfied with the situation of the Japanese art world . . . the goal of the association is to study new art, bring fresh air into the Japanese art world, and create a new era of art."(4) The artists of the Independent Art Association enthusiastically advocated European modern art, including Surrealism, Cubism, and Constructivism. The first exhibition of the association was held in January 1931 in Tokyo.

The establishment of the Chinese Independent Art Society must have been inspired by these Japanese colleagues' acts. Actually, some members of the Japanese Independent Art Association were teachers of these Chinese students, such as Setomi Katsuzo, and some also joined their Chinese colleagues' group and participated in their exhibitions, such as Seno Masahito, Kashimoto, and Akida.(5)

Most members of the Chinese Independent Art Association returned to China in 1935. In February, Liang Xihong, Zhao Shou, Li Dongping, and Zeng Ming rejoined them in Guangzhou and decided to reorganize the association there; they continued to use the name Chinese Independent Art Association.(6) They published a journal for the association named Duli Meishu (Independent Art) in 1935. The "Chinese Independent Art Association Manifesto" which they issued to accompany the first issue of their journal stated their case:

we are the newest painting group working in western media . . . Our painting methods and the spirit in our paintings are based on a new spirit in the modern sense and the concept of pure art . . .
We will use a new spirit of painting and avant-garde art to create a new art movement . . .
We stand under the new spirit, which is the standard of our conduct, and we approve all the schools and ideas under this new spirit, because art works should not have to follow the same pattern in the academic style. If the artist should paint that kind of painting, we will withdraw our respect from him, and we believe that this kind of art is lacking in creativity! The contribution we try to make for culture is definitely not to use our group to create some art like a photograph or without creativity. We are members of the pure art movement, so we will make constant progress under the flag of pure art!(7) In France, there was the 'Independent Art Exhibition,' then the 'Sur-Independent Art Exhibition;' in Japan, there were the Teiten (National Exhibition), Nika Exhibition, then the Independent Exhibition, New Plastic Art Show, and Nora Show; with competition and struggle, they [the art of those countries] are progressing. We hope that there will be more groups of this kind in China to activate our spiritless art world, and let everyone have a chance to understand and appreciate the new art.(8)

The statements here are very similar to those of the Storm Society of Shanghai. In the manifesto of the Juelanshe, we can find the same ideas:

We detest all old forms, old colors, detest all common and vulgar techniques. We wish to use new methods to express the spirit of a new age.
The artistic world of 20th-century Europe has seen the burgeoning of new phenomena -- the outcry of the Fauvists, the distortion of the Cubists, the violence of Dadaism, the fantasies of Surrealism . . .
The artistic world of 20th-century China too must see the growth of new phenomena . . .
Let us arise! With hurricane-like emotions and steel-like intellect, we shall create a crisscross world of color, line, and form!(9)

The first exhibition of the Chinese Independent Art Association was held in the Guangzhou Education Center from March 16 to 25, 1935. Most of the paintings on display manifested modernist tendencies, including paintings with Fauvist and Surrealist styles, such as Liang Xihong's Duck, Landscape of Rehe, and A Girl WearingYellow Clothes, Zhao Shou's Color (Fig. 2), Fish, Still Life, Walker, Let's Go, and Smiling at Meeting, Li Dongping's Mast, After Bathing, Dancer, Flower Seller, and Zeng Ming's Lady. Some artists who were not members of the group but were active in Guangzhou also participated in this show, such as Ding Yanyong (Fig.3), Wu Wan (Fig. 4), and Guan Liang (Fig. 5). Some Japanese painters also displayed their works in the show, such as Seno Akida, Kashimoto, and Masahito who was also a members of Japanese Independent Art Association.(10)

In a memoir written in 1948, Liang Xihong stated that the Chinese Independent Art Association was "inspired by the schools of modern art and accepted new ideology, new subject matter and new methods."(11) He went on to argue that "Li Dongping, embracing the spirit of the Neo-Fauvists, advocated extreme modernism and freedom; Zhao Shou's paintings attempted to transcend reality and became abstract; Zeng Ming, too, wished to capture in his painting a classical beauty, while all the other artists were searching for new paths in their desire to pursue their own individual inclinations."(12)

The second exhibition of the Chinese Independent Art Association was held at Zhonghua Xueyishe (Chinese Literature and Art Society) in Shanghai on October 1935, and included about 60 works by Liang Xihong, Zeng Ming, Zhao Shou, Li Dongping, Bai Sha, and Japanese painter Yio Tadao. Li Dongping's "A College Student,"(Fig. 6), Bai Sha's "Desire,"(Fig.7) and Zhao Shou's "Jump" (Fig.8) were published on the same page of Shidai (Time) magazine with the works of the fourth exhibition of the Storm Society (Fig.9)(13), which included works of Ni Yide, Pang Xunqin, Zhou Duo, Yang Taiyang, Yang Qiuren, Qiu Di, Guan Liang, and others,

The members of both groups were extremely enthusiastic about introducing western modernist art to Chinese audiences, and especially advocated Fauvist and Surrealist art. Liang Xihong was the editor of the magazine Xin Meishu (New Art) and Meishu Zazhi (Art Magazine) and wrote many article and criticism for other art journals, tirelessly explaining Western modern art to Chinese people. Zeng Ming and Li Dongping edited and published an art journal, Xiandai Meishu (Modern Art). Both of them and Liang Xihong also contributed essays to a "Special Issue on Surrealism" of Yifeng (Art Wind) that introduced the Spanish artist Salvador Dali and appealed to artists to free themselves from "the constraints of their environment." (14) Zeng Ming also edited a series of books entitled Xiandai Shijie Minghua Ji (Master Paintings of the Modern World).

After the second exhibition, however, this group, like their Shanghai friends of the Storm Society, never again organized a group exhibition. Two years later, in 1937, with the outbreak of the anti-Japanese war, the group disbanded.

The Major Members of the Chinese Independent Art Association
Liang Xihong, the core member of the group, was a native of Zhongshan in Guangdong, Liang had studied in the Guangzhou Art School and later went to Shanghai in 1930 to study oil painting with Chen Baoyi (1893-1945) and Ding Yanyong (1902-78) in the painting institute of Shanghai Art School. (Fig.10) In 1932, he joined the Juelanshe (Storm Society) in Shanghai (Fig. 11), and then left Shanghai for Japan to study Modernist art in 1933. In Tokyo, he attended Tokyo University to learn oil painting and watercolor with Setomi Katsuzo (1895- ?) (15), who was one of the founders of the 1930 Society and the Independent Art Association.(16) Liang Xihong's early painting was strongly influenced by Maurice Utrillo, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Setomi Katsuzo. In 1934, he, with Li Zhongsheng, Li Dongping, Zhao Shou, Zeng Ming, Fang Rending, and Su Wonong formed the Zhonghua Meishu Duli Xiehui (Chinese Independent Art Association) in Tokyo, and held the "Exhibition of Ten Chinese Painters Who Study in Japan." He went back to China at the beginning of 1935. At first he taught art in a middle school in Hong Kong, and later became a professor teaching oil painting and watercolor at the Guangzhou Art School. He remained a fervent advocate of Fauvism and Surrealism. As an editor of Meishu Zazhi (Art)(17) (Fig.12) and Xin Meishu (New Art)(18) (Fig.13), he continued to introduce painters and art works of European Modernism to China and attacked painting in the European academic style, especially Xu Beihong's paintings.(19) He thought that Xu Beihong's realistic painting was just the tail end of 19th century academic art without any spirit of the new life of the 20th century or his own artistic characteristics.(20) He believed that painting shouldn't be controlled by techniques or theory, but should express the experiences of life and the painter's inner spirit. He stated that art couldn't be cut off from life, and any painting without the spirit of life was dead painting. During the 1930s, he painted some work which in style resembled that of Vlaminck in its melancholic lack of restraint, such as Flower House, Flower Seller, and Landscape of Rehe.(21) Unfortunately, none of these paintings survive. One reproduction of a work by Liang Xihong and He Tiehua entitled "Reconstructing the Country" (Fig.14), we found in a special issue of Meishu Zazhi published in Hong Kong in 1939. The painting was one of a pair of murals painted for Linying Middle School in Hong Kong. The other work shown here from the same source was painted by Ni Yide, a Julanshe colleague, and entitled "Anti-Japanese War." (Fig.15) Liang Xihong's painting shows a person standing and holding a book in his hand, and in the background are scenes of modern buildings, farms, factories, and bridges. The person looks very simple and very solid. Although there is no way to know what color he applied to the painting through this poor reproduction, we can see that the painting mixed the styles of Cubism and Surrealism, which Liang Xihong pursued during his entire career. Liang Xihong's "surrealist" element here was obviously just based on his early training in the Fauvist style in Japan, but adds some exaggeration. Purity, simplicity, and the spirit of life were the goals he sought in his painting. In 1949, he moved to Hong Kong, and had some relationship with members of "Renjian Huahui" (Human World Painting Society) there. In 1950, he moved back to Guangzhou, and later taught in Huanan Academy of Literature and Art, Zhongnan Academy of Art, and Guangzhou Academy of Art, and was also the president of the Guangzhou Watercolor Society. He died in 1982.

Another representative of the group who must be counted is Zhao Shou. Zhao Shou, a native of Wuzhou in Guangxi, was born in 1912. He went to Guanzhou at seventeen, and entered the Guangzhou Art School in 1928. He graduated from the school in 1931 and went to Shanghai in the same year. In Shanghai he got to know the members of the Storm Society and started to be extremely interested in Western modern art. In 1933, he went to Japan to study more Western modern art. When he studied in Tokyo, it was the time that Surrealism flourished in Japanese avant-garde groups. He received strong influences from his teachers and classmates, became an enthusiastic advocater of Surrealism and an admirer of Picasso and Dali. When Liang Xihong and other Chinese students organized the Chinese Independent Art Association in 1934, he immediately became one of the most important and active members of the group. In the first show of the group, "Ten Chinese Painters in Japan," he showed five paintings, including Color (Fig. 16) and Walker. This was the first time his surrealist painting was shown to public. He believed that "although so-called Surrealism is 'non-realistic', it is not 'without reality.' It is actually 'non-realistic reality.' This reality is not from visual experience but from the imagination. It is impossible to interpret this kind of 'non-realism,' or so-called 'non-realistic reality,' from visual experiences. We, therefore, have to interpret it in our imagination."(22) In 1935, he went back to China with other friends and rejoined the Chinese Independent Art Association. In the first exhibition of the group held in the Guangzhou Education Center in March 1935, he presented Color, Fish, Still Life, Walker, Let's Go, and Smiling at Meeting. In the second exhibition of the group, held in Shanghai, in October of the same year, he showed Jump (Fig.17)(23) and other paintings. Surrealism was introduced to China in the 1930s, and Zhao Shou's painting may be considered the most representative example. The images in his painting were almost all 'non-realistic,' perhaps from the artist's imagination, except the Chinese opera mask in Color, and a fish in Jump. But Zhao definitely paid great attention to the structure of the composition in his painting. His paintings were always painted with very bright colors, large palette, solid forms, and use of powerful, thick outlines, which created a decorative effect and gave people a sense of simplicity and purity of the form. He believed that "in ancient Chinese art the images of apsaras and multi-armed buddhas were actually non-realistic art."(24) After 1949, Zhao Shou still worked in his own style, which became a rare exception in Chinese art circles. A painting of 1951, Races (Fig.18), shows he still continued his own characteristics of style. The bright color, solid form, and vivid composition recalled his early paintings. Although in this painting we see some 'realistic' images of figures, two figures on the top right corner reveal a tendency toward surrealism. Until the Guangzhou Art Museum held an exhibition of early Cantonese oil painters in 1993, Zhao Shou kept silent for more than four decades after 1949. The obvious reason was that his painting style and concept were definitely different from what was requested of the artists of the time.

Li Dongping, a native of Meixian in Guangdong, was also an important member of the group. Like Liang Xihong and Zhao Shou, he studied Western modern art in Japan in the early 1930s, and participated in the ten painters' show in Tokyo. He was regarded as the representative of Chinese Neo-Fauvism of the time. "Li Dongping, embracing the spirit of the Neo-Fauvists, advocated extreme modernism and freedom."(25) It is said that some paintings he painted in 1930s, such as Mast, After Bathing, Flower and Butterfly, Beach, Dancer, were all strongly influenced by Japanese Fauvists' style. They were very bright, colorful, and decorative.(26) One painting he painted for the second exhibition of the group, which was held at Zhonghua Xueyishe (Chinese Literature and Art Society) in Shanghai in October,1935, entitled College Student (Fig.19), might give us some idea about his painting. It was published in Shidai with Zhao Shou and Bad Sea's works.(27) He and another member of the group, Zeng Ming, also edited an art journal Xiandai Meishu (Modern Art) to introduce Western modern art.(28)

Zeng Ming, who had initiated the Chinese Independent Art Association with Liang Xihong in Tokyo, went back to Guangdong in September 1935. He was an admirer of Picasso and Braque, and also a warm advocate of Cubism and Surrealism. "The themes of his painting were basically from his dream world," and his palette was, according to his colleague, full of oriental taste.(29) Besides editing Xiandai Meishu (Modern Art) with Li Dongping, he also edited the series Xiandai Shijie Minghuaji (Modern Masterpiece Paintings of the World), which was published by the association. It selected paintings from most modern art trends of the time.

Li Zhongsheng, a native of Renhua of Guangdong, had a similar career to that of Liang Xihong in his earlier years. In early 1930s, he joined the Juelanshe in Shanghai (Fig.20), and went to Japan in 1933. There, as well as after he went back to Guangzhou, he was very active in the group. His paintings during the 1930's were believed to be influenced by the styles of Japanese Fauvists and European Expressionists and Abstractionists. It is said that his painting "achieved pure artistic effect through his study of abstract tableaux."(30) In 1945, right before the end the World War II, he, with Ni Yide, Lin Fengmian, Pang Xunqin, Guan Liang, Zhao Wuji and other painters, held an exhibition entitled "The First Independent Art Exhibition" in Chongqing.(31) All the works in the exhibition showed a tendency towards modernist art. After 1949, he went to Taiwan, and opened private classes and sought students; later eight of his students formed the famous Eastern Painting Group.(32)

Conclusion
To the artists of the Independent Art Association as well as those of the Julanshe, modernism was a synonym for individuality. The four exhibitions of the Julanshe and the two shows of the Independent Art Association in held succession until 1935 brought excitement to the Chinese art world. For the first time an innovative school of oil painting flourished simultaneously in China and in the West.

However, China at the time, in fact, lacked internal factors for the growth of modern art. On the one hand, China lacked the necessary pre-conditions for a modern industrial civilization, and had not experienced the course of development from realism to anti-realism which occurred in the art world of Europe. On the other hand, traditional values in art remained strong, and even most intellectuals, who were presumed to be the acceptors of new ideas, resisted modern art. Furthermore, in the history of China, with its Confucian legacy, a strong and widespread consciousness of national crisis have always been an inescapable social responsibility that intellectuals must to bear. Artists in 20th century China are looked upon not only as skilled artisans but also as intellectuals who must take the responsibility to rescue the country from national crisis. Therefore, when the Anti-Japanese War loomed large, and Chinese politics and society in general were in chaos, the greatest concern of Chinese intellectuals was how to help the Chinese people. As a result modernism with its strong focus on the individual imagination became a luxury to the Chinese people. Whether to the Communists or Nationalists, art that manifested the slightest tendency towards modernism was regarded as displaying a "formalism" that was divorced from the people. It was impossible for these modernists, whose ultimate goal was individuality and pure art, to bear the heavy burden of social responsibility that required using their art as a mean to rescue the country. The only choice they could make, unwillingly or even possibly willingly, was to accept the dispersal of the group as it fate.

The first Modernist art movement, unfortunately, only existed in China for less than a half a decade. For the subsequent 30 years, nothing more was heard of the foreign-influenced Modernist art in China. The second modernist movement did not appear in China until the end of the 1970s and first half of the 1980s when China as a response to an idealistic cosmopolitan trend reopened its door to the West in culture and the arts along with in science and technology. The young modernists of this new generation followed the same path as their predecessors, but for quite different reasons, didn't reach their goal successfully. Of course, this should be the topic of another paper.

Notes
1. Li Dongping, "About the Preparation of the Second Exhibition of the Chinese Independent Art Association," in Yifeng, vol.3, no.11; Liang Xihong, Daguangbao, June 26, 1948; Gong Chanxing, Meishu Shilun, no.4, 1990.

2. Sakai Tadayasu, "Was Japanese Fauvism Fauvist?" in John Clark ed. Modernity in Asian Art (1993), pp.128-134.

3. ibid., p.277.

4. ibid., pp.278-281.

5. See Kindai Nihon Kaigashi, p.286; Li Dongping, Yifeng, vol.3, no.11; Xu Zhihao, p.160.

6. Li Dongping, Yifeng, vol.3, no.11.

7. See "The Manifesto of the China's Independent Art Association," Duli Meishu, the first issue; Li Dongping, Yifeng, vol.3, no.11; Gong Chanxing, p. 70.

8. See Li Dongping, Yifeng, vol.3, no.11.

9. See Yishu Xunkan, vol.1, no.5, p.8. The translation quoted here is from Chinese New Art, Post-1989, p.32.

10. See Li Dongping, Yifeng, vol.3, no.11; Chen Ying, p.99.

11. See Liang Xihong's memoir, Daguangbao (Guangzhou), June 26, 1948.

12. ibid.

13. See Shidai vol.8, no.10, 1935.

14. See Yifeng vol.3, no.10, (1935). Liang Xihong wrote a series of articles entitled "Modern Masters of the World" published in this magazine. Yifeng was established in Hangzhou in 1933, and stopped publication in 1936. The last issue (vol.4, no.7, 8, 9) published on December 1, 1936, was a "Special Issue on Modern Art." Also see Xu Zhihao, Index of Chinese Journals and Magazines 1911-1949, pp.90-91.

15. Chen Ying, "The Establishment of the Modern Oil Painting in Guangdong," in Selected Essays of Chen Ying, p.124.

16. Kindai Nihon Kaigashi, pp.275-6, 284.

17. Meishu Zazhi was established in Shanghai in March of 1937. It published seven issues, then stopped in February 1938. In 1939, it resumed publication in Hong Kong, but only published 2 issues then finally stopped. The first resumed volume of 1939 was a special issue "The Art of the Anti-Japanese War." Ni Yide, Pang Xunqin, Chen Baoyi, Li Baoquan, Liu Shi, Liang Xihong, Ding Yanyong, Zhao Shou, Li Zhongseng were all writers for the magazine. It called itself "the only pure art journal" and mainly introduced European Modern art, such as Surrealism, Cubism, and Picasso, and published the critics' articles about the contemporary Chinese art.

18. Xin Meishu was edited by Liang Xihong and published in 1936 in Shanghai. It only published one issue, which included Ni Yide, Zhao Shou, Liang Xihong, Li Dongping, and Chen Baoyi's articles, introducing French modern art and Germany Expressionism.

19. See Liang, "About the Solo Show of Xu Beihong," Meishu Zazhi vol.1, no.4 (1937), pp.96-97.

20. Ibid.

21. See Daguangbao (Guangzhou), June 26, 1948.

22. Mu Tianfan, "An Introduction of the Independent Painters," Yishu vol.3, no.11.

23. This painting was published in Shidai (Time) vol.8, no.10 (1935) with Li Dongping and Bai Sha's paintings representing the second exhibition of the group.. The paintings of the fourth exhibition of the Storm Society were also published in the same issue, including Ni Yide, Pang Xunqing, Zhang Xuan, Zhou Duo, Yang Taiyang, Qu Di, Guan Liang, and Yang Qiuren's paintings.

24. Mu Tianfan, "An Introduction of the Independent Painters," Yishu vol.3, no.11.

25. See Liang Xihong's memoir in Daguangbao (Guangzhou), June 26, 1948.

26. See Chen Ying, pp.126-127.

76. See Shidai vol.8, no.10 (1935).

28. The first issue of the magazine was published in February, 1936. It only published two issues and stopped the publication in March of the year. See Xu Zhihao, p. 139.

29. See Liang Xihong's memoir in Daguangbao, June 26, 1948.

30. Ibid.

31. See Lang Shaojun, p.25.

32. See Shih Shou-ch'ien, "The Orthodox and the Avant-Garde: An Historical Examination," p.29.

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