Impressionist And 20th Century Chinese Art,

The development of the fine arts in China in the 20th century has been closely related to one of the western painting schools, that is, the Impressionism. The purpose of writing this paper is to investigate the relationship between the two. The paper recounts the complicated process of the influence of Impressionism on China: from smoothly introduced to abruptly stopped to radically criticized, and to finally being accepted. Impressionism had been introduced into China through three ways: the returned students, journals and books and exhibitions. There have been three stages of different attitudes towards Impressionism after having been introduced into China. Impressionism was accepted in the Republic of China when the public generally appreciated the works. Influenced by the Soviet Union, Impressionism was radically criticized in the 1950s and then had been isolated. In the 1980s, Impressionism had finally been accepted and regained an objective historic appraisal. The fine arts in China simultaneously smashed the shackles and have been forging rapidly ahead.With the aid of a great amount of art journals, pictorials and other books concerned, this paper tries to straighten out the contemporary people's view on Impressionism. By sorting out the works on the publications, I try to know how the Chinese artists could accept Impressionism. Analyzing the art works is helpful to infer which ways used by the Impressionists in painting the Chinese artists could apply in a flexible way. By studying the critiques and reviews on the Impressionists and their works, I try to handle the relationship between Impressionism and the Chinese art.There are three countries that had played an important role in the introduction of Impressionism to China. They are Japan, France and the Soviet Union. This paper discusses the specific relationships between the three countries and the Chinese art. To Japan, the focus lies in the process of how Impressionism rooted and developed in the Japanese academies and the general situation that the Chinese students studying in Japan could accept Impressionism. To France, the focus lies in the broad influence of diversified painting schools on the Chinese students studying abroad. To the Soviet Union, the paper tries to make clear the controversy over Impressionism which had lasted for over fifty years and to clarify the influence on the art circle in China.Impressionism has influenced the fine arts in China. It promoted the change of the color idea in traditional Chinese paintings and it made the Chinese oil paintings paid high attention to color at the beginning of its development. The Chinese artists who were studying western paintings in the Republic of China all tended to accept Impressionism. Impressionism also helped the Chinese artists to build their confidence on the traditional national art. The early oil painters who accepted Impressionism could also at the same time keep their own unique aesthetics of the national spiritual disposition.Impressionism is spiritually in harmony with the freehand brushwork of the Chinese art. The Chinese accepted Impressionism, which is largely due to the Chinese aesthetic taste and is also closely related to the inner cultural- psychological formation.